Mobile STUCK on You have voicemail, once you start it, never stops - keeps stealing credits!

[02andGoingAway]

Hello

My 'hardly used' Mobile is on a PYG (old style, you know the democratic one, Telefonica decided to take us off from, so they can charge us at least £. 5/m when one does not use it much.
It is an extra phone for a particular use, so we do not need to pay a monthly fee for NOT using our phone!

Anyway, it has been a could of weeks - maybe more, as I am not the direct user - I am the payer!!!

Every time you switch it on is fine, the after a certain time there is a Voicemail message appearing.

'We do not use Voicemail and it was switched OFF' - why is it on now?

To make it short , there seems to ALWYS be a Voicemail there.

You dial Voicemail, connects - the robotic message starts and then the phone disappear.
It asks to input a NEW 4-10 digit pin/code - all normal-ish there.

But there is NO WAY of inputting it.
Then it says wrong pin or whatever and switch communication off, then a automated redial appears!

It never stops - keeps stealing credits, it may have been doing this for a month and never noticed it!!
The person using it must have touched the Voicemail message and all starts.

In order to stop it I can only restart or switch phone off and restart it.

I have two problems:

1. we do not use voicemail, we want it off - impossible to do as it is on a limbo - although I DO KNOW it WAS off!

2. in order to be able to do point 1, I need to be able to stop this trivia.

I sincerely hope it is not a GAME O2 is playing to push the remaining people off the old PAYG!
That would be a Court case starting.

Any fast help?
I see that one is 'forced' to leave old system, pretty ex-EU UK way of doing it - by force!

If this keeps going on, the only way is to get a monthly contract when credits go or get stolen (!), well in that case, I will go elsewhere as O2 does not deserves it any more!

Any straight forward advice?
I am a Electronics and IT Technician, but not an expert on these matters.

Any solution? O2? 'We know' your robot reads these messages!

Thanks
M

[pgn]

Have you tried switching your phone off, then calling it from another phone to see if voicemail is really off or on, @02andGoingAway?

And are you able to call voicemail using info in here Guide: All you need to know about O2 Voicemail 901 from another phone and listen to and delete the messages?

Does that stop the constant reminders you are getting in your phone when you switch it on?

i sincerely doubt anyone O2 is targeting your phone specifically.

Is your SIM perhaps in need of a clean, with a dry lint free cloth, or perhaps in need of replacement altogether (an O2 shop can change your SIM and transfer your number to the new SIM for you, just remember to have some photo id with you when you visit the store).

Good luck, @02andGoingAway.

[02andGoingAway]

Well, I did do the obvious three times, i.e. switching Voicemail off and it confirmed 3 times it was done.

What I now find is:
example - I just called 4444 - just to test and to check balance, i.e. you press 2.

Well once I have started call (4444), the number pad disappears and I cannot input '2' or anything else - as per when I was on voicemail call!
Therefore there is something else, an automatism.

Yes, I did the obvious and pull the number pad up, it does NOT act at all - I input '2' , I see it = nothing happens - same as voice mail.

I do know the phone is fine, no fall or anything and all updated.

Also, at a certain point and 'even' while I was still on 4444 call with the recording repeating itself, a green bar on top of phone screen appeared, with a countdown for recalling!

I can understand an automatism has been triggered, but we do not use this phone much and not really 'tweaked anything!

Anyone ever had this kind of thing?

Thanks
M

PS yes, I have seen MI5 (user) page with all detailed commands, I made a PDF with it, just in case.

[pgn]

Make sure your handset is set to send tones out to Voicemail when you access it and interact with it, @02andGoingAway 

Also a landline phone will work for the test mentioned above, touchstone is standard on every pushbutton landline phone.

[02andGoingAway]

Hi
No dial pad tones listed, only the Dial pad touch tones, which is set to Default.
(checked within Developer area, nothing there too).

I used this: 

• Key *#10# then press the call button and works as no phone involvement

Thanks, but it seems now solved 90% of its problems.
I 'had' set this phone to 'drawer mode', as it was strangely not!

Being one of those Huawei, that are 'invaded' by Huawei - bit like Google does!!
I really do not remember what exactly fixed the dial pad, but I also now use a 'decent' app for it and works fine now, also a different messaging app, disabled Google unneeded apps, apart from the obvious needed ones.

The strange thing is, that the continuous green top bar dialling has now disappeared.
It was constantly dialling, after ONCE you touch the 'O2 - You have Voicemail' message!

I did a lot of disabling and uninstalling of 'rubbish' as you probably know - Google and Huawei!

Got a security fixed and cleaned of any rubbish in there - there was nothing.

Anyway, it seems OK now.

The other thing it did was, if for example I called 4444 and then hang up - when if did not accept digits from dialling pad - was the same green top bar and a countdown for re-dialling!

Now it does not any more.

Also and 'strangely' - as I already set Voicemail OFF probably 5 times now - using the 1760 number and 'confirmed' by O2, I found a message again - you have a voicemail!

Clearly is O2 doing it, have they set this to all like me that DO NOT wish to change the old PAYG as we DO NOT need a monthly 'costly' PAYG?
I am seriously considering this now and I sincerely hope they are NOT doing this, because it can be proved!
Got recordings and am now asking others...

What is happening now is:

I call 4444, press '2' and nothing happens, while if I use 1760 to set Voicemail off - it accepts digits!

I do not understand this.

It seems more 'coming from O2', rather than this phone.

Kind of stuck, not that I use the 4444 much, but!

Regards
M




By doing that 

[Enlli]

I doubt very much O2 are doing anything on purpose. If they want people off the old PAYG, which costs them money, all they need to do is give notice it is closing down and give you a time limit to withdraw your balance.

More then one network has done that

[madasaf1sh]

@02andGoingAway 

If on PAYG then just get a PAC code and port out to another network and then you can withdraw your remaining balance and you will be free of o2...  

No need to keep fighting with customer service, just up and leave..

[Oxonian]

@02andGoingAway 

These phantom "you have a voicemail" messages are a recurring problem on O2 PAYG and have been for several years. There are work-arounds to get rid of them but they always reappear at some point in the future.   

If you have switched off your voicemail, my advice would simply be to ignore them. 👍 

[02andGoingAway · Accepted solution]

😂😂😂
What a laugh they are all become...

Anything a Corporation does is 'on purpose' = obviously.

I see it, but thanks all for your input.
Earthlings

[Oxonian]

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@02andGoingAway wrote:

Anything a Corporation does is 'on purpose' = obviously.

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I couldn't disagree more @02andGoingAway ; incompetence is widespread even in large organisations. 🤣