Ordering a PAYG Phone from O2 - MyO2 registration enforced or account required

[pgn]

So I finally decided young Quartus here is old enough for a mobile phone (he's been going on about getting one for what seems like ages, and my ears could do with the rest, tbh...). He is, after all, going to "big school" next year, which means reliance on the school bus system hereabouts, so a phone might come in handy...

Off I went, found a deal at a reputable direct seller of these handy devices, then searched and found a better one at a local retailer of flat-pack furniture, only to end up on O2's website where the same model of handset was cheaper yet again than either of the preceding "bargains".

OK. On O2 website, add phone to basket, hit checkout, am prompted for an e-mail address - this *will* be registered for a MyO2 account. Ooops! Quartus has an e-mail address, but probably falls below the age of having his own MyO2 account.

I backed up the truck, logged into my own MyO2, went through the order process, and lo and behold, a couple of days later, phone arrives and this appears in my MyO2:

So my question is, despite the pressure-selling tactics to get an e-mail address for any mobile sold, how do I divest my own MyO2 of this unwanted, and incorrectly identified (I got a Nokia 1.3, not the Motorola mentioned in the screenshot above!) addition to my record? 

How have others handled this seemingly mandated tie-in of (any) e-mail address with a PAYG phone and a tenner a month SIM with unlimited calls, texts and 6GB of data (for the first three months)?

[Cleoriff]

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@pgn wrote:

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@Cleoriff wrote:

Although after first top up, you should be able to register a card @pgn ....(hopefully)

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Yep. I can't be doing with a wee lad's tears on Christmas morning, and no Pay-Point Shop open, and Tech Support on minimal staff, when the O2 Web-Top-up says "Transaction declined". Or "Invalid e-mail address for MyO2". 

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No- nothing worse @pgn. When my kids were young all we had worry about was whether we had enough batteries to last over the Christmas period.

[pgn]

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@MI5 wrote:

But never hurts to have a backup with O2.....

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Ne'er  truer word spoken, @MI5 

[MI5]

Not one of us that hasn't been bitten at some point in the past

[jonsie]

Meeeee! I haven't

[MI5]

Not shafted by Tugo then @jonsie ?

[jonsie]

That and umpteen other apps they have withdrawn....but never at Christmas

[MI5]

I was just generalising, not specific to any particular time of year......

[pgn]

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@MI5 wrote:

As you already have a card registered in your wallet @pgn you would probably have been fine to use that.

But never hurts to have a backup with O2.....

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Lessons learned so far:

1. It is possible, on the web version of MyO2, to remove an added, and as yet unused, PAYG phone number (may still be able to do it after, not sure, didn't want to test that...!)

2. It is possible then to set up a MyO2 account against the new number, with an e-mail address (no apparent limit on age, as DoB and all was accepted)

3. Voucher top-up of the phone, for a £10 6GB Unlimited mins/txts bundle, with monthly data roll-over, worked flawlessly, using the 4444 O2 top-up line.

I still have to see about next top-up using a credit card, should work, but we'll see. Will be done form the new MyO2 account, enabling any top-up rewads to be accumulated.

@MI5  - using my MyO2 Wallet was not an option as I did not want the PAYG number associated with my MyO2 account.

So far, so good - will report on web topup next month.

Thanks all for support, help and advice to-date.

[Cleoriff]

@pgn 

Speaking from experience and unless anything has changed radically since I was PAYG and wrote the guide, once the phone is registered on the O2 network, you will have the option to register a card on the account.

In fact you can register more than one card. I used to top up my son and partners phones when they were with O2 and I used different cards for each. Also, at the time I was on contract but that wasn't a problem.

[pgn]

So first web top-up, using my credit card but on the new PAYG MyO2 account worked a treat - no need to register the card or use the 'wallet' feature 👍

Here endeth the tale of the new PAYG phone purchase. Thanks all for the help and advice and support throughout.