o2 chat from outside of UK

[Anonymous]

O2 chat is always showing unavailable even during the times the service is shown to be up ( in BST ). Either the service is truly down for the last 2 days or O2 is filtering by IP and making sure people outside UK pay international rates to get to support - this is BS.

And the real reason I am irritated is I got an WP8 phone with no contract and the sales guy at the local o2 shop said i could use any sim ( i understood as unlocked phone) and now that I am in India the phone wont take any sim and o2 wants 15 quid to unlock. For what ? O2 should put big banners that it sells locked phones and charges to unlock.
Not to mention the lack of chat and any transparency in where the process is -is just appaling. I am generally a fan of o2 but this is a load of rubbish service.

[Anonymous]

Hi.

As far as I'm aware chat has been working fine. I was on the site last night and the pop up showed asking if I wanted to connect.

O2 have never sold true sim free phones and the ones on payg have always been locked out.

Their are t&c to having a payg phone unlocked I'm afraid. With exception to the iPhone a customer normally has to use the phone for a year on the network and them can pay the £15 to unlock.

Unless you have something in writing from the salesperson saying the phone is unlocked it your word against theirs.

A contract customer can have phones unlocked at any time.

You could fill out the unlock form and see where it gets you.

https://www.o2.co.uk/apps/help/help?qid=1&q1=2&route=unlocking&case=Handset%20Unlocking%...

[Anonymous]

thanks .

the chat is definitely down from where i am

  "Live chat

Sorry. We’re closed at the moment. We’re available to live chat with you 7 days a week from 5am."      and it is past 5 AM BST now.

i did go the unlock form and submit it but there isnt any confirmation on email that it is being processed or has hit a road block and something needs to be done.

Clearly, i am anxious to get the phone up and running and not knowing where the process stands is annoying.

is there a status page somewhere ? and how do O2 send their unlock codes - if they send it to my phone - thats a bummer -coz i am not in UK right now .

[Anonymous]

Hi.

Chat opens at 8am Uk Time I believe.

Ref unlocking they would send an e mail if successful in 7 days with the unlocking instructions.

Link http://service.o2.co.uk/IQ/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE?New,Kb=Companion,question=ref(User):str(Mobile),C...

[Anonymous]

thx - will switch to a new provider when i am back .. cant really be bothered with this drama.

and live chat now shows busy .. and once it lets me in later in the day it just says there is no one to chat . Just accept it - it doesnt work outside UK.

[MI5]

PAYG phones have to on the network for 12 months before you can unlock them.
All phones sold in o2 shops are locked to o2.
If you want to buy unlocked buy from Amazon, Phoones4U, or Carphonewarehouse.
PS. Every network in the world locks their PAYG phones so changing networks won't help, although you might feel better, you'll still have a locked phone unless you buy from the places I suggested above

[Anonymous]

have you thought why it needs to be locked ? when a full price is charged - may be  this stupid practice needs to be reported. I am not so sure about ur assumptions about world wide policies but i am not going to dwell on it. Yeah i think amazon is great - why bother with o2 shop -paid 100 quid more as well + so many strings. not your fault - thx mate . 

[Bambino]

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@Anonymous wrote:

have you thought why it needs to be locked ? when a full price is charged - may be  this stupid practice needs to be reported. I am not so sure about ur assumptions about world wide policies but i am not going to dwell on it. Yeah i think amazon is great - why bother with o2 shop -paid 100 quid more as well + so many strings. not your fault - thx mate . 

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@Anonymous it's true that all PAYG phones are locked on every network, and I have no reason to doubt what @MI5 has said, who are you going to report it to, and for what reason if they all do it? You can't really blame O2 because you didn't search well enough online to find that you could have found it cheaper, and unlocked, on Amazon. 

[MI5]

The "reason" networks lock their PAYG phones is to ensure that you use their network.
EG. Scenario. Nokia ABC cost £100 from O2 and £150 from Vodaphone. You buy from O2 then put a Voda sim in in so O2 lose out.
There is always the option of sim free which in some cases is more or sometimes