Phone Completely Barred for 3 Days Now. No-one I've called at O2 knows hows to fix it.

[Anonymous]

I have been a loyal O2 customer for over 10 years. I have stayed with O2 because I believe they provide a good service. My experiences recently have made me severely doubt that.

Early on Wednesday, 4th February 2015 while at work I received a call from an individual from O2’s fraud department stating that my phone was going to be permanently barred as it was connected to a fraud case. I asked for more information but I did not get any. The caller “Cath” was unhelpful and rude throughout my contact with her. She did not want to hear any explanation from me and had a smug and unprofessional attitude throughout the call. This whole thing was totally new information to me as I purchased the phone through proper legal methods and paid almost £600 for it.

I decided to contact the original seller of the phone who said she would contact O2 to resolve the issue. The seller assured me the issue had been settled and it was due to a mistake on O2's part.

On Thursday, 5th February 2015, I got into contact with “Cath” again to confirm I was in the clear but she was yet again unhelpful and refused to give any more information on the case.

My phone was disconnected from the O2 network soon afterward. This is the phone I use for my work purposes as well as communication with my family and friends. It has now been disconnected for over three entire days.

On Friday, 6th February 2015, the phone seller and I took hours of our own personal time to contact O2 via phone and get through to someone who could help. I was assured the phone will be fully working by Saturday.

It is now Saturday, 7th February 2015. The. Phone. Is. Still. Not. Working. I have called O2 again for about the 15th time but nobody has any clue whatsoever how to help. I kept getting told to clean the sim card, restart the phone, reset settings, etc... I've done all this already anyway. No-one has yet solved the issue unsurprisingly.

I have been offline for over 3 days now. I did nothing wrong and I am being punished for the ineptitude of a few O2 employees.

I have not been able to access any text messages, I have not been able to receive any phone calls, I have not been able to access my voicemail, I have not been able to access my email, I have not been able to connect to the internet.

I have had to use public payphones with extortionate rates, I haven’t any idea who has texted me in the last few days and I don’t know who has called me.

This whole situation could have been easily avoided.

I am extremely disappointed in how I was treated by O2 staff and the resulting lack of the service I have received as a result.

This whole situation has made me question whether to stay with O2 or not.

This may sound like a self-entitled rant, but I expect at least the very basic of services from my phone company. I do not expect to be treated like a criminal when I am a loyal customer. O2 has made an epic fail at "Customer Service 101".

[Anonymous]

Phone is still blocked today.

Couldn't get to O2 store unfortunately, other things came up.

Will try that with them right now.

[Cleoriff]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Phone is still blocked today.

Couldn't get to O2 store unfortunately, other things came up.

Will try that with them right now.

---

Closed at 6pm though .....so will need to be tomorrow now?

[Anonymous]

I went through customer support and the person told me actually, there has been a block on the phone. After four entire days of them telling me the opposite. This whole entire time, no one spotted it. Four days and approximately 20 O2 customer support advisors missed it every time myself or the original seller called up. What, the whatting what?

The person told me I need to call 03448090202 to get this sorted. However, I called up and found out that this is number is not available until tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be day 5 of this. 5 entire days. How much longer can O2 keep this going I wonder?

[Cleoriff]

I think a lot of us thought this would be the case.

If the block has been placed due to someone claiming on insurance I doubt you will get the bar lifted?

I will ask our senior members  @MI5 or @jonsie  for clarification on this...?

[Anonymous]

The seller also thought this was the case but O2 assured her and O2 assured me that there has been no block on the phone all weekend.

I have no idea why the block was put in place, the original seller seems to think it has been a mistake on O2's part for some reason, saying they have become confused and blocked the incorrect phone, O2 has agreed this as well. Yet the phone still remains blocked.

[jonsie]

It is possible that the wrong phone has been blocked but I'm puzzled as to why they called you to tell you in the first place? Something strange about this whole thing.

[Cleoriff]

---

@jonsie wrote:

 Something strange about this whole thing.

---

I am glad you said that jonsie because this is what I felt. Normally we are giving clients the checkmend link to check themselves. I have never heard of O2 contacting you to say a phone is barred..... I mean...did they ring and tell the OP on that phone...then slap a bar on it after they finished telling them?....

[Anonymous]

Yes they did that. They said it was a courtesy they extended to all O2 customers. Although it was the rudest courtesy call I've ever received because the caller treated me like a criminal.

From what I've been able to carefully pry from the seller and O2, who are both telling me very little (nothing I can do about it), somebody somewhere has reported a phone stolen and as a result my entirely unconnected phone has been barred for some no good reason.

[jonsie]

That's the usual scenario for a phone reported lost/stolen to an insurance company and the network provider although they don't usually give a courtesy call beforehand.

[Beenherebefore]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Yes they did that. They said it was a courtesy they extended to all O2 customers. Although it was the rudest courtesy call I've ever received because the caller treated me like a criminal.

From what I've been able to carefully pry from the seller and O2, who are both telling me very little (nothing I can do about it), somebody somewhere has reported a phone stolen and as a result my entirely unconnected phone has been barred for some no good reason.

---

So O2 phoned you on the suspect phone then after their call they barred it ?......very strange as O2 would be thinking that they were talking to the phone's thief