Awful Treatment of Military Personnel

[KatieG]

I have been a loyal 02 customer for over 10 years and took out a new contract in June 2022 in preparation of moving to Cyprus with my husband as part of a Military posting. We are living in Cyprus with the British Armed Forces until August 2024, and I had heard from friends that 02 are very flexible and understanding to Military Posting’s outside of the UK. 

In March 2023, I received a text about increased fees due to roaming charges. I contacted 02 via the app live chat and on 05th April the chat advisor confirmed the reason for the extra charges is that it is unfair use of the EU roaming policy - but due to the circumstances of my long period of time in Cyprus being due to a Military posting - they would ensure all EU roaming is non chargeable and any extra charges it does incur will be credited to the following month to ensure it balances out.

Since then, I have had no money credited to my account and still face extreme roaming charges. This month my bill has raised from £37.58 to £110.12. I started another live chat via the app on 13th June, where the advisor informed me that no changes had ever been made to my account and the EU roaming charges do apply. I was provided with the website link for the MOD Personnel which provides advice on how to suspend a contract. I explained I do not want to suspend my contract but it is the EU Roaming charges I need help with, and they then simply provided me the link for Complaints.

To conclude, in April I was assured I would not face charges for EU Roaming for the duration of the Military Posting, and now in June they continue to charge me and refuse to make any adjustments despite their original confirmation of their assurance.

This service is appalling, I will be making a formal complaint and then forced to look elsewhere for a contract as I cannot justify these extreme roaming charges as a result of my Military Posting. 

[Enlli]

Firnst thing is to look here. You may be inadvertently roaming on to a network in the Turkish Part of the island.

Lock your phone to a Geek network to prevent this

Guide: Roaming in Turkey and Cyprus 

I will ask one of our advisors to look at your account. She will contact you here

@O2Emma can you help @KatieG 

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[MI5]

@KatieG 

Your only option is to get a local sim card or use WhatsApp over wifi for calls and texts back to the UK.

The T&C's are clear that no more than 63 days EU roaming are allowed in any 4 month period and this applies to all. There are no exemptions.

No other network provides as much free EU roaming as O2 does, so you'll find yourself in the same situation by moving networks.

[O2Emma]

Hi @Enlli I will pick this up thanks.

Hi @KatieG I will send you a private message so I can look into it for you.

[JB91]

Did you get it sorted? I had an exemption applied when I moved here in 2021. Never had additional charges. But now I need to upgrade and I'm being told that once I do, the exemption will be removed and they can't apply it again. 

[Oxonian]

A warm welcome to this O2 customer to customer community @JB91. The forum's nature means that we cannot access accounts or provide other direct help. 

If that question is aimed at @KatieG, you need to tag her thus. However, I would not expect a reply. Her message is the only one that she has posted on this forum and she has not logged in since making that post on 13 June 2023.

If you want to check what you have been told, I suggest that you message O2 on social media :-

Facebook : https://o2uk.co/O2CFB

X (previously known as Twitter) : https://o2uk.co/O2CTW

Instagram : https://o2uk.co/O2CIG

The social media team are based in the UK and have a strong reputation for solving customer problems. 👍

[JB91]

Thank you. I have just messaged O2 on messenger!

[JB91]

@KatieG Did you get it sorted? I had an exemption applied when I moved here in 2021. Never had additional charges. But now I need to upgrade and I'm being told that once I do, the exemption will be removed and they can't apply it again.