The worst customer service ever ?

[Anonymous]

Where to start? This is a long one - sorry.

I have been a loyal customer with O2 for 10 years. I have a number of phone contracts with O2.

On April 27th I decided my son was old enough to pay his own phone bill and decided to contact O2 through the chat system to cancel his SIMPLICITY contract. This was quite an ordeal, as I was passed around 4 operators who didn't seem to be capable of cancelling a simplicity contract. Eventually I got put through to the retentions team who, after the usual drawn out procedure agreed to cancel the contract effective 27th June.

(I have the transcript of this chat)

On 27th May (a Sunday), my business phone which I have had for nearly 10 years stops working. Eventually, the penny dropped and I realised that O2 had turned off the wrong phone. After a call to O2 CS I was told that the phone would be back on within 48hrs, which is ridiculous as this is my business number. I was fuming, but as it turned out, the phone came back on around lunchtime the following day.

23rd June my bill arrives - £188.18 (usually £35.00 - £38.00) including a charge of £126.85 for line rental up to the date when my contract ends in October. I call O2 CS and after explaining the situation, I was told that the bill would be stopped immediately and nothing would come out of my bank. They said that it would take a while to sort out and it probably wouldn't be sorted before the bill was due, so I agreed that they could take the correct amount for my June bill along with my July bill when it became due.

9th July O2 debited the full £188.18 from my bank. ANOTHER call to O2 CS today (10th July) to be told that he had a record of everything that had gone on before and didn't understand what had gone wrong. He later said that the previous CS operator had correctly put the stop on the bill, but the direct debit had gone through anyway.

As for getting my money back, I have two options 1. Contact my bank to stop the DD and get the money credited back to my account which, as it is a business account can take up to 28 days or 2. Wait for O2 to pay the money back into my bank in 21 days. Either way I'm out of pocket.

I have used O2's services for nearly 10 years and can honestly say that their customer service has steadily got worse to the point of being laughable.

[Anonymous]

O2 always take the money. Let's not beat around the bush here, this is one of their achilles heels.

I have had a store manager give me a guarantee and a till generated full refund for my sister's simplicity contract that got lost in the activation ether. After restarting a second one, she got billed for the two. I had the strongest assurances that it wouldn't happen, but it did.

They have have certainly messed up here and I know of similar, much worse scenarios where large sums of money (up to £1000) have been taken from accounts. It is so frustrating, particularly when the operator cannot understand what has happened either. Having said this I wouldn't suggest you jump ship, as all networks have their problems and the "system" is definitely O2's. Next time you want to alter anything, come in here and ask us the best way.

Personally, I would do a recall on the direct debit by contacting your bank asap and make an immediate payment online for the normal bill payment. That should keep your account up to date and let O2 quash the incorrect charge.

Don't wait for them to return your cash.

Andy

EDIT: DON'T CANCEL YOUR DD, just a recall on that payment.

[Anonymous]

Yep their e mail service like the rest of it is designed to put you off going any further!

Even the "mail" address is concealed as best as possible!

I tried to upgrade my wife’s phone at the same time as my own and it seemed beyond them.

I changed my daughter’s phone to Vodaphone in an instant; going to move both of our phones also (You can speak to a real person at Vodaphone)

O2 are woefully under resourced and have outdated post code recognition systems to boot!  

The only way to deal with it is leave for a competitor!

Got to say both my daughters phones/customer service very good with vodaphone!

[Anonymous]

I found the email address for making a complaint in 2 clicks from the home page.

Not very well hidden!

[Anonymous]

I said "designed to put you off" , subjective! not hidden!

[Anonymous]

I hate everything about this company and will be leaving asap.

Absolutely disgusting the way they treat thier loyal customers.

[perksie]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I hate everything about this company and will be leaving asap.

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Many here wouldn't agree, but it's a free world, close the door quietly on your way out.

[MI5]

You seem to be confusing "Community" with "Customer"....??

[Anonymous]

Well, it seems this was the last straw after all. After 10 years with O2 I have now signed up with T-mobile for my iPhone contract. When my wife's contract ends next month that one will be going to T-mobile too. Since O2 show no loyalty to their long standing customers, they can only stand to lose even more.

[Toby]

Hi guys, it is always regrettable when things go wrong such as payments and I can fully understand the frustration. We do pass views onto the rest of the team and this thread is very useful for that so thank you. While we do not have official staff on this community to help with account-related issues, it is a great place to trouble-shoot problems with phones, ask questions about products and vent opinions to others.

Thank you for your thoughts and accounts on what happened. I'll raise these issues with the CS process.

Many thanks, Toby