Is it me or are O2 making it harder for me to ‘be more dog’?
I have recently received another email from you (to which I cannot reply directly), about my handset return and contract renewalfor one of my business lease mobiles.
I recently did the upgrade and handed in my phone at your O2 retail outlet in Victoria Street SW1. It was in perfect condition. I trusted that this was all handled correctly and documented properly, as the staff there seemed very unsure about what they were doing. It took over two hours to complete the process. I took and showed them a print out of the message you originally sent me and they did it there and then. I then tried to email you after getting text messages/emails on my phone asking me to return it. I requested that you please confirm that the contract had been extended for another year under the same arrangements, because the messages from you suggested they have not processed it properly.
I then received an automated reply from you saying that you have now shut down your email support service! But for ‘instant help’ speak to you on Live Chat, where you would try to solve my issue straight away.
I have been on the online chat service today and it seems you are still unable to resolve matters. Apparently you are not able to contact your own retail outlet in Victoria where I returned the handset to. In fact you cannot even give me the number to call myself! Apparently I should not have popped into the branch next to where I work and done the upgrade and handset exchange? Apparently I should have known that the procedure was to contact you and request a jiffy bag and then discuss a handset choice over the phone or something?? The store staff didn’t tell me that. And neither did the emails you sent me originally.
I was never sent a jiffy bag or any other correspondence, I didn’t know exactly how to back up my data onto a computer, and because much of the content is vital work related material I wanted some assistance. And I couldn’t be without my phone for any length of time as I am freelance and use it every day all day to get work. So I went into one of your branches and talked with a guru. Which is what you tell all your customers to do. They were mostly clueless, but did eventually manage to sort it out same day, even though I went in there at 1pm and got back to my desk at my client’s office, embarrassingly, at gone 3pm.
Now I am still getting emails from you telling me you haven’t received the handset which I returned in perfect condition to one of your retail outlets.
After a frustrating chat online, I stopped working, and went and found the branch contact details myself and rang them today. They cannot understand why you are unable to ring them yourselves, when they say they speak to you daily, whenever they need to, on the phone. They have said that they will be in contact with you to confirm that they have returned/are returning the handset, and that it was received in almost perfect condition, having done the upgrade and renewal. I hope that this will now resolve the issue.
Every time I deal with O2, there seems to be a problem. In the branch, it always takes two hours to be served. My daughter just made an appointment with a guru and it took nearly 3 hours to help her synch her devices, because he had to stop serving her every few minutes to attend to every customer who came in, or answer questions, because nobody else knows how to handle anything. I have never spent less than an hour being dealt with or waiting to be served. You don’t have enough staff in the stores and what staff there are don’t seem to be trained sufficiently. Screens lock up, things don’t work, they have to keep referring to somebody/a manager in the back room because they don’t know how to do things etc etc. It is always the same online and over the phone. I try to do things in my lunch hour but I know it will always involve getting back to work late. This is not the image of helpful, knowledgeable experts who care, which you portray. O2 are supposed to empower me as a small businessman. All they ever do is drag me away from my work to sort out problems, which costs me time and money. I spent much of that time listening to the conversations of staff talking to each other about how bad it was working there and that they were interviewing for Vodafone.
So I would appreciate it if you would please tell me how we can confirm that the branch in Victoria Street have returned the handset I handed in to them, to complete what has been a typically tortuous renewal process.
Next year I am going to think seriously before I renew my contract. In this regard, perhaps you could enlighten me and tell me exactly what the proper procedure is for renewing a business lease handset with O2? I cannot send back my handset before I have considered all the options, chosen and taken delivery of a new one, backed up data etc., and if I am not sent a jiffy bag or any instructions how am I supposed to know what to do?
Fed up with trying to be more canine!!!
(Thankfully)
