Why won't you let me pay you??

[AngryAndy]

From talking to others I have found that the following may be a problem for many:

No debit card to hand?  I'll pay in store!

Oh, no.  For some reason O2 stores are merely showrooms for new handsets.  They do not accept payments for existing accounts.  Yes... SHOPS that won't take money when due & offered, astounding.

What about the Automated Payments line?

See above:  I have no debit card.

OK - Lets go 'Ol Skool, I'll try and Pay O2 by deposit directly in to their account.

2 phone agents told me this was impossible, which I doubted.  But then I recalled that O2 shops, unlike every other high street presence of a massive company, won't let you pay your bill.  This company operates in a more unusual way to every other consumer experience I have had.  So I called again.  The 3rd agent then called me back twice to tell me the previous bank payment information she'd given me was wrong.  Luckily this was just before I set foot into the bank used by O2.

Deposit made, mobile number given as reference; account SHOULD now be in credit.

OH - I've now been disconnected.  Strangely for a company that specialises in COMMUNICATION - they don't have anyone available to talk to after 9PM.  Finding contact numbers for landlines was like pulling teeth.  O2's website is actually very pretty - but intensely hard to navigate.

Direct Debit?

Need to be able to talk to someone ON A PHONE to sort this with my new bank details.  I could go in to store, but I now really doubt they'll be able to do anything - It is merely a showroom after all.  Also, I really have trouble getting out of the house much of the time due to long term health difficulties.  The resentment I have built up so far would only mean that I'd scream at the poor swine behind the counter; even though I know it is a company decision to have showrooms with little to no facility to service existing accounts at a very basic level, i.e. accepting a bloody payment.

Now I have received a demand for full settlement of account and handset loan.  Eh?  I PAYED YOU!!  I did so BEFORE you disconnected me.  Then you have the gall to tell me you want a reconnection fee.

How the hell am I supposed to get this reconnection fee to you?  Not in store, no one to answer phone after 9PM (I'm usually nocturnal) and even if I can get to a phone during your office hours - it's still AGONY trying to find the bloody number to call you on to start with.

Perhaps I should drive a herd of sheep whose value matches this fee to your head office, leave them in the car park and see if you accept this as payment?

No?  Alright, how about a crate of Krugerrand?  Maybe a grubby fat roll of $100 bills secured with a grubbier elastic band left at a 'dead drop' location known only to O2?

[jonsie]

@AngryAndy

Your posts have made me chuckle over my morning tea and crumpet....:smileywink:

Just fill in the direct debit mandate and you can forget all about dollar bills and flocks of sheep....

[Cleoriff]

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@jonsie wrote:

@AngryAndy

Your posts have made me chuckle over my morning tea and crumpet....:smileywink:

Just fill in the direct debit mandate and you can forget all about dollar bills and flocks of sheep....

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And here was me just looking for a space in the garden to keep the sheep that was offered

[AngryAndy]

@Bambino

Many Thanks, but you have assumed incorrectly that I didn't read this part of the contract.  I formerly did pay by Direct Debit.  O2 informed me that only the FIRST set instalment must be paid by DD, since I regularly forgot about them I opted to call and pay by card with their blessing and so I was able to keep account of what and who had been paid.  Unfortunately I switched banks and am awaiting replacement of all cards.

I believe PAYG is extortion compared to the rates and packages available to PM.  I have been a contract customer since I was 15-16, switching to contact in my own rite at 18 as I left for Uni.  I'm now 32.

It's also pretty tricky to view MyO2 when your phone can't receive the identification passcodes that the server attempts to send when accounts are in some way 'flagged'.  O2 have d/c the handset, obliterating another avenue of me paying them.

Thanks again for your your reply.  I could feel the contempt and patronising bile behind it.  Assumptions about people, indeed anything, often prove to be very wrong and offensive.  

@jonsie  What's the Thai Whiskey like?  I'm an Islay man myself.  Laphroaig 10yr is my standard.  

I'm really sorry @Cleoriff but ParcelForce said they can't deliver livestock.  I'll get my boots on and see if I can walk a ewe to you. 

[Bambino]

@AngryAndy you misunderstand me. There was no contempt or patronising bile behind any of my comment. You did not say that you had spoken to O2 and you could by pay a different method with their blessing. You are not the first to do this, and you are also not the first to have problems because you're not paying by DD. We see it here almost on a daily basis. That's why we always suggest setting a DD up if you don't have one.

I am curious though how you can 'forget' to pay by DD? The object of a DD is that you don't have to remember when to pay, and you are notified well in advance of any payment for a particular month being taken, which gives you time to dispute it if you think the charges are incorrect. I don't see how your method of paying is beneficial to you? Are none of the bills you have to pay set up with DD? If so, how do you juggle them all, and when do you find the time to deal with them?

I agree with you entirely that PAYG is extortion. I wouldn't go near it with a barge pole, but for some it's preferred.

I only say these things because if you don't pay your bill on time, you will be disconnected, you will have to pay a reconnection charge, and O2 are very quick off the mark to give non-payers a negative mark on their credit rating.

My suggestion for you to pay by DD is for your protection, and not out of contempt. You cut me to the quick.:smileysad:

[Cleoriff]

It's also interesting that you were told by CS that you 'only needed to pay the first instalment by DD'.....If this is the case (and I am not disputing you were told this)....then it would explain the reason we have so many people coming here, on contracts,  who don't pay by DD and are in trouble. The ways to pay guidelines were thoroughly researched before I felt they were 'ready for release' (as it were)

If customer services are giving new contract holders this conflicting advice....which is totally against O2's terms and conditions, then something needs to be done about it...

[AngryAndy]

@Bambino.  I found I would forget to allow for the DD.  Generating bills which are then due 2 weeks later meant that by the time the DD went out; I'd utterly forgotten the expense; and simply spent it under the happy illusion that "That bill came though last week, the DD will have gone out by now!"

When my debit card is handy I simply pay my bill when it's generated, but for some reason O2 continue to request the DD and I end up paying twice.  A DD request cannot be stopped less than 5 days after initiation.  So if a payment is supposed to be collected on 30th, and I pay by debit card on the 26th, the unaltered DD will still process; it's like being penalised for paying early

WHY in an age where I can send money around the world with a few clicks does it take banks and companies 5 days to organise a payment?  I can't think of a single reason why DDs, even variable Direct Debits take so long; when a debit  card attached to the same bank account is instantaneous.  

I'm sorry to have "cut you to the quick".  I read subtexts in your message.  The first was that I was cavalier enough to have signed something without reading it; therefore this mess was entirely my own contrivance & I deserved everything I got.  

Secondly the idea of getting PAYG suggested to me that perhaps I was neither worthy, nor had the income to get a contract.

It is widely believed that only 10% of human communication depends on actual words used.  The speakers appearence, tone, and visual performance are some of the things that make up the missing 90% of the message.  All we have here are words - I'm just not skilled enough to be able to run with the 10% and get it right; so minsunderstandings are to be expected and hopefully resolved with some degree of grace.  Can I offer you a sheep? 

[MI5]

I'd like one please

[Cleoriff]

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@MI5 wrote:
I'd like one please

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Sorry....I have changed my mind. The one on offer is now currently winging it's way down the M6....to me

[AngryAndy]

Damn - sorry MI5, I'm out of bubble wrap.

[AngryAndy]

MI5 wrote:

Sorry....I have changed my mind. The one on offer is now currently winging it's way down the M6....to me

The ones I supply come with a free casserole dish - once it's done the lawn, sprinkle with seasoning and dinner's sorted