Since receiving my phone through O2 in June 22 I've had intermittent/no/poor services regarding my signal and data.
I contacted O2 and was told there's nothing they can do as a phone mast is down in my area.
I wasn't satisfied after months of poor service so I made a complaint and the complaint service refunded me roughly two months credit. From this I signed up to their network coverage updates to be updated when the phone mast would be fixed, however, I received multiple updates stating the mast is fixed, only to receive another text 24hrs later that the mast was down once more.
This has happened multiple times over the previous months. A few months later the issue was still ongoing so I contacted O2 once more who agreed to credit my account for each month that the service was below standard advertised as long as I contacted O2 each billing period. The service is still below standard and I have contacted them multiple times to query why I have been charged when I should be credited, each time I contacted over a few days I had the phone put down/disconnected. After contacting their complaints line again I was told that back in august when I accepted credit that it was, in their eyes, the end of the complaint and it was resolved.
Also that the customer services shouldn't have told me to contact again for credit as again, the complaint was "resolved". According to O2 their terms and conditions protect them from issues and renders them essentially blameless in service issues such as this.
Also if I wasn't happy with how O2 "resolved" my issue then to contact ombudsman, however this was told to me over the phone so I do not have written confirmation of this. My issue is not that my service should be running at 100% at all times, but that continual poor service is beyond the realms of normal expected disruption.
For example, many calls of mine are dropped, poor quality, or simply do not go through for both inbound and outbound calls. A good example to compare my calls to would be that of skim reading; I often have to listen out for key words in phone calls to try and get the gist of the call. Likewise, I can be "connected" to 5G whilst out and about and still have speeds similar to that of 3G or even E when in areas where 5G is the dominant speed.
Simply, ombudsman agree with O2 and accept that we have adequate service in our area. Regardless if my experiences say otherwise.
For example, I supposedly have 100% call success rate, when I have accounts from people, and witnessed tests of people trying to contact me taking 7 attempts to call me. Also, the amount of calls that have to end as either I, or the person on the other end of the phone, cannot understand what is being said due to the poor line. They seem to have no taken into account, or deem it reasonable, the amount of time I have had 0 signal and have to rely on communicating through Wi-Fi on WhatsApp for calls.
This issue is still ongoing and unfortunately I am stuck in a contract with no way out (unless I pay of course) so just want to publicly post my experience in a more prominent place other than support chats or local Facebook groups.
