Hi all
I am currently having an absolute nightmare porting my number over to O2. I would really appreciate it if someone could set this right as I have spent over 15 hours on the phone trying to resolve this matter with O2 customer support over the last two weeks.
I am a family man and manage plenty of phone contracts in place for my wife and kids. Suffice to say I am not new to porting and PAC codes etc. In the last few weeks I have ported various numbers to ID, Vodafone etc and all went smoothly.
On the 6th of December I did an online form to port my primary Plusnet number to my working O2 Pay Monthly sim. The sim in question was active since September and was working fine at the point of porting.
The porting request was placed after 5pm on the 6th of December, so I expected the port to complete on the 8th of December. I called on the afternoon of the 7th of December and was told that the online form had come through and that the port would complete by the 8th of December as scheduled. My phone was on and active through out the 8th of December but the port did not complete.
My Plusnet sim lost service on the 8th of December and since then my primary number (which I want to port to O2) is out of service. I called Plusnet on the 12th of December and they confirmed that my account was now closed and that the number had successfully been ported to O2.
I called O2 on the 12th of December complaining that my ported number was still not active on O2 and I still had my temporary O2 number while my Plusnet sim had lost service. The customer service advisor based in Philippines said that she was fully trained on porting and upon checking the system, she would need to complete another port request, which she had now done. She said the port would complete by 6pm on the 13th of December.
The port did not complete by 6pm on the 13th of December, so I called O2 Customer support and spoke to Michelle in the Indian call centre. Michelle said that the port request placed on the 12th of December was showing as processing and that I should not worry and that the port would complete by midnight.
The port did not complete yet again. I called O2 Customer support on the afternoon of the 14th of December. I was put through to another agent in the Indian call centre. By this point I had not had use of my primary phone number for almost a week. The number in question is my primary number. Its where I receive calls from my customers to book my tutoring services, my online banking codes, NHS appointment phone calls etc. This number is my lifeline and I explained this to an advisor whose proposed resolution was to do another port request form. I expressed my frustration at keeping on repeating the same actions and expecting a different result. I declined the proposed resolution and insisted on speaking to a second line support person or Manager. The agent simply forwarded my call to another call handler wasting an 30 minutes of my time in the process.
The next agent listened to the situation patiently and empathised. He raised a complaint ticket to the back office team and also a customer service complaint. He said that he anticipated that the issue would be resolved by the 15th or 16th at the latest.
Nothing changed and my number did not port to O2. I called O2 on Saturday the 16th. Another agent read the same script and while I was detailing the issues, interrupted me to say that she had done yet another port request and was 100% certain that the port would complete on the Tuesday the 19th of December. I asked for other resolutions and asked to speak to Manager. I pleaded that this phone was my lifeline and that I was being severely inconvenienced. I was told nothing else could be done. Frustrated, I gave up for the day.
I called on the morning of Sunday the 17th. I explained the situation to yet another agent. I asked what had come of the two customer service escalations that had been actioned on the 14th of December. I was told both tickets had closed. I asked what reason had been given for closure but no information was available for this effect. I was at my wits end now. I insisted to speak to a manager straight away. I was told that the manager had just arrived on the floor and would call me back in an hour. I kept my phone with me all day. No phone call came from O2 or the manager for that matter.
I called O2 on Tuesday the 19th of December, the day the port was due to complete (for the fourth time). I spoke to Isra this time I think in the UK. She heard my situation and said sorry for the trouble. Without my asking she applied £10 goodwill gesture on my account as compensation which frankly was an insult to injury! I did not raise this issue or argue about it as at this point I just want my phone number to be active ASAP! Isra said she had raised a tech support request and that I would get a call back in the next few days with an update. I called up again today and was told that I had no option but to wait to hear back from the tech support team.
It is now almost two weeks that I have had no service on the phone number that I use every day. I have lost time and money. I am left feeling angry, upset and frustrated with this situation. I stumbled on to this forum late last night while trying to find a solution online. From what I have read, this probably one of the worst porting stories out there. I have read of other peoples ports not happening for 4 - 5 days or needing more than one attempt. I did not come across a single incident like mine.
I found that in those cases, things had started moving and the ports had been completed when customer support experts from the forum had gotten involved. I am putting out this message in the hope that someone who can help would read this and end this nightmare.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards
Farooq Ahmed
