'Free Upgrade after three months'????? No its not Free

[Anonymous]

Hi

Has anyone had the same issue as me. I took out an account with 02 for my 10 year old son and was told in the shop in London that after 6 months I would be entitled to a free upgrade on the handset. We didn't really believe this and then got in touch with Live Chat who said no its after three months a free upgrade!!!! My 10 year old was overjoyed so I went into the shop in Liverpool today and was told that its a free upgrade but I have to pay £47 per month extra. I was then told when I queried the concept of free that I didn't really understand what free meant. In my view free means you get something for nothing, which is not free when you have to pay £47 for a phone per month

I was then told that I would have to take it up with the shop in London as though I was talking to a another company. I thought they would say I had to find the live chat person who told me, even though we know they are all robots

I have get a disappointed 10 year old, in my book this is at best duplicitous and at worst mis-selling using the word free but not telling the customer that you have to pay £47.

I will be cancelling all o2 contracts and going to a provider that treats people as adults.

What a rubbish level of  customer service

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

The term "free" refers to you been able to upgrade the account without early cancellation fees, not that you get a £600 phone for nothing.
It's all in the T&C's which you most likely didn't read, I would assume.....?

[Anonymous]

I would expect that when I made contact with o2 on three occassions before today that someone would have introduced me the novel o2 concept of free in so much as you have to pay for free things, its disappointing that no-one did, they all said or wrote 'free upgrade' with no caveats

[jonsie]

Many meanings of 'free' depending on your interpretation. In this instance you have interpreted it incorrectly.

[Anonymous]

Don't take offence but a 10 year old with a contract.

We get a few threads on here about children with contract accounts racking up bills.

Also a minor with a high end phone may attract unwanted attention!

[perksie]

23,000,000 customers all asking for free phones would send the company broke.

As MI5 says, a free upgrade means you don't have to pay off what you owe on the old contract.

[Bambino]

If you took out a contract, you can't just cancel it. To do that you will have to pay off the remaining months left on it, which from what you have said, sounds like quite a few months.

[MI5]

Why don't people read the terms correctly 😞

[jonsie]

They aren't important until you think you can make up your own!

[Anonymous]

People get caught up in the shopping feel good factor and don't seem to take much notice of small print!