False advertising and branding of loyalty

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

I am making a complaint about my recent upgrade and the way it has been advertised and  handled in an extremely misleading manner.

O2 are currently advertising a sim only promotion of 5GB data and unlimited minutes/texts for £16/month (https://www.o2.co.uk/shop/sim-cards/sim-only-deals/#deviceType=phone&contractLength=P12M), so I thought brilliant, time to upgrade, and went through with the purchase.  Got my confirmation through and all was in order.  Got a text the next day saying the upgrade was successful so I checked my tariff only to find that price was at £24/month (the non-promotional price).

Long story short I contacted O2 multiple times and spoken to four different people, all saying that a loyalty discount has been applied to my account so the price is definitely £16/month.  But hang on, I think surely if a loyalty discount is applicable then that should be taken off the pruchase price of £16.  Upon much pressing I was told there was apparently an error on the system at purchase so I would be charged £24, but this was flagged up so they used a loyalty discount to bring it down to £16.  Now I don't think I am being obtuse when I say that this error is surely a seperate situation and a loyalty discount should be applied separately.  Probing a manager further I then got told that the loyalty discount is the type of discount used in this promotion and that everyone receives it whether a new or old customer.  

This boggles my mind as to how it can be called a loyalty discount when even new customers are given it, and what annoys me further is that this so called loyalty discount is not advertised in any single situation, even on my order confirmation ( http://imgur.com/wVYjn9r ).

Am I just being stupid here or is it just O2 that cannot comprehend how non-sensical this is?

[adamtemp64]

I thought the discount showed separately on your bill 

[Cleoriff]

It should show on your next bill as a minus  figure. I was on an £18 a month tariff 1/2 price for 6 months. My bill always showed the full £18.00 but checking through to the download bill section, they had removed £9.00 of it ...so I was only actually charged the £9.00 as promised ....This is how it works. Confusing but I was never overcharged. Also as this is new you may have had a small outstanding amount from your last bill @Anonymous

[MI5]

I'm not sure where the loyalty aspect comes in at all as it isn't anything to do with loyalty.
It's an offer that is running for anyone.
Your MyO2 will show the full tariff price and a bolt on is applied to give the discount when the bill is produced.
The customer will always pay the discounted price for the base tariff but the headline tariff price will always show the full price before discount.

[adamtemp64]

Sounds like phone agent did not know how the offers work lol

[MI5]

They never do!

[jonsie]

I took out an offer of 8GB, unlimited texts and minutes for £23.00/month with a loyalty discount of £7.00/month which shows as a bolt on separately on the bill. Advertised as a loyalty discount and shown as such.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info everyone, I've learnt more here in a few mintues than I have from all the phone calls.  I can now see that there is a loyalty discount added as a bolt on to my tariff.

But what I am miffed at and cannot understand is how the loyalty bolt on is used to bring the tariff down to £16 when in fact it is advertised to anyone and everyone at £16 in the first place 

[MI5]

Exactly my point about not being anything to do with loyalty!

[adamtemp64]

@Anonymous I hope this helps you understand what happened