Upgrade to Iphone X with O2 refresh plan

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I am not sure if anyone has had a horrifying experience with O2 recently, but i certainly have!

I have been O2 customer for a number of years and decided to upgrade to Iphone X on the O2 refresh plan. I was happy to receive the phone in a few days, but that was when my nightmare started. I tried to update my phone through itunes and then transfer my sim over to the new phone. This failed miserably as the new phone needed to be updated with a newer version of apple and i couldnt get the upgrade happening. After trying to reach O2 who then kindly kicked me over to Apple support and waiting for a few hours before someone decided to answer, i managed to get a decent person in apple support to walk me through my challenge. I got this sorted finally and my new iPhone was up and running. I then decided to be prudent and pay up my device cost so that i can unlock my phone to then be able to add a different sim when i went abroad. Well what did i know that this was going to turn into another nightmare for me. After a number of repeated attempts and calls to customer support in O2 and a lot of assurance that it would be sorted the next time around, i am still at a point where it is not yet unlocked! The explanation to this from O2 is that apple have rejected the imei provided as being part of O2 network, when they actually worked on resolving the issue with my phone in the first place. Now, i am not even sure which wall i should crack my skull into, since neither O2 nor apple have been supportive in this instance, leave alone communicating with each other. O2 is assured i am on their network and confused as to why apple is rejecting it, but they cannot be bothered to do anything about! Anyway that is one of the many woes i am facing... Another classic one is the corporate discount that i am trying to get applied to my account through O2 Open. I had this setup with my last phone, but granted it was a different company. To get it setup this time around has been another pulling my hair experience, where i go through all the hoops in getting O2 to send an email to my work email address clicking on the link and then going to O2 open, registering and then clicking on the device to apply the discount. Well what happens, i get a lovely message which says the system could not carry out the request at this time, please contact customer service for assistance. Now what do the customer service do, they kick you around saying i have to try this again once more, or possibly fill another form and send it out and sit for another 72 hours. I am not sure how many times i might have gone through this exercise but, i certainly can say more than half a dozen... 

Anway long story, short i am still sitting with my phone happy that it is working, but unhappy with both O2 and Apple for not addressing their customer need or even making the attempt.

Thanks for reading my rant and i so hope you don't have such a horrible experience.

Sathya Urath

[Anonymous]

Further update, i did speak to apple about unlocking my phone and they did confirm that i am the registered owner of the IMEI device. So, i am totally stumped!! They state that O2 should resolve this issue for me and should do so, if they have me as the owner with the IMEI and have the associated bill and everything with it,which i do!!

[jonsie · Accepted solution]

Keep on at customer service until they sort. It's totally down to them to get the get it unlocked. 

Have you tried unlocking via the link in My O2? It should recognise the phone is paid in full. 

Meanwhile make a complaint.

https://www.o2.co.uk/how-to-complain

[Martin-O2]

Hey @Anonymous how are you getting on with this issue? Have you got any kind of resolution yet? 

[Anonymous]

Hello Martin,

I managed to successfully get my phone unlocked! Hooray!!! This was after perseverence with customer support both at O2 and apple. Now, next target is to get the discount applied on my tariff.

On writing a review, why not? sure.

Thanks!

Sathya

[Anonymous]

Jonsie, thanks i managed to get my phone unlocked. Now the discount on tariff part. Cheers!

[MI5]

Unlocking help link here https://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Other-Products-and-Services/Unlocking-an-O2-phone-to-use-a-different-S...

Discount help link here https://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Other-Products-and-Services/O2-Open-amp-Friends-and-Family-discounts-H...

[jonsie]

Well done @Anonymous and as I said you have to persevere with customer service. It shouldn't have to be so but the reality is that if you don't you wouldn't get anything sorted. I do think that this is the same with any network and that in general, customer service is lacking in many walks of life these days. 

[Cleoriff]

Are they unlocking the iPhone X already then?...Or have I missed something crucial in the thread?

[jonsie]

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@Cleoriff wrote:

Are they unlocking the iPhone X already then?...Or have I missed something crucial in the thread?

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The phone was paid off in full.