02 has wiped my balance

[Anonymous]

Visiting the dentist for an emergency extraction I tried to text my wife to come fetch me, but it failed. So did a call and, cutting a long story short, I discovered I had no balance on my Pay & Go card. The 02 system is very user unfriendly in not making this clear like with a "no credit left" message when attempting to text or phone!
Then, making matters worse, when I got home and clicked on my 02 web account and tried to email 02, it demanded to know when, how and how much my last top up was. The top up history on my 02 had beed wiped also.
HOWEVER, the front page of my 02 account shows a balance of £29.47, as does calling 0844 809 0222 (which costs - of course)though all lines are busy!
What on earth is 02 doing? Anyone else suffering from what is clearly a system glitch?
Richard

[Anonymous]

Doesn't look like anyone is. When your credit is low, you'll either her a message or be transferred to the top-up line.
Which makes me think there is something else going on with your phone.

[Anonymous]

Had to send an email as "Non 02 Customer" and got a reply this morning.
"The problem you're facing might be if you haven't topped-up your
account for 999 days or didn't make any chargeable call for more than
six months it gets automatically disconnected.
I'll be pleased to send you a new SIM card with a new mobile number
absolutely free of cost." (plus a load of "security" conditions to be met)
Well I had met both these conditions, which I can't find in the online Terms & Conditions.
So it looks like 02 may have a system fault which will affect others.
I had £29.47 Credit. A £10 top up this morning got the phone working again.
A complaint to OFCOM is on its way.
Richard
PS prking of MERG? !

[Anonymous]

You don't want to complain to Ofcom as that's the wrong body. It still seems to be something that no-one else has mentioned, so does seem specific to you.
What you need to do is use the O2 formal complaints procedure as detailed in your terms and conditions. If that doesn't get a result you can take the complaint to Otelo, who will make a decision.

[Anonymous]

Incidentally, if you didn't get the 'no credit' message or weren't transferred to the top-up line. How did you know that all your credit was wiped out?
Perhaps there is something completely different happening here, what exactly happened when you dialed?

[Anonymous]

I lost over £20 twice! Ist time because I hadnt made a call within some specified time. So I was very careful after that and made calls regularly. But then I lost all my £20+ balance again because I had not topped up for 6 months. I use the phone for "emergencies only" as do many octogenarians, and do not need to top up every 6 months. I have to do so next week and I really do not need to. Cannot find any information in Terms and Conditions. Any advice, anyone? Dottee

[Anonymous]

You need to make a chargeable call or text once every six months.
If you check your terms and conditions you will see that in two seperate places, it says that the service is subject to a minimum top-up. o2 seem to define this as one top-up every 999days. Although, someone has said this is changing to once every 25years( I don't know whether thats true). Neither seem particularly onerous to me.

[Anonymous]

Well!
02 have owned up to having a problem with some Pay & Go accounts for which they gave me a free £5 top up. Only when I showed them proof of having topped up in the last 3 months, and made a chargeable call within the last three weeks did I get this apology though.
They also admit that the 999 days top up and 6 month chargeable call is NOT in the T & Cs for my type of account.
Richard

[Anonymous]

Thank you Dickiemint and prking.
I make an unnecessary chargeable call at least once a month,-just to be on the safe side!
I have £16 in my balance, but also a voucher for £10 from O2 dated May 2010 which states it is valid for one year. But written on it by the helpful manager of the nearest O2 shop is the dire warning that I MUST use it by Nov 4th 2010 (6months after my last May top-up) or I will lose the voucher value AND my Sim connection as before. So of course I will do so,-- but please,-- where in T&C does it state this.? Calls to O2 are a waste of time--no one in person or by e-message wants to help at all.
Thank you. 80 year old Dottee

[Anonymous]

You are confusing seperate things. How long the voucher is valid for and how often you need to top-up.
If you don't use them the top-up vouchers expire but they are not linked to your pay and go account until you credit it with the voucher.
As to disconnection. See points 7.1 and 7.3 of the standard airtime terms and conditions. Read 7.3 in conjunction with the various general terms and conditions which mention the minimum top-up. As I say, I don't believe one top-up every two and a half years is particularly onerous.