O2 chat once again. Gotta laugh...or cry :)

[cyrillicguy]

Hi there

So I've damaged my O2 Pay&Go sim, ordered a new one, and once it has arrived went to the O2 chat in order to get my number transferred to a new sim.

Posting a transcript here, as to me it tells a thing or two about the O2 customer service as well as puts a kinda sad smile on my face.

info: Welcome to O2. Someone will be with you soon.
info: You're through to 'O2'
O2: Hi I'm *****. How can I help?
Eric: Hi
Eric: As I damaged my PayGo sim, I asked for a new one to be sent out to me
Eric: Now it has arrived, so I'd like to transfer my PayGo number, tariff, credit and alowances onto that new sim
Eric: could you help me with that?
O2: I'll help you in transferring your number.
O2: Can you help me with your old number and its SIM Serial number?
Eric: which one is the "old" number?

(I know it sounds like a stupid question to ask, but I did just in case )

O2: The one which is damaged.
Eric: it's 07*********
Eric: i don't know the serial number of that sim though
O2: Can you help me with the 2 numbers you frequently call or send text?
Eric: just a sec
Eric: *********** and ***********
O2: Thank you.
O2: Just give me a minute.
O2: Thanks for waiting.
O2: I'm sorry to say that this is a special number and we won't be able to take the request for this number.

("SPECIAL" NUMBER? :[ ] Any ideas what that could mean? )

O2: I'll help you with the link to send the request for the number transfer.
Eric: what do you mean by the "special number"
Eric: ?

O2: Click here (THE LINK LEADS TO http://swapmysim.o2.co.uk/)
O2: Special number is a specific series of numbers and we've specialized team on call which handles theie query.
O2: their*
Eric: so you gave me that link
O2: Click here to send the request for number transfer
Eric: Are you aware of the very first step your website asks me to do once I click that link?

A PAUSE....

Eric: hello?
O2: Yes, I'm with you.
Eric: Are you aware of the very first step your website asks me to do once I click that link?
O2: It ask you to enter the number.
Eric: it asks me to enter the number, so it can send me a verification text
Eric: how am I supposed to receive that text if my sim is damaged?
O2: Therefore I requested you to call our team. (NO, YOU NEVER )
O2: From your O2 mobile 4445 25p per call
O2: From a landline 0344 8090222 Standard UK Rate
O2: From abroad +44 7860 980 202 International rates

WELL, NOW YOU HAVE REQUESTED TO CALL THE TEAM

Eric: why you gave me the link then if it's clearly unusable
Eric: ?
O2: Opening times
O2: Monday - Friday 08:00 - 21:00
O2: Saturday 08:00 - 20:00
O2: Sunday 09:00 - 18:00
O2: We provide this link to call the customers for self serve.
O2: I'm sorry, if this would've been possible from my end, I'd have already helped you

Have a nice evening, folks

[cyrillicguy]

---

@anticpated wrote:

Live chat can be hit and miss, 202 can be next to useless sometimes however I think some of the shop support can be even less helpful. The main parts of O2 are generally OK however the aftersales care be a bit hit and miss. 

I wouldn't be too hard on them though, they are trained to answer questions and follow them up in a certain way. It's not that admirable having a job where you are being paid to follow queries onto relevant departments through a set of structured questions. Which is how most troubleshooting works.

A better system would be options to speed up the process with self-diagnosis options in phone and chat options. Lets be honest. most people on these support lines are only there to answer your call.

---

I'm not trying to be hard on the O2 chat specifically, although one could probably write a comedy book consisting of chat transcripts similar to what I've posted. You mentioned the word 'system', and yes, it is the 'system' which sometimes drives me mad. In my opinion, us, customers, should neither be knowledgeable nor intrested whatsoever of O2's (or any other service provider's for that matter) internal setup, structure, relations between different departments etc. Solving the problem should be equally effective regardless of who picks it up - chat, 202 team, a store assistant, and it should be up to the company how they achieve it, for us it all should be just "magic behind the scenes" resulting in a satisfactory resolution.

[Bambino]

@Anonymous Please remove your phone number. This is a public forum that can be viewed by anyone. Cancel your contract if you're not happy with O2 by all means, but do not just cancel your Direct Debit. Unless you cancel within the guidelines, all you will end up with is a negative mark on your credit rating, which can stay with you for a long time.

http://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Pay-Monthly-and-Pay-Go/Cancelling-Your-Contract-A-Guide/m-p/566774/highlight/true#M56526

[Anonymous]

@Bambino already flagged it, omg that is a travesty from live chat. Special number really? The advisor obviously didn't want to help @Toby needs to read this

[jonsie]

So it seems anyone having a number beginning 07 has a special number. You really couldn't make it up!

[anticpated]

I knew I was special...weee!

[Anonymous]

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@Bambino wrote:

This incident, added to the horror story @MI5 posted about several weeks ago, and the countless other complaints we continually see here, clearly convinces me that contacting Live Chat should never.....NEVER be suggested by members here as a possible solution to anyone coming to this forum with a problem.  

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@Bambino is BANG ON with this hence why I previously kicked off other threads about Live Chat being fit for purpose.

The bigger issue here though, apart from Live Chat being **** is the small fact that o2 just don't get it. They think everything is fine. So there are a few moaning customers. .... so what. .... We have 25 minion or so of them so a few are bound to moan. And we are growing by about a million per year or so so we ain't all that bad. 

This story is familiar. Around the world Vodafone used to have this arrogant vision of the mobile world. They thought they had a given right to customers. look what happened. 

O2 watch and learn. Ignore at your peril. Telefonica do us all a favour and either invest or sell. 

[Cleoriff]

I have always been of the opinion that ongoing training and education of Live Chat staff would help to some degree. It certainly couldn't make them worse.

I am not interested in any country Live Chat may be outsourced to...people need to be employed and trained to be fit for purpose...this is even more important if English is not their first language. With the appropriate education, anyone, no matter where they live, will provide a vastly improved service

Any education programme should be updated frequently to bring staff up to speed with what is happening in their area of expertise and the ever changing world of mobile phone technology.

[Anonymous]

I would like to put a different point of view, and explain where I think the problems lie:

info: Welcome to O2. Someone will be with you soon.
info: You're through to 'O2'
O2: Hi I'm ******. How can I help?
Eric: Hi
Eric: As I damaged my PayGo sim, I asked for a new one to be sent out to me
Eric: Now it has arrived, so I'd like to transfer my PayGo number, tariff, credit and alowances onto that new sim
Eric: could you help me with that?

OK, you explained clearly what you wanted.  Excellent.

O2: I'll help you in transferring your number.
O2: Can you help me with your old number and its SIM Serial number?

Reasonable information to request.

Eric: which one is the "old" number?

(I know it sounds like a stupid question to ask, but I did just in case )

O2: The one which is damaged.

All sensible conversation up to here.

Eric: it's 07*********
Eric: i don't know the serial number of that sim though

OK, not a big issue, but try to have this info to hand.

O2: Can you help me with the 2 numbers you frequently call or send text?
Eric: just a sec
Eric: *********** and ***********
O2: Thank you.
O2: Just give me a minute.
O2: Thanks for waiting.

So up until now the operator is polite and helpful.

O2: I'm sorry to say that this is a special number and we won't be able to take the request for this number.

("SPECIAL" NUMBER? :[ ] Any ideas what that could mean? )

Yes - a number allocated from a number range which is reserved for temporary allocations, data only sims, or which has been ported outside of O2.

I believe that your number was NOT such a number, but his system obviously told him it was.  Not the fault of the operator.

O2: I'll help you with the link to send the request for the number transfer.
Eric: what do you mean by the "special number"
Eric: ?

O2: Click here (THE LINK LEADS TO http://swapmysim.o2.co.uk/)
O2: Special number is a specific series of numbers and we've specialized team on call which handles theie query.
O2: their*
Eric: so you gave me that link

So here is the confusion.  O2 explains that there is a special team for this, but provides the standard website link.  Why?  This is the information the system gives him.  Requests to port the special numbers, (including reverse ported incorrectly ported numbers), WOULD be handled by a different department.  Eric thinks he is being fobbed off, because the link is just the normal one, but in some cases, it would be adequate.

O2: Click here to send the request for number transfer
Eric: Are you aware of the very first step your website asks me to do once I click that link?

A PAUSE....

Eric: hello?
O2: Yes, I'm with you.
Eric: Are you aware of the very first step your website asks me to do once I click that link?
O2: It ask you to enter the number.
Eric: it asks me to enter the number, so it can send me a verification text
Eric: how am I supposed to receive that text if my sim is damaged?

Realise that O2 doesn't know the type or extent of the damage.  Maybe it is just working unreliably.  They send out new sims to cure every problem these days.

O2: Therefore I requested you to call our team. (NO, YOU NEVER )

O2 clearly means "request", it is a common english grammatical error, (try speaking Hindi or any foreign language 100% correctly, and you'll see how hard it is).  He is not claiming that he previously told you this.  You think he is being rude/sarcastic/lying, whilst he is unaware of the confusion his small mistake has caused.

O2: From your O2 mobile 4445 25p per call
O2: From a landline 0344 8090222 Standard UK Rate
O2: From abroad +44 7860 980 202 International rates

WELL, NOW YOU HAVE REQUESTED TO CALL THE TEAM

And he provided all the info, including call charges.  Great.

Eric: why you gave me the link then if it's clearly unusable

See, you made a gramatical error in your own language.  It happens.

Eric: ?
O2: Opening times
O2: Monday - Friday 08:00 - 21:00
O2: Saturday 08:00 - 20:00
O2: Sunday 09:00 - 18:00
O2: We provide this link to call the customers for self serve.

Exactly, he had no idea that you would be unable to use it.

O2: I'm sorry, if this would've been possible from my end, I'd have already helped you

Polite and honest.

Reading through it and analysing what went wrong is actually much more fun than just taking the rise out of the call centre.

Try working in a job where you have to speak a foreign language and deal with people of a different culture.  It's not as easy as you think.

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[Anonymous]

@Anonymous I then take it that your well versed in this subject & have heard the many horror stories of live chat here & it clearly needs sorting

[anticpated]

The special number may be the IMEI number which is a 15-digit code. If the SIM is damaged and can't be read by a SIM reader then it should at least be displayed on the SIM. Actually this information would be in your My O2 account also. This should have been explained to you better.