After several contented years with Orange, I switched to O2 to save a couple of pounds a month. What a mistake! Their data service is so useless that the Internet might as well not have been invented. When I called customer service to complain they got me to try all sorts of useless things before putting me through to a manger who was generally abusive. Eventually I gave up and sent the following letter to Roland Dunne:
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Please find enclosed an invoice for £788.64. You will notice that the invoice is not for any service provided, but I know that you will not object to paying this as it is O2’s own policy to lock their customers into a contract and charge for services that you do not provide.
The situation is simple. You charge me £32.86 per month for mobile telephony which includes 750MB of UK Data per month. O2 then makes a profit by not providing part of the package that it is contracted to provide. In particular, you do not provide the data element of the package in any reliable form. Too often I cannot even connect to a server; when I can connect, download speeds are normally unusable. As you will see from the attached screenshot my download speeds average just over 1kbps, which is simply ‘No Service’. And these tests were not conducted underground or on some remote Scottish archipelago, but at locations such as Forth Valley Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in Central Scotland. Three members of my family are on another network and they consistently achieve speeds that average 1,000 times faster than O2.
In the past few months I have sent two written complaints to O2, only to receive standard unhelpful responses. I made clear that O2 had sold me a package that is not fit for purpose and a high quality telephone without the network to support its features. I asked that you solve the problem or release me from my contract without penalty. In a bid to help, one of your employees sent me a new SIM card, but that made no difference. Finally, last Friday, 6 June, I spoke to a customer service operator whose rudeness and discourtesy brought me to this point. This genius even asked me if I expected O2 to put up masts just so that I could use my phone. Well, actually, yes I do. I do not expect to have to build my own cellular network any more than I expect to have to build a railway to use a Glasgow to London train ticket. It was clear, however, from that conversation that O2 feels under no obligation to provide the services for which it charges.
In light of these circumstances I look forward to payment of my invoice and I trust that you will pay me as promptly as I have paid O2 for your similar provision of ‘No Service’.
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Anyway, they replied with a non-solution, refused to release me from the contract, and gave me a discount of £5 per month on my contract. I replied again a few days later, saying I'd rather pay £5 more per month just to get the service that they have contracted to provide. No response to that, so I'm about to raise an action in the Small Claims Court--let them defend it if they like.
Anyway, my advice is don't enter into a contract with this company, and if you do be sure to cancel within the cooling off period.
