I moved to the UK 4.5 years ago from Dublin. I needed broadband and opted to get a broadband dongle from O2. I did not need a mobile phone from O2. I still maintained my Irish mobile (Vodafone) and I had been given a work mobile from my new employer. So I got my dongle and a data plan. 15 months later, I left that job and returned the mobile phone they gave me. About a year later, I moved house and got broadband in the house as part of a Sky package deal. I no longer needed the dongle. I went on to the O2 website looking for a contact number to call to cancel - it could not be found. I was misguided to all sorts of other FAQs etc but never giving me a number to call or other instructions as to how I may cancel. I was encouraged many times to log in to myO2 account to manage my account. When I tried to do this with my email and password, it told me it sent a verification (2FA) code by SMS to my mobile. However, the mobile number associated with my account was the number associated with my work phone from an employer I left over a year earlier. I had no access to this phone/number any more. So I could not login. I should point out that it wasn't my oversight/foolishness that led me to choose to use my work phone rather than my personal phone to be associated with my O2 account - it was instead a system failure on O2s part in that it would not allow me to associate my Irish mobile phone number to the account - so I could only use my work phone's number. So, I'm now in a position where O2 is debiting over £60 per month from my account for a service I no longer need now want. But they clearly, purposefully obfuscate and hide all access to cancellation / retention team contact numbers from their website. So, I finally drove across london to a location where I knew there was a large O2 shop where I would cancel my account in person to an O2 employee. When I tried, I was abruptly told that they could not affect cancellations in the shop - that they were "only there to sell stuff" and that I'd need to call the retentions team. I asked them for the number. They said they didn't know what it was but that I just needed to call 020 from my mobile. I then pointed out that I don't have an O2 mobile phone from which I can call 020. They then said, oh well, I don't know then, but all the information will be available on the website. It simply isn't. These efforts all took place over the course of a few months. When I'd think of it, I'd spend (waste) an hour trawling through a labyrinth of FAQs and misdirection looking for a suitable contact number. So I FINALLY gave up. I'd been paying for a broadband dongle that hadn't been using for probably a year at this stage and was now about to move country back to Ireland. The only thing I had left to do was to cancel the direct debit. I resisted this before then knowing that by doing so without formally cancelling my contract, it likely would have a negative impact on my credit score. But I was left with no other options. So, I did it. I cancelled my direct debit. Well guess what ... I wasn't long getting an email notifying me that they learned that I cancelled my direct debit and what do you know ... they even included a phone number that I could contact them on. So I called the number, went through security, explained the situation. They ackowledged the situation ... essentially that their system assume that you can call 020 to get in contact, not considering that someone might only have a broadband dongle and no O2 mobile phone. They acknowledged that they they did not faciliated my changing my contact phone number to my irish mobile number. They even tried to do it while I was on the phone to them. They couldn't do it. So I told them that I'd cancelled my DD. That that is how I got the number to call them on. That I was calling them to explain why I cancelled my DD. That I had wanted to end my contract for about a year by that point and that I not only wanted to confirm my formal cancellation to them but that I felt I should be credited for previous direct debits they took from my bank account. Importantly, they confirmed that they could see that I had not used the dongle even once in that period. I was put on hold, again. I'm now speaking to the third person since the start of my call. He came back on the line to offer to credit the final bill - i.e. that the current and next bill would be credited such that I wouldn't have to pay them and my account would be closed then. I said okay but what about the many months of direct debits you've been taking since I wanted to cancel but could not contact you? What about all of that time where you've confirmed I haven't been using the dongle. Over £700 pounds taken for zero service given. He said he couldn't (wouldn't) credit that back and that if I wanted to raise a complaint to seek refund of same, his offer to credit the current and final bill would not be honored. The audacity of them!!! Such bullying tactics. So, in protest, I'll make it a mini personal mission to hurt them far more than the value of my grievance. Since I have procurement influence over quite a lot of companies because I work as institutional investor where we have board seats on the boards of lots of companies and I personally advise/direct these companies on IT matters. The combines into very substantial corporate spend on telecommunications. I'll also be copying and pasting this horrendous review for the next hour or so while I'm waiting for a flight on every review site I can find in that time.
