would like some advice please

[Anonymous]

Hi all, i posted a short while ago about an issue i had with O2.

Basically ordered an iphone 5C and didnt like it, didnt even open the packet or use the phone, returned the phone and cancelled the contract all within the 14 day cooling off period.

Was told on the phone by the advisor who cancelled the contract that i should also cancel the direct debit, which i forgot about, and so O2 took the money from my bank, they then refunded it the same day.

Skip forward to just after Christmas and i get an email telling me they had tried to get £5.67 via direct debit but couldnt so had suspended my account and that i was supposed to pay straight away. I phoned O2 and was told this was all a mistake and the £5.67 bill was produced in error and that it would be cancelled, i then recieved an email to show that i owed £0.00 and because i had not paid £0.00 i must ring up and pay immediatly to get the non existant bill paid (laughable)

I then got on here and asked advice and took some of it and made a complaint to the CEO office, today i recieved an email from them stating that my complaint was upheld because of the confusion in closing the account, BUT that the £5.67 was for the amount of airtime your contract was active.

Now the help i need is this:

I never used this phone, i never made a call or text or used any data from this phone, i also returned the phone in the cooling off period, the advisor told me i owed nothing, no mention of money owed for a contract which was active?.

Could someone in the know let me know how this works please.

The person who has replied to me from the CEO office seems to think i did owe the money and thinks its fine to say we uphold your complaint because of a mix up BUT we were right to demand the £5.67, they then said a simple sorry and said they hoped i was fine with that explanantion.

Well i am not happy, i was never told about this final bill, in fact i was told to cancel the direct debit, i had to make at my own expence quite a few phone calls to O2 and not even a mention of a refund for the cost of those.

but before i take this complaint to the next stage i would like to know the facts.

This isnt only for me but for anyone in the future who should have the unpleasant experience i had, O2 need to be told off.

 I look forward to hearing the views of people in the real know here.

Regards

Mike

[MI5]

If you never inserted the sim, you never used anything and therefore, don't owe anything - Simples !!

[Anonymous]

Now this is what I thought! so basically CEO office are talking a load of rubbish and trying to make out that I did owe them the £5.67, make the consumer be the wrong one and blame is then averted from us, typical.

[jonsie]

Irrespective of you returning the phone unopened and unused the airtime contract was running the moment they despatched the phone until receiving it back and scanned as returned. Morally I completely agree with you. Personally I would pay the bill and then get o2 to recredit your account.  Why ? Because it's certainly going to marked as a default on your credit file if you don't pay the bill. Paying it and then getting a refund is much the easier option long term

[Bambino]

If you have an email that says you owe zero, then you owe zero and whoever wrote to you from the CEO's office is talking a load of rubbish. Take it to the next level. 

Edit: Having read @jonsie's reply which was being written at the same time, I would also agree with him, but make your complaint.

[Anonymous]

They have already applied a credit to my account as they said this was billed in error, well on the phone they did, yet when the complaint went through they said I had actually owed the money but the credit would sort that out so that part is sorted. How odd to be charged for not using something at all?

[jonsie]

It's the way o2 works and no one seems t be able to override their creaking systems. The system (God incarnate) says you owe money so they then credit for their error. Essentially then, what is the actual problem you have? Are they still stating you owe money after it has in effect been credited?

[Anonymous]

Now the reason I asked this question is because there seems to be similar questions on other threads and different opinions, some say you owe from the minute they dispatch the phone, regardless of whether its used, others state that is not right and that if the phone is unused and sent back within the cooling off period then nothing should be owing, that's why I am a little confused here .

[MI5]

You should only be charged for usage during the cooling off period.
If it wasn't used, you don't owe.
It is how the O2 system bills customers but it's wrong and it would be re-credited if you paid it (as they did).
You problem now is that you can't pay because your bill is zero so CS need to manually clear that off the system.

[Anonymous]

I complained to the CEO office, expecting a simple reply and a sorry we got it wrong, they basically stated that I was billed £5.67 because it was a final bill and I owed it, so not really a sorry, now in normal circumstances after I have telephoned several times, been kept on hold for 30 mins at a time etc etc I wouldn't be annoyed but their response seems to contradict everything I was told previously, and I guess that is my problem, I go by what I am told, in this instance no mention of a final bill, like I said I was advised to cancel the direct debit, I didn't cancel and they actually took the money for the bill and then realised their mistake and refunded it the same day, I then cancelled the direct debit to make sure no other mistakes happened and then I get emails stating that I owe £0 and pay straight away......so yes I think of it as a problem, its only solved if I accept their explanation...which seems to be you were wrong, so I just wanted to know how this cooling off period thing works.