Where to start with O2.
Well, after abandoning three due to abysmal technical support provided by call centres who clearly had no idea what mobile phone support involved, i was pleasantly surprised at first when O2 were rather on my side when it came to early support issues.
But when my handset started to show signs of distress, it was a whole other matter.
I noted my Samsung Galaxy S2 was having shockingly short battery life, and on and off, was having trouble holding a charge / charging at all. It was initially sent off for repair by the O2 store in the millenium dome.
Since then, I have visited an additional three o2 stores across the country looking to get the recurring (and clearly unfixed) problem ammended which keeps returning after a few weeks. Each and every store tells me they can't provide me a replacement handset unless i go back to the original repair store and have THEM process the repair two more times. Well shockingly enough the O2 store in the millenium dome isn't the handiest place in the universe for people to get to and from, so off my phone went from different branches for repair.
In one branch I was promised a replacement and the manager took my email. He promised to get back to me within the week. FOUR WEEKS later I finally got a repsonse to my badgering saying "No replacement, please take it to your nearest shop for repair"
Then, after sending it away from a Scottish branch, O2 told me they'd be in touch to tell me how my repair was doing and ask me if i wanted to pay for repairs if it was deemed to have been my fault (which i found to be scoffable at this stage with a handset that has endured issue after issue from arrival)
Alas, O2 did not call me, I had to call them. The repair team were confused as to why I hadn't been contacted. They'd probably called the damn handset that was in for repair, i speculated.
Long story short? "Swollen battery" this time. Which the lady said was likely due to damage i'd caused. Right. As opposed to you know, the real reason you can get a swollen battery.
http://jervisdabreo.com/thetechcorner/swollen-phone-battery/
Anyway, they wanted £45 for a new battery. I suspected otherwise. I highlighted to the lady that the problem was recurring, and it felt to me like the actual USB charging port was not proeprly connecting when plugged into the phone, as the same chargers work fine for my Google Nexus tablet etc.
She insisted, It was a swollen battery, and the cost of repair would only cover replacing said battery. Knowing you can buy the official samsung battery online for a quarter of the price, I declined and asked for my phone to be sent back.
When it arrived at my workplace, it came WITHOUT the original battery. "Swollen" or not, that battery was part of the phone on my contract, and it wasnt the repairees call to keep the battery without my consent.
Additionally, with the new battery i bought loaded into the returned handset, guess what? It's not charging.
O2 support online took a laborious 45 minutes to tell me theyd "look for my battery" and "find out what has happened to it", making absolutely no further promises on what will happen to my redudnant handset, and furthermore, telling me when i wanted to make a complaint that "they'd pass on my sentiments to their manager"
Uh huh.
So now, i have a Samsung Galaxy S2 that will not charge and has basically been lucky to give me 2 hours from every charge since I had the damn handset, and I will be approaching 3 weeks during which I have been unable to touch my mobile phone contract, and yet Here i am, bleeding money to O2, a company that clearly don't really bother about me too much.
I am coming to the end of my contract soon and suddenly EE is looking like a much more attractive prospect.
If anyone knows of any way to bring O2's genuine attention to my plight i'd appreciate it, as most of the agents ive spoken to thus far have not really bothered much.
Have to say, phone support does completely put to shame the online support service, as well as in-store help which involves salesman basically telling you "this is the o2 process, if you have an issue, you should really call the number...."
