cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

O2 repeatedly failing to remove imei number from blacklist

Neil_
Level 1: Joiner
  • 1 Posts
  • 1 Topics
  • 0 Solutions
Registered:

Hope someone can help me, as the experience I have had with O2 so far has been awful.

 

My wife had her phone stolen some 2 years ago. She immediately called o2 and they blacklisted it. We didn't have any insurance, so got another phone for her. 2 years later, the police have actually recovered her phone, it's in perfect working order, and is back with my wife. As she has a phone, we want to give it to my dad to use. The imei was still blacklisted, so my wife called o2, passed the security checks, and the customer support rep said they'd submitted a request, which should take up to 24hrs.

 

24hrs passed, and no joy. Phone wifi works, it's been factory reset etc, and the Apple store have confirmed that it is fully functioning, but it's still blacklisted. Call O2 again... Same story. Wait a day, doesn't work. Call O2 again... Every time going through the security checks and having to re-explain the details. Painful! 

 

Finally went in to a local O2 store, my wife sitting for hours trying to get someone to help her. O2 customer service were saying that the phone is not blacklisted anymore, but checking any free imei checking website shows that's not the case, phone is still blacklisted, and an employee in the O2 store confirmed the same thing. Eventually after multiple attempts, the assistant store manager said he would pass on the query to the Helping Hands team (a sort of 2nd line support for problem cases). They advised that they had looked into the problem and resolved it, just wait up to 24hrs. Waited again, and again no success.

 

Very disappointingly, the store manager AND the Helping Hands team just washed their hands of us, saying there was nothing else for them to do. The HH team unhelpfully pointed out reasons why a phone might be blacklisted, which isn't the point. The phone was correctly blacklisted back 2 years ago, but now is back with its rightful owner, so why can't it be undone!? 

 

This has been going on for weeks, with no-one being able to give any assistance. The phone is my wife's property, but she cannot use it properly because O2 have repeatedly failed to remove the imei from the blacklist. 

 

Please can someone help with this!? What can be done?

Message 1 of 7
2,553 Views
6 REPLIES 6

Glory1
Level 43: Bright Spark
  • 10294 Posts
  • 85 Topics
  • 123 Solutions
Registered:

Hi @Neil_ 

 

I will tag our community managers @EmilieT and @Marjo to see if they can provide any help or know a man who can. 

 

Best of luck and welcome to the forum Welcome

Lover of all things Samsung. Currently using Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus 128gb


Message 2 of 7
2,546 Views

Cleoriff
Level 94: Supreme
  • 122356 Posts
  • 824 Topics
  • 7457 Solutions
Registered:

@Neil_ 

I will mention our managers here to see if they can help @Marjo  @EmilieT ?

Veritas Numquam Perit

Girl in a jacket
Message 3 of 7
2,544 Views

Cleoriff
Level 94: Supreme
  • 122356 Posts
  • 824 Topics
  • 7457 Solutions
Registered:

Oh whoops @Glory1 . Sorry for the echo innocent

Veritas Numquam Perit

Girl in a jacket
Message 4 of 7
2,542 Views

Glory1
Level 43: Bright Spark
  • 10294 Posts
  • 85 Topics
  • 123 Solutions
Registered:

No problem @Cleoriff 2 tags can't hurt thumbsup

Lover of all things Samsung. Currently using Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus 128gb


Message 5 of 7
2,531 Views

EmilieT
Former Staff
  • 5434 Posts
  • 304 Topics
  • 65 Solutions
Registered:

Thanks for the mentions @Glory1 and @Cleoriff wink

 

@Neil_ I'm sorry to hear this has been going on for a while, and I'd gladly see what we can do to help on our end! I'll send you a Private Message shortly to get a few more details first slight_smile

Access for You: Registration - Find out how to register for our Access for You service.
Want to chat with other fellow-minded members? Head to our Off-topic section for some interesting chit-chat.
Check out our Priority board for tickets & offers updates, and to discuss all things Priority-related!
Welcome to O2! - New to O2? Find out all you need to know to get started!


If you'd like to take part, why not register? slight_smile
signature

Message 6 of 7
2,528 Views

jonnymk
Level 2: Apprentice
  • 39 Posts
  • 3 Topics
  • 0 Solutions
Registered:
I do believe this is standard practice in the UK with all the operators. Once a phone is blacklisted, that is the end of the matter. This is for obvious reasons. If you can prove it’s the blacklisted phone is yours, you may be able to get the police to request it’s removal from the blacklist.

This system is a bit archaic though and pre-dates systems like touchID, appleID activation lock and other security mechanisms also on android. Blacklisting IMEI was only really effective back when we had phones like the Nokia 3310 with an easily crackable 4 digit pins that many of us didn’t even set.
Message 7 of 7
2,525 Views