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Personally @PhoneDoc I think it all depends on time available and particular instore advisors. As said they did it for me 6 months ago. They also did it for my other son. We went midweek. My husband went on a Saturday...
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@PhoneDoc wrote:
@Cleoriff wrote:
@Bambino wrote:This should be something they can do for customers in store. It seems to me to be a a simple process that they've made more complicated.
Totally agree @Bambino They could have done it in 10 minutes...instead with the to'ing and fro'ing to town and back it took a lot more of our time.
PAYG to Pay Monthly migrations can be as quick as this. PAC codes etc are the ones that take up to 48 hours.
Although there are times I'd quite like to have access to more systems and processes in stores, I can see how this would ultimately be self-defeating. Imagine waiting in queue for an hour or longer next time you want to upgrade your phone because the 5 customers in before you all had account issues that they wanted resolved, rather than phoning customer services. In general, stores are best suited to helping you with devices and CS to making account changes.
I disagree @PhoneDoc. You work in an O2 store. YOU are the face of O2. Not some nameless, faceless person on the other end of a call, or outsourced person in Live Chat whose command of the English language isn't always great. You could be in the middle of something crucial with either of those people, and get cut off unexpectedly, leaving you to have to reconnect and explain all over again what the problem is. It's happened to me and it's probably happened to you, and we all know how aggravating that is.
I understand that you can't be dealing with account issues all the time, but maybe, when you know your store is quiet, if you had the facility to do it, you put up a sign within the store letting customers know you can deal with certain issues, or be able to call CS on the customer's behalf because you understand the problem and you're better placed to explain it to CS.
If people knew that O2 handled their customer service just that little bit differently than all the rest, O2's customers would be so much happier, and singing the company's praises, rather than people like the OP of this thread coming here and having a rant because they're so frustrated that they can't get a simple process done without having to jump through a dozen hoops.
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Just to make this as clear as I can,
My partners old phone is a Nokia 6120, on an 02 Pay asYou Go "plan" with phone number xxxxx, been in use for about three and a half years now. if not a little longer, continuous with 02.
02 rang me the first time, to say "How's it going?" and as I'm such a good customer, here's a great deal. If your' partner would like to upgrade her PAYG phone to a monthly plan and a new iPhone 5s, we'll give it to her for #£20 a month. Ok says she, go ahead. But for reasons known only to 02, that first "contract" application was dumped. We weren't told, found out only when I rang and said "What happening?". The reply, "Oh, that application failed"... would you like to try again. She said "Yes please". But, I want to keep my original number.
"No worries" says the nice Irish girl, "you can do that online". Hmmm thought I.
A week later the phone finally arrived. No notice of delivery, just turned up after I chased it up with the transport company. Nice shiny new iPhone 5s. With it's own phone number yyyyyy.
So the first attempt, by using the SMS number and instructions in the SIM card envelope resulted in - by Monday morning early... nothing. No communication, no messages, and no swapped number, So sitting there I saw on this Community Board, anothr web address for transferring the number. Filled it in. Nothing.
Today, couple of hours ago, a helpful person on this actual thread, suggested that her husband had used a another web address, so I tried that one. Well, still nothing. No feedback, no "It's underway dude." Nothing, a big fat nada.
So lots of peopple say "Ring Customer Support" - It will have to wait now, because my partner is back at work, and can't use the phone during work hours.
So I thought I'd have a look at the 02 community and see what others have experienced around this issue. And the numbers are legion. So I'm not expecting a relolution any time soon. Meantime, it makes a pretty paperweight. 
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Has the old sim been disconnected? Have you switched the phone off and back on?
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Hi Bambino.
I understand the desire to have a one-stop-shop to get most things sorted. It would be great - customers would love it and it'd give staff a great sense of satisfaction to be able to solve a lot of problems.
Here are a few reasons why I don't think that's likely to happen any time soon though. And to emphasise, these are my own views from working in retail, my own beliefs from a basic understanding of the economics of running a business, and in no way reflective of O2 policies or practice.
