Is it always going to be like this?

[Anonymous]

I really don't use my O2 phone a lot - it's a way of people being able to contact me, not the other way around. So when I top up £10, it'll last me several months. I don't need a contract, and I don't need some package of 1000 texts etc in exchange for my £10, I'd much rather use it as I need to, even if that means paying full price for a text.

So anyway, on June 6th I come to the website to top up just as I have before, and that apparently goes fine, and I get a confirmation sms 'Calltime loaded, your balance is ... ' etc.

A little later, I get a new message. 'Good news. You're now on Pay & Go Go Go. You've got 500 texts .... etc ... We've taken £10 off your balance.'

Strange. I never asked for that. In fact, I had explicitly chosen a tariff when I signed up, and that wasn't it.

Almost exactly 24 hours later, I get a second message. 'We're doubling your Pay & Go Go Go bundle. You'll get 1000 texts .... etc... Make sure you've got £10 credit before 06 JUN.' 

Yeah. Except I DID top up on 6th June. And you took £10 straight away. Now it's 7th of June and you're asking the impossible, literally. So now I'm even more confused.

But I digress, I have more important things to do. 

On June 11th I receive another message. 'Hello. Your Pay & Go Go Go allowance has expired.... etc....'.

What...the....F.....?   So I've had four-and-a-bit days out of the £10 credit I put on, and now it's expired and left me with 34p?

So now I figure I really do have to try and find out what the heck is going on, and thats when the fun begins.

I don't know if it's something on my work network, but I can't keep a chat to O2 live support going for more than 10 seconds without it terminating. Tried multiple times. Got nowhere.

So then I try and find out how to email or something, because I want to put it in writing, not try and explain all of this over the phone. There doesn't seem to be an option to email. I find a web form, after going through a bunch of 'help' (heh!) questions and continually telling it that this doesn't help. I go through a multi-stage process of filling in account questions, security questions, and finally my query.

Hours later, I get an email from prepaymemberservicewebform@o2mail.co.uk saying 'Thanks for your email, but we have now shut down our email support service.Don't worry though, for instant help speak to us on Live Chat, where we'll try to solve your issue straight away.'. Yeah. Funny.

At the bottom of this very email, though, it says 'or email us at mailto:mycare@o2mail.co.uk where it will receive our attention.'. Hurrah! So I fire off the same details I've tried in vain to get sorted via chat and the web form. 

I get the same email back - we've shut down our email support service. But THEN I get a further email saying that because I didn't use the web form (heh!), I won't have answered the security questions necessary to answer the query - but not to worry, just answer them now in another email. So I do. 

And get back another email to say 'we've shut down our email support service'. Complete with the same link in the footer assuring me I'd receive attention if I emailed this very address.

*sigh*

Also, this isn't the first time they've taken money off me without asking. When I first got my sim card, I stuck it into my iPhone, and while already connected to wi-fi and having already set up my phone, I got an sms saying that they had given me a data allowance so I could get my phone set up - which had to be used by midnight - and that they'd deducted credit from my account to pay for it.

Really, for a communications company, it's amazing just how ridiculous they are at communicating. It's because of their failure to be consistent in their communication that I have a query in the first place. And now it seems impossible to resolve, because of the inconsistency in attempting to communicate with anyone in support.

Any advice on where to go from here?

Is it always going to be like this? Should I just cut my losses and move to another supplier?

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Yes they shut Down e mail Contact a while ago 😞 and we've let site management know this is still showing as available on the site.

I'd suggest ringing them in 4445 free from your phone and circumvent live chat.

A person can put their issues in writing here http://www.o2.co.uk/how-to-complain/complain

Where did you get the SIM card from. I'm wondering if it was a Payg go go type.

Look in your Myo2 to see what your on.

Cs will be able to ascertain what's happened and act accordingly.

[MI5]

If it was me, I would switch to giffgaff.
Still runs on O2 network and you can just top up and leave it until used up.
Calls & texts are cheaper and as data use isn't an issue to you it can be turned off on your phone and forgotten about.
You will need a PAC from O2 to keep your number but other than that you can manage everything online on the giffgaff website.
www.giffgaff.com

[jonsie · Accepted solution]

Have a look in My O2 (register if you haven't already) and see what tariff change you are able to make. You can change once every 30 days. There are tariffs where you keep your credit and if you don't need the allowances you don't need to top up every 30 days.

[Anonymous]

To be fair this isn't a typical experience and the same rules around disconnection after non usage would still apply with giffgaff so I'm not really sure that it would make that much of a difference. Just be mindful that there isn't any phone support or stores for support if something like this were to happen on giffgaff. I would receommend @jonsie's suggestion.

[MI5]

To add some balance to the last comments.....
giffgaff won't cut you off after 6 months if you either make a chargeable phone call or actively post on the support forum (this can be a simple as asking a question once).
CS is web based and all non account queries are handled by other customers (same as here) and agents and educators are available 24 hours a day for account specific enquiries.
Also, there are no confusing variations of tariffs. You either choose to use credit only or buy an allowance.
Not only does giffgaff run on O2 it is also owned by Telefonica so there is no moral loyalty dilemma to deal with either

[chrismorris86]

To be fair though, Pay as you is outdated and not as popular like it was 10/15 years ago. Almost all my family are on some sort of contract on different networks.

[Anonymous]

Hi chrismorris86

Recently O2 changed T&C and added the Big Bundles which for me gave 2Gb of data instead of the 1Gb I've been used to for a long time.

Each account type has it's Pro's and Con's.

I prefer not to be locked into a 2year contract.

[Anonymous]

I don't like being locked in a contract either but as someone who's been on pay&go also, I feel a contract is better for me... As you don't use your phone much @Anonymous it's a good idea to gain more knowledge on the different tariffs provided and phone o2 and make sure they refund your top up after a clear error on their part...