Not impressed : "Your O2 RPI terms are changing"

[DanielCoffey]

I have been a customer for almost ten thirteen years and as such am (or rather, WAS) on an RPI-only annual price increase. I have just been told by O2 that in a little under two month's time I will be forced to move to RPI+3.9%. Of course I am allowed to quit "without penalty" but I have no right of appeal this forced price rise and unilateral change of the terms of my contract.

I was under the impression that some providers were moving away from RPI + 3.9% so I was wondering if there is a reason for this change by O2?

EDIT : corrected the number of years I had been a customer

[MI5]

No worries then @DanielCoffey 

Go for the cheapest you can find 👍

[MI5]

@DanielCoffey 

I can't reply to your PM for some strange reason, so hope you see this.

You need to upgrade, not take a new contract.

I start by logging in to MyO2.

Then go to https://www.uswitch.com/mobiles/compare/sim_only_deals/o2/

Choose the deal you want

This will automatically redirect you to the O2 website

Just follow the prompts and choose the UPGRADE option

Complete the deal and nothing on your account changes except the tariff at the new cheaper cost

Payment date is the same and your next bill will be at a cheaper rate and will be made up of the pro rata cost of your old tariff and your new tariff

The change should show in My O2 within 24 hours

Volt benefits will still apply, iff applicable, as will possibly a 3 month extra such as Disney+

[DanielCoffey]

Thanks - I understood that.

[MI5]

Just ask if you have any problems.

[DanielCoffey]

The Upgrade worked perfectly. I do have to confess I was not expecting the process to be as simple as it was. The website was clear and used plain English too so it was not difficult to understand the terms.

Thank you for the assistance!

[MI5]

You're welcome mate

[Bob20]

To2 are sneaky ******!, last year (2023) they changed my direct debit to 1 payment for my airtime and device plan, instead of the 2 dd per month, now they have applied the rpi , but if you are still on 2 dd’s you only pay the rpi on the airtime plan and not on the device plan, but if you’re on 1 dd you pay the rpi on the lot, how can they do that when your device plan is a financial agreement, will be contacting the financial services ombudsman this week regarding this, in the next 4 months they will lose 4 customers in my family due to this, the ******!

[Bob20]

Ofcom ruled it illegal against vodaphone. 

© To resurrect my old thread here, Vodafone actually credited my bill each month for the remainder of that contract I talked about in

2019. The credit amount cancelled out the price rise they apply to the hardware as back then they only offered single bills for the whole lot.

It was agreed by Vodafone that a RPI rise on the credit balance still owed for just the hardware is not legal, due to changes brought in by Ofcom also in 2019.

It's a non-issue now as like many other customers upgraded at the end of that contract and Vodafone no longer sell these plans. I make 2 payments - hardware and airtime separately - and only the airtime payment increased this April gone in line with RPI

Hope this helps anyone who may still just about be on these older tariffs, as you should NOT have paid RPI increases on your hardware.

[Oxonian]

Have you actually lodged a formal complaint with O2 about this @Bob20 ? 

I do not think that the Ombudsman will engage with you until you have gone through O2's own complaints' procedure :-

How to Complain | Help | O2

https://www.o2.co.uk/how-to-complain

Customer+Complaints+code+250523.pdf (o2.co.uk)

https://www.o2.co.uk/documents/456036/4246828/Customer+Complaints+code+250523.pdf

The latter - the Customer Complaints' code - details the escalation of complaints to the Ombudsman but does not seem to suggest that you can approach the Ombudsman with giving O2 the opportunity to rectify the issue first. 👍   

When you leave O2, you might also find this useful :-

Guide: Cancelling Your Contract 

[Enlli]

You should only see a rise on the airtime element of that DD.

If not something has gone wrong