Why does O2 have such a bad contact system?

[Gizmo12345]

When signing into the website then going to help/contact it signs you out, starts a chat box then advised to go over to the app instead on your phone to which the QR code does not work.

When using the O2 app to try and talk to somebody, the chat box is not designed nor native to the mobile device so you constantly have to try and resize the screen the find the enter (arrow) to put text into the box.

Calling 202 takes forever and is about 10mins faffing around with questions before you can even enquire what you want, then due to cost savings i can never understand the person they employ overseas.

Sorry but the entire service is so poor. This is 2025 when even the tiniest companies have really efficient online chats or email to help with issues, let alone one of the biggest network providers in the UK.

Rant. Over...

[Gizmo12345]

Any way, does anyone have any easy way to contact O2? I'm quite tempted to cancel my contract and go elsewhere because the help offered (none) is utterly dire.

[madasaf1sh]

@Gizmo12345 

Just cancel, but be very aware some are just as bad as o2 for contact.. 

And it not live chat its called demand reponsive chat, and it does say that when you use it..

You can use the phone and call, all the contact details are here Guide: How to find help & contact O2 

Best option is X for a response but its not instant. 

Ways to cancel are here Guide: Cancelling Your Contract 

[Gizmo12345]

Thanks I'll try via X next time. Absolute nightmare.

[MI5]

All about spending as little as possible to support customers whilst increasing prices year on year to look after the shareholders.

[Enlli]

Probably time to bring this up again

https://news.virginmediao2.co.uk/transforming-our-service-how-were-investing-to-better-support-every...

[MrRichAllen1976]

I know it'll never happen but what'd be a BIG help is having UK based call centre staff who understand the majority of UK regional dialects.

Sadly it's a fact of life that for the majority of major Telecomms and other companies it's cheaper to outsource their call centres to flippin' Outer Mongolia for instance, where the staff speak almost no English and are paid the equivalent of about 2 quid an hour.

[Oxonian]

I do not agree with that @MrRichAllen1976. Over the weekend, I had cause to speak separately with the overseas call centres of a large technology company and a large insurance company. Both were excellent and resolved my issues quickly and efficiently. 

The fact that the call centre is overseas is not the issue. It is all about the recruitment, the training and investing in the staff and systems. 👍

[Filomena]

They no longer have written customer supprot like email or chat, meaning inevitably when some dimbo from outer mongolia adds the wrong service to your account or doesnt bother applying your spend cap because they dont know what you are asking, and your complaint is outourced to someome who barely speaks english and doesnt understand, here are your options:

1) check ofcom guidelines

2) check out citizens advice 

3) if you have been overcharged, missold or failed spend cap, send a letter of claim to Telephonica O2 legal team. they are uk based and speak english. ask for extra compensation like £100+ for breaches of ofcom re spend cap issues. You are not obliged to exhaust their useless complaints process NOR the long ombudsman service. 

Legal team are very good. At the moment, o2 outer mongolia customer services incorrectly charged me £19 for a £6 bolt on two months ago. I flagged it when i had a large bill. They said they would refund it. Sent me an invoice for the incorrect cost showing -£19 and said it would come off my bill. Deducted from my next bill was -£6. Why? because they had deducted the £6.76 (no one knows why), and charged me £8 for the pro rata £6 bolt on. I complained. Got through to outer monglolia again. Guy on the phone kept explaiing to me that the £19 was a credit not a charge. OK, thats fine but it has not been deducted so what good is that? And why the £6.76 credit? He didnt know. I complained that 1) I had been charged £19 for a £6 bolt on 2) the £19 credit had not been deducted from my bill 3) I was bizzarely charged £8 and refunded £6.76 and no one knows why. Customer services investigated (also outer mongolia) and replied "your charges are in relation to international calls" - WOW i didnt know, considering my query was about being charged £19 for a £6 bolt on. *** I did not bother to appeal taking up to 8 weeks to resolve. going straight to the legal team for being overcharged 


Also - a huge tip - o2 does not put things in writing. your contract, sales on the phone, nada. So make use of your rights and DSAR every call recording with your agreed contract and sales on the phone if something goes wrong, so you have evidence you were missold. I really think that they did this - telehone only customer services due to outer mongolia constantly misselling and breaking the law and customers taking the evidence to the obudsman. now its an extra step - get your SAR requests in

[pgn]

Substantial allegations there @Filomena - and O2 do send you reams of electronic contract and t&cs when you take out a new contract or upgrade, in my experience.

Also a credit applied in the middle of your billing cycle applies on your subsequent bill - confusing, perhaps, but not uncommon where you are billed monthly in advance.

Anyway - info here may already be known to you, but how to complain has useful links to various resources you may find of value 

https://www.o2.co.uk/how-to-complain