Contract buyout - and Blackberry

[Anonymous]

Hi all,
I posted here last week about getting a new Blackberry even though my contract had not yet ended.
The process was a lot simpler than I expected. I dropped into a local Phones4u and got signed up on a new O2 contract with a brand new shiny Blackberry Torch 9800. Their advice was to call O2 to cancel the existing contract and pay the outstanding, then obtain a PAC number to transfer to the new O2 contract.
So I called the O2 cancellation line (the guys who issue the PAC). They said that the PAC process was unnecessary and that they could terminate the old contract there and then, and switch the number over without needing a PAC. The switchover was stated to take up to 48 hours but it was done within about four hours. So I was up and running nice and quick. The lady handling the call was fantastic and organized everything for me. The way it should be.
Loving the phone as well. So far it seems solid, everything "just works". The only slightly irritating thing is that it's too damn easy to unlock so I've already made a few unintended calls through misdials while the thing was in my pocket.

[Anonymous]

I might add, by the way, that the O2 shop themselves were not a lot of use. They directed me to call customer care as they could not handle the matter in-store. Strange as surely this costs them business, but I didn't make a fuss over it. But don't waste your time trying this in an O2 shop.

[Anonymous]

I might add, by the way, that the O2 shop themselves were not a lot of use. They directed me to call customer care as they could not handle the matter in-store. Strange as surely this costs them business, but I didn't make a fuss over it. But don't waste your time trying this in an O2 shop.

Exactly the same P4U did in fact? Just as you would find in any phone store. Strange that you find this a criticism, but only of the o2 store?

[Anonymous]

Keep your hair on and read what I wrote.
I tried O2 first. They sent me away empty handed saying "sorry, can't be done in store, you'll have to phone CS". I then went to P4U. They demonstrated the phone, set the account up and provided details on how to do the number transfer. They even offered to call the transfer hotline for me. I said no as I still had contacts to get off the old phone. Point is, I walked out of there with the new phone.
O2 lost what should have been an easy sale.

[Anonymous]

Touchy aren't we? My hair is fine thanks, especially for my age.
I was merely observing an oddity in what you wrote. No shop can do you an early upgrade, which is what the o2 store told you. I'm sure the O2 store could and would have sold you a separate connection, which is all that P4U did, but be honest, you asked about an early upgrade didnt you? Either way you have to call cs to sort it out. maybe the disparity is only obvious to me because I worked in the industry so know exactly what P4U are capable of (hint, you might not have been such a fan if you ended up stuck with two contracts, like so many have). Although you can't see it, the o2 store were actually steering you the right way as you could have done the whole thing over the phone. P4U were merely clocking up a sale and to hell with what happened afterwards.
I'm glad you got what you wanted and I'm not attacking your choice, which obviously worked out ok, but it's worth mentioning the other side as I saw it day in day out when I was in TMUK customer services.

[Anonymous]

Sorry for the touchy tone. We are probably talking across purposes a bit.
I didn't want to "do the whole thing over the phone". I wanted to have a close look at the product, make my choice and walk out of the shop with it. I made that clear to the O2 shop, I said "is there nothing we can do at all here to fix this today?" and they politely said "no, call CS". The "right way" is meeting my requirements which is what P4U did.
I wasn't really singing the praises of P4U by the way, I know full well they saw an opportunity and they took it. I have no problem with it but I'm not trying to say they were above and beyond. O2 CS, on the other hand, were surprisingly good. I'm glad I stuck with them.

[Anonymous]

It's all good then ( this board needs a thumbs up emoticon). Your experience ties in with my experiences as the branded stores (TMUK in my case) arent allowed to assume that you will just be allowed to walk away from your existing contract and must direct you to speak to cs first (unless of course the customer specifically asks for an additional line) as it is all too easy to end up in a misselling situation, this is where I was thinking it was a little unfair to cite this as a criticism as its in the customers interest to make sure first. whereas all the 3rd party stores tend not to worry about that. It's easy (for me) to see it can go either way. An individual customer only has their own experience to go on of course. Your post reminded me of so many calls I got where I spoke to people querying why they got two bills when they had upgraded with one of these stores and it was my unpleasant task to inform them they didn't upgrade at all and now they have two lines and similar such circumstances. Although, to be fair, you did say they told you to call in and sort it so maybe they've improved since my day

[Anonymous]

The only slightly irritating thing is that it's too damn easy to unlock so I've already made a few unintended calls through misdials while the thing was in my pocket.

Hi, I had the same issue with my Torch but I have sorted it using an app. I tried a few but found the following one the best due to the amount of options included in it so that you can personalise it to the way you want to it to work exactly. If you head to the App Store on your Torch and search for "Patternlock", there's a free version or a pay version, try the free one and it may just be what you're looking for.