Problem number one - managing expectations. For those of you who have worked in retail before, you'll know the general public can vary wildly in their expectations. To give you some insight in to how much this varies in store: I've had some customers pop in to ask for the landline number for customer services so they can pay their overdue bills; I've had other customers literally throw money at me demanding I accept their payment and unbar their phone. I've had customers phone our store asking if we have a certain handset in stock; I've had others phone and insist I go in to their account and do an upgrade over the phone. Your expectations of what a store can or cannot do can be very different to the next persons. But as soon as you start to blur those lines and make it official policy to provide certain customer services in store, you're moving the goal posts and the public will move with that. It may just be a migration form today, but more people will use that as justification to settle debts in store tomorrow, or to get their PAC code and undergo the lengthy retentions conversation. "You do X in store, so why can't you do Y?" will become an increasingly difficult question to answer.
Problem number two - costs. O2 Stores are great. They give customers the chance to get hands-on with technology before buying it. They give the non-tech savvy the confidence to move into the digital era with free training from the Gurus. They save people uncessary hassle where possible, through data transfers etc. They help explain issues, such as charges on bills, how to use your device abroad, what apps or services may suit your needs. They provide continual support for your devices and software. When working right, they are genuinely great places to work and to be a customer.
Fundamentally though, there's no point trying to delude anyone - they're shops - they're designed to be profitable. Retail is a tough business these days and profit margins are already slim. If more time is spent on customer service issues and less with new/upgrading customers, one of two things will happen.
One: O2 Stores will close as they will no longer be profitable. Closed shops means no looking and feeling at your new device before buying, no data transfers, no face-to-face experience, no immediate device support, and even more pressure being t on customer services.
Or, two: the price everyone pays goes up in order to maintain what would now be a non-profitable service. Think CPW who charge for their equivalent of the Guru service.
Problem number three - competition. To address your last point that if people knew that O2's customers services was different it will entice others. Firstly, O2's customer service is a little different, it's consistently ranked among the top in the UK for mobile networks. Secondly - you'd be surprised how little difference this makes. I can sit and talk about Gurus, Refresh, TuGo, LiveChat, Priority and World Chat until the cows come home - but if Three is £1/m cheaper across the street, that's where 9/10 new customers will go. In such a competitive market, a more expensive company that relys solely on its customer service reputation would be doomed to failure.
Are there problems? Of course. We live in an environment where customers know what they want to get and how much they're willing to pay for it - and that doesn't always reconcile with how much the products and services actually cost to provide. People want their iPhone 7 for £5/m and they wanted it yesterday.
So eventually something's got to give. That's why you get outsourced LiveChat to take pressure off customer services - so the easy tasks can be quickly dispensed with and there's more resources to deal with the complex queries and issues. That's why phone waiting times can ocasionally be longer than you'd like. Nothing works right all the time, but I know this company, I know it has some of the most dedicated and customer-focused people driving it, and they get it right most of the time - but those are the occasions you'll never hear about.
So in summary, I'd love to work in a mobile utopia where a lot of issues can be dealt with speedily by whichever channel or means of communication the customer wishes to use. The reason that's never going to happen is because nobody wants to pay for it, that includes me, and I'm sure it includes you too @Bambino - even for some of the small changes you are suggesting, the cost has to come from somewhere and expectations would have to be managed accordingly.
Please consider this one of the few rants I'm allowed to give from the other perspective 
. Over the summer I'll try to make a guide on here about where to go (store/livechat/phone) for anything you might want to do (pay bills/change name/port number etc).
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I take your points @PhoneDoc, but I can't say I agree with them all. I wasn't suggesting a 'mobile utopia', as you put it, and customers will always come in and ask for the imposssible no matter how the store is run.
I do agree that most people will opt for a cheaper deal without checking whether they get a good signal from the network that's offering it. We see threads here about that constantly.
Maybe what I was suggesting isn't a viable option, but maybe store guidelines shouldn't be so strictly rigid that if someone comes into the store when things are quiet, a problem that the OP presented could be dealt with. Had it been handled that way, this five page thread might not have existed.:smileywink:
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Also I have to emphasis that personal experience should not be dismissed. The regulars on here have often advised new members to go instore for a variety of issues (not just account based) We have had those people reporting back that the staff instore have helped. They certainly helped me and did everything required without question. 6 months later the same store would not do it for my husband and daughter in law. My experience denotes there has been a 'policy change' over the past 6 months. I checked with my husband since I last posted on the topic. Although it was a Saturday he went instore.... he was the only customer.
