O2 contract phone

[Jonnyboy]

I’m applying for a dro and told I must include contract owing to my outgoings being to high, only started new phone/ contract in November - few questions… will they disable my phone? will 02 let me keep my number? Or let me go onto payg? 
Been with 02 since before they were 02 and had same number for over 20years.

[Bambino · Accepted solution]

@Jonnyboy If you're under a contract with O2 they won't let you go onto Pay & Go until you pay off what you owe. Longevity counts for nothing.

Speak to the Payment Management Team for clarification on 0800 902 0217.

The opening times are:

Monday to Friday – 8am to 8pm

Saturday – 8am to 6pm
Sunday – 9am to 6pm

https://www.o2.co.uk/help/account-and-billing/payment-support

[Jonnyboy]

Hi thanks for the reply- they have already cut my phone off as I haven’t paid jan bill- I’m pretty much housebound at min due to my illness so calling isn’t option, I requested a call back through online team but unable they are unable to make contact with management team because of rules..

The financial advisor told me I can’t pay off any debts to any one supplier as I’m my DRO is processed otherwise ombudsmen will want to know why I’m paying one debt and not others..

I’m just stuck at min and it’s doing my head in.

[madasaf1sh]

@Jonnyboy 

Yes they can and will most probably bar your phone, as legally it is under a Consumer Credit Agreement which means o2 own the phone. 
The phone number will be ceased and put back into the pool of number to be recycled. 
As @bambino says they will not let you move it to PAYG due to debt. 

My advice would be to get a Lebara or Lyca sim card its not a contract and at the moment via uswitch stupidly cheap i.e £2 for 3 or 6months  and get a new number. 

Your Financial Advisor should know all this especially about the rules of what creditors can and cant do... 

Hope you get back on your feet

[garetc]

You can request your PAC for the number and port it to another network on pay as you go if

your number is important to you. This will then leave you with an early termination fee, that will go through the debt management process with O2. Worth remembering that with unpaid bills it will result in defaults on your credit file and/or a

CCJ which will make getting credit in the future harder or more expensive. 

https://www.o2.co.uk/help/device-and-sim-support/how-to-keep-your-mobile-number

Not sure if the legalities or restrictions around DROs but I would hope you can add to the DRO. If you have someone helping with your DRO have a chat with them about the ETF, or you can  always reach out to Citizens Advice or StepChange.

I would recommend you call O2 and have a conversation with their debt management team to see if there is anything that they can do for you before you take the above action. 

https://www.o2.co.uk/help/account-and-billing/payment-support

Best of luck 

[gmarkj]

You can also use Skype to call o2 on their freephone numbers @Jonnyboy .

Guide: A Guide to Skype 

Either 0800 902 0217 (which is the Payment Management team) or the generic 0800 032 1402.