O2 has no loyalty to existing iphone customers

[Anonymous]

I would just like to record my dissapointment with o2 over its loyalty to existing iphone customers.

I have been an o2 user for over 15 years (going back to BT Cellnet days) and also purchased the original iphone on the first day it was released.

Why is it that if you are an exisiting iphone customer you have to wait for an o2 store or CPW (who are an absolute joke) to receive iphone 3Gs into stock whereas if you are anew user you could have walked into an Apple store and taken away a new phone on the day of release.

Yes there was a preorder facility but (a) im too busy to surf the web all day and (b) AFAIK this was not exclusive to existing iphone users.

Iphone accounts are online accounts so why didnt o2 email every existing iphone user and offer them priority to upgrade to the new 3G version? Are senior management within o2 really that stupid that they could not figure this out for themselves?

When you take this issue up with o2 store staff members they just look at you with a blank face. What ever happened to Customer Service? The bigger these corporations get the worse the customer service gets.

As for CPW all I can say is "USELESS SCAMMERS".

Was told on the day of release I can have a 16gb version on Monday. Monday became Friday and Friday became next Friday. Got a pathetic letter in the post offering £20 back for the late delivery. Do these morons not understand that people just want honesty, competence and good customer service. Their customer service team blames the store and the store blames the warehouse. Do they not know that they all work for the same company?

How a National company can take hundreds of orders for a product they never had and get away with it I dont know.

[Anonymous]

O2 are giving you the chance to upgrade early, you have to give them credit for that. Legally they could make you wait until the very end of your 18month contract before allowing you to upgrade. Some international networks aren't allowing existing iPhone customer to upgrade or, for example movistar in Spain are making existing customers pay more then they are placed onto the bottom of waiting lists. O2 took a decision to release it as first come, first serve. I do feel this was a fair decisionbut granted this would have worked more effectively if Apple were able to provide more stock.
The reason you can't upgrade through Apple is simply down to Apple not having any network systems to allow upgrading. Apple also released the iPhone in 22 countries on the same day including the US and Japan. There is a huge worldwide demand. I believe o2 would ideally like to have every existing o2 customer provided with an iPhone should they be eligible. Any huge market hype that Apple are building up is not doing O2 any favours.
Stop making such a song and dance about logging into the website. How can you say you don't have time for that, it takes about 1min to check the homepage for updates.
Granted CPW aren't too great...

[Anonymous]

Well said Chippie. Honestly, existing iPhone users get to upgrade a year early with no penalty (saving hundreds of pounds) and still think they are hard done by.

[Anonymous]

I actually dont mind paying for the unit so the upgrade argument doesnt wash with me. Nevertheless if you have the right to upgrade then as an existing customer some loyalty should have been given.

I dont have the time or inclination to frequent the o2 website as I am busy with my work. If a supplier values its existing business what is the problem with a simple email communication given that the whole account is online? Do not forget that existing iphone users paid £269 for a unit and a large number are still without the 3G version. Hardly the way to run your business to ensure maximum customer retention?

I guess one could pay of the whole of the existing contract and port your number to a new contract which I would have considered one week ago had it occurred to me then. I am pretty sure O2 customer retention would have done something about it as they will come out with all sorts of deals just to make you stay.

I take on board what you say however bottom line is that if you are going to offer a concession to your existing business then do it properly.

[Anonymous]

I dont have the time or inclination to frequent the o2 website as I am busy with my work.

yet you still have the time to post this????????? oh the irony

[Anonymous]

I have no reason to doubt should the stock be available then a new iPhone would be on it's way to you now if you didn't already have one, how are o2 meant to provide you with a phone they simply do not have? O2 have shown loyality by allowing you to upgrade early. For yourself this might not be of benefit but for existing iPhone customers they are looking at saving hundreds of pounds. O2 did not have to do this. Why don't you just hang off for a few weeks until more stock is readily available then upgrade?

[Anonymous]

Im sure O2 did have a bunch of phones but a lot of those have gone to new customers. The ones in all the Apple stores have gone to new O2 or new iphone customers.

Some newly launched premium products are offered to existing customers first e.g. if you want the latest rolex or ferrari which is in high demand then you have to be an existing customer to receive initial stock. Believe it or not but there is an obvious rationale behind this.

Reading some of the posts on this forum shows that existing iphone users are going to Apple stores and pretending to be new customers and then ringing up O2 and pretending that they accidentally bought a new contract when they intended to upgrade. Why should they have to do this?

Apart from the "we get to upgrade now argument albeit for another 18 months" why shouldnt existing customers get priority especially when there is unsold stock sitting in Apple stores? So in my mind stock is available but only to new users.

And yes I dont have the the time to surf the web to preorder a phone, a lot of people dont. Im posting now as I want to voice what I believe to be a pertinent point. I did bother checking on the initial iphone launch and there was no preorder. I also called the O2 store the day before and they said they would have ample stock (assumption probably based on previous launch).

Are you guys existing iphone users? If so I take it you got yours?

[Anonymous]

I did have time to surf the web and managed to get my order through to 02 but I am still waiting for my phone to be deliverd a week later.

[Anonymous]

Oh whoopee, another whinging hard done by existing iPhone user allowed to change their phone without penalty early in a contract they freely accepted.

[Anonymous]

i cant believe your using the 'i dont have time to surf the web' as an actual basis for a complaint against 02. They had that facility there for us customers to use and take advantage of. Everyone has obstacles in their lives you just have to get over it and work around them. I swear, you would proberley find something to complain about if an 02 staff member offered to deliver the handset to your house bang on midnight on release day. Some people arent happy unless they have something to moan about even if their reasoning/excuses are as ludicrous as yours.