Broken phone, can i get a replacement or do I have to pay off broken phone first?

[Holliepollie]

I have literally just broken my phone, the led screen behind the glass is all glitched, sort of how a tv looks when its broken. I am on a monthly payment, due to finish 2021. What am i to do, as of the covid-19 situation I am out of work with no means of wages. Will I have to pay for the remaining cost of the broken phone, aswell as the new phone? or can I just get a replacement phone "free-of-charge" and just continue the monthly payments of my broken phone when the replacement arrives? Please let me know as I am currently in a panic, unsure of what my opitons are. Thankyou for taking the time to read this.

[Cleoriff]

@Holliepollie 

You won't be able to get a phone free of charge. Do you have insurance? If so you could claim from that but it would mean sending your phone away.

Also regardless of your phone being broken, you still have to carry on paying your contract.

You could buy a cheap unlocked phone and put your sim in that? Tesco, Amazon, etcetc.

If you sent it to O2 for repair it will take ages in this current climate sadly.

https://www.o2.co.uk/help/phones-sims-and-devices/our-returns-policy 

[Bambino]

@Holliepollie If you don't have insurance on the broken phone you will not get a replacement. You will, however, still be responsible for the monthly device payments. You can either try to get the phone repaired, or look online on Amazon or eBay for an inexpensive replacement.

[Holliepollie]

Will I be able to send my phone straight to o2 for a repair? If I have to pay for the repair it will actually work out cheaper than paying off my phone.

[MI5]

@Holliepollie 

Send it in and ask for a quote first.

You can then decide if you want to continue or have it returned to you free of charge.

[Cleoriff]

Although all this will take time @Holliepollie and you will be without a phone.

Not suggesting it shouldn't be sent in for repair but I'm looking at options to tide you over until things get back to normal.

If I were you I would be looking to borrow a phone (if anyone has one spare) or check out Amazon or Tesco where you could have a cheap replacement in 2 days.

[Holliepollie]

So after comtemplating my options, a friend was able to help with my solution. I ordered a new phone, or so I thought I did. I haven't recieved an email saying "order confirmed" and when I go onto the "my orders" tab on the o2 website, there is no order recently placed. I have already had the money removed from my bank account with "O2 ONLINE ORDER Slough GB" in pending transactions, leaving me to assume the order was placed, or am I wrong?. If so, what am I to do about the money gone from my bank account? Roughly £100 is now gone, vanished in a puff of smoke. 

[Bambino]

@Holliepollie O2's stock reporting isn't live, so there's never any guarantee that what they say is in stock on their website actually is. Chances are what you ordered isn't in stock, which is why you haven't received any confirmation. If that is the case you will eventually be refunded. You can try to chase it up with customer service, but getting through is very difficult at present, as you're probably aware.

Guide: Coronavirus Community Help and Support 

[Cleoriff]

@Holliepollie 

They are probably doing credit or ID checks. If you pass, the money will be taken. If not, as it's a 'pending transaction' it will be returned into your bank. O2 have simply reserved the funds.  

Don't worry just yet. It's early days.