Is O2 customer service the worst in the UK?

[chrisj1]

So, I joined O2 in Feb as part of a package with Virgin. Since then it's been constantly a battle and nothing has been fixed.

First off they messed up migrating the number. It took several calls and they were stroppy with me for asking. Next they messed up some settings on the account meaning that 7 months later, I still can't manage my account on the app or see my bill on the web. I've lost count of the hours I've spent on the phone and the number of times one of their "customer service" people have assured me it would be fixed. Always "in 5 days," for some reason; the tech department could solve it at the time, in 30 seconds if they wanted, but they don't appear to actually do any troubleshooting.

In return for this, they put the price up within a month of us joining and have now near enough doubled it, meaning we're paying for data we don't want and don't use, and paying double the market rate for the benefit of Disney+. I would try to resolve this but without the app it's impossible. Particularly as using the web platform just redirects to the non-functioning app at every stage.

Oh, and the coverage is awful in the region I specifically asked them to check.

I've had contracts with Vodafone and Tesco. Tesco were OK, Vodafone were a living hell - but still better than O2.

TLDR: incompetent, dishonest and greedy. Are they actually the worst?

[madasaf1sh]

@andandy 

I never have any issues with Customer Services, either in a Professional Capacity or Personally. 
Have hardly any complaints about reception, from users across the UK (>1000 users)

Chat I never use.. 

Just be aware EE, Vodafone and 3 are just as bad in some areas, so make sure you get some PAYG sims to test before jumping...

[andandy]

Hi @madasaf1sh thanks for the reply. 

From my own experience travelling around the UK, up until about 18 months ago the reception was almost top notch. Now it is worst than my other two sims - Three and EE. You only need to do a Google search and look at the news articles. Many of my friends who have O2 have been complaining of the same issues with reception.

[garetc]

Reception depends where you are but it’s a fact that O2 are woefully low on mobile spectrum.

Taking into account MVNOs (networks using O2’s network) they have the highest number of subscribers which means services are often overloaded even in places where it shouldn’t be. A lot of time this is because they’ve deployed band 20 (which is good for coverage and building penetration but carries less data so is lower and easily swamped) and abandoned any more improvements. Even with spectrum they bought at the last few auctions they’ve been slow to roll it out and hampered by their agreement with Vodafone, which they have equally done to Vodafone, hence why they’re (Vodafone) unwinding the agreement in key towns and cities. 

Customers service has steadily declined as well, their agreement with Capita used to be an industry benchmark, I met with them when my organisation were rolling out chat, having attended an industry event, for advice and they were brilliant but since they off-shored more and more their service has gone down the pan.

Telefonica have used O2 as a cash cow and under invested which is why they’ve gone from being one of the best for customer service to poorly regarded (even comparing them to 3 which some achievement.

Let’s not pretend they’re doing a great job because it’s far from the truth. The merger with Virgin/Liberty will hopefully bring improvements as they appear to have budget for investment but that’s some time off.

[Enlli]

Not sure the Venture with Liberty Global will improve things that much. Virgin Customer Services are very poor as well.

Virgin seem more willing to spend millions on Broadband but I never hear about vast spending on the Mobile network. They have never got LTE+ off the ground and with NSA 5G having good 4G is prerequisite.

They need to close 3G and swing 2100Mhz across to 4G. Vodafone did that leaving their 3G on 900Mhz till the close down this year.

[gmarkj]

Broadly speaking I think o2 do well for coverage - ie, having a signal.

Where they fall down is the speed on that coverage. I don't tend to visit the high traffic areas (large cities like Manchester, Birmingham or London) so I can only go on what we see here, but where I am the speed is very up and down. Some days things will load and quickly, others will take ages and a few not at all.

[MoG]

I agree.

So funny,  I can't even thumbs up your comment! 

Terrible customer service 

[Jones_bmth]

I haven’t time to get into the details of my own issue, but i agree with the comments 

02 customer service is without doubt the worst i have ever had the misfortune to deal with. They are breathtakingly incompetent and manage to turn screwing simple things up in to some kind of art form.

once my new contract is up i will 100% be taking my business elsewhere.

for anyone reading this I highly recommend NOT going l with 02 if you’ve yet to decide. Whatever deal they offer you, it absolutely is not worth it

[Oxonian]

@Jones_bmth 

I agree that O2's Customer Service is dire at the moment, but don't assume that things will be better if you go to another UK mobile network. Customer Service is mediocre across the board although one or two of the virtual networks - including Sky and Tesco on the O2 infrastructure - have far better reputations.    

A good "temperature check" of a network's strengths and weaknesses can be to browse its customer community and see what is customers are finding problematic or troublesome.