Phone randomly barred for some reason

[ay0ub24]

Hi there,

For some reason I have recieved a text the other day saying that my phone has been barred until I pay my recent charges of around £300. Which is perfectly fine in my case as I've never missed my payment on my contract.

However they are now demanding full payment way before my contract and thankfully customer services removed the bars for the time being but said it could be reapplied automatically. 

Why have I been barred firstly and secondly why am I being forced to make a payment immediatly instead of my usual time on the 21st by direct debit? 

Regarding this I have made a payment of £100 to the account and previously last month I accidently made an over payment which left me with a positive balance of £33, so in total around £133 was made to this day.

I told o2 several times that I will honour my payment plan that I proposed that was £120 this week and the rest by direct debit but why is that not allowed and being told that I must make the full payment straight away? 

I would never borrow money in which I can't afford to pay back and I think it's just outrages that I wake up to my phone barred a couple of days ago for no reason what so ever and I've not fallen behind on the debt and that my payment was not due until the 21st of this month which is nearly 2 weeks. 

I just dont understand this and needed some assistance

[ay0ub24]

I have made my complaint through resolver and O2 have replied saying that they are making an investigation and will get back to me in 5 days. 

Just find it strange how I've been using it for years and now all of a sudden they just demand full payment without any warning. 

[MI5]

Let us know what they say please.

[jonsie]

I hope they have a very good reason.

[ay0ub24]

I shall do.

Thinking of phoning then to see if they have an update.

It's because the money I used to pay this was my living money since am a student I don't have that much but to be forced to pay my bill which has now been paid again as my phoned was barred again is ridiculous.

Been with o2 for over 6 years and never had the problem before and to tell someone they want their payment straight away is just bank out. There was no notice or anything and left me pretty much skint until payday which is the 21st which is the same day I get paid and the direct debit goes through.

Said in the complaint that it's added even more stress as my thesis is due in this week. And this has blown over the top and had to put my own general living money to pay this bill cause they don't seem to have any patience to wait 10 days until the direct debit payment goes through

[ay0ub24]

What happened if they don't have a good reason. what would my next step be?

I've also asked for compensation because I'm borrowing money just to cover this bill as they wouldn't wait until the 21st so obviously I'm getting charged interest for it which is 59.9% interest

[ay0ub24]

O2 have got back in touch with me. Instead they were rather very rude. 

They are claiming they have sent emails to me on the 3rd of April claiming that I must make a payment which I did not recieve. 

This is the responce they have given me but I'll remove the sensitive information. 

My investigation
We’ve sent emails to your registered email address, from 3 April 2018 until 6 April
2018, requesting that you make an interim payment for your unbilled charges. You’ve spoken with our
Webchat Team on 3 April 2018 and you’ve promised to pay £260 on 5 April 2018, but you’ve not done so.
You’ve made a £30 interim payment on 5 April 2018. You’ve then spoken with our Webchat Team and,
although you’d not made the requested payment amount, they’ve removed the bars from your account.
You’ve made a £65.20 interim payment on 9 April 2018 and another interim payment of £211.00 on 11 April
2018.

If we see usage on your account that causes us concern, we might restrict use of your services on your SIM
card. We may also ask you to make payment for the extra charge. If we restrict your SIM card, it stops any
use of the chargeable aspects of your service. To view our full Terms and Conditions, please visit,

V 1.5

https://www.o2.co.uk/termsandconditions/mobile/our-latest-pay-monthly-mobile-agreement

As per our Terms and Condition, I’m been unable to uphold your complaint.
My actions
As I’ve been unable to uphold your complaint, I’ve taken no action on your account. I appreciate this isn’t the
answer you’re looking for, but I hope you can understand our position in the matter.

This completely goes against the whole complaint as I had to borrow money to just pay my bill which isn't due until the 21st. And the chat that I had with an adviser goes against this. I said I will make a payment of £30 on the third and once I get my credit card I will make the remainder payment which as you can see have been done £276.20. It doesn't relate to the hardship that I went through just to get this out the way and completely ignored my complaint and claimed that I didn't make payments in which the second paragraph shows that I've made the full payment.

[MI5]

All they care about is the money these days.

[ay0ub24]

I've sent a reply and if they don't respond appropiately I'm taking this up futher. They can't just demand payment of such a high bill straight away without warning and can't simply wait until the 21st in which the bill would have been paid in full.

[MI5]

You can ask them for a letter of deadlock and take your complaint to the Ombudsman if you wish to take it further.

[jonsie]

Well good luck @ay0ub24

It seems we don't know the full story here. From O2's actions and comments in the reply to your complaint , they apparently have concerns about the way you are running the account which is why they have asked for full payment and still make reference to barring your account if they suspect any 'unusual activity'.