Cancelled contract - still being charged

[Anonymous]

I cancelled my contract in September 2015 using the o2 Chat support service, but recently realised I have been charged each month post-cancellation - for over a year. So, I contacted Customer Support by phone Tuesday, September 27th, 2016 to ask for a refund. The agent I spoke to reviewed my file (including the cancellation chat history) and agreed that that I had cancelled and was due a refund. The agent was very apologetic and assured me I would be refunded the money in full - the figure she mentioned was in the range of £260.

Last week, I looked at my bank balance and saw that the money had not yet been refunded. I called Customer Support at 20:50 to ask for the refund to be processed. After waiting on hold for 16 minutes the agent who answered the phone said the office closed at 21:00 and "her team" could not help me unless I was reporting a phone stolen.

I then emailed complaintreviewservice@o2.com explaining the situation - I have not received a reply (6 days have now passed since I sent the email).

Yesterday I called o2 Support again and had to re-exlplain everything to the agent (in total I was on the phone over 45 mins). At first she said she didn't think I had "cancelled correctly", so I asked her to review the file and she agreed I had cancelled in September 2015. However, she said that the last agent I spoke to had not filled out a form necessary for my money to be refunded. She said she would complete the form and I would receive my money as well as compensation for all the time I have had to spend on this. I asked for an email confirming this, she said she would send me one including the final refund + compensation ampount. I have not received an email.

I have now spent a huge amount of time trying to get back hundreds of pounds that o2 took from me after I cancelled. I genuinely have no faith that o2 are actually going to process the refund, so will proceed to the Ombudsman. However, I am wondering if anyone else had a similar experience? Surely this violates the Consumer Rights Act. I am at the point where I believe o2 are intentionally putting up barriers to make it difficult for people to get money refunded - money which was wrongly taken in the first place. Outrageous!

[MI5]

The Ombudsman won't take your case until you reach deadlock with o2 complaints. Weekends aren't counted in their response time so you need to wait for a response from complaints - If they don't uphold your complaint, ask for a deadlock letter, which then gives you the go ahead to talk to the Ombudsman.
You can also Google for and email the CEO's office with your complaint.
The more people who raise issues at a higher level means more can be done to correct the many issues we see on here with CS these days.

[Marjo]

Hey @Anonymous, how did you get on with this in the end? Was anything resolved?

Cheers

[Anonymous]

No, I have had no resolution. I have asked for a letter of deadlock from the Complaint Review Service, who have not replied to any of my emails. I have exhausted all avenues and will go to the Ombudsman on October 25th whether I receive the letter or not. The 25th will be one full month since I first contacted o2 about this issue. So far I have spent hours and hours of my own time trying to get money back that o2 took from me after I cancelled my contract (there is no dispute about the fact I cancelled according to proper procedures). Here is an overview of my contact with o2 Customer Support:

• promised a refund + compensation twice by different telephone agents and received nothing
• waited 30 minutes on hold only to be told by a customer support agent that she could only help me if it related to my phone being lost/stolen (despite calline during regular hours)
• not received any response from Customer Complaint Review Service after 18 days and two emails

If you can help with resolving this issue, that would be great. Otherwise I'll go down the Ombudsman route on Monday.

Thanks,

Rebecca

[Anonymous]

Last Monday I received a call from o2 and the gentleman I spoke to said he was issuing a refund for the money that had been wrongly taken, as well as £100 compensation. He said it could take up to 7 days to process. I still do not have the money. I am documenting here for my complaint to the Ombudsman. I need to post here because the o2 Support number is not taking calls and the Complaint Review person named Bethany will not help via email because she says my password details are wrong (although I just used them to log into my o2 Account). 

[MI5]

Your log in password is not the same as your security password.
Log into your MyO2 and you can get your security password from your details section http://www.o2.co.uk/myo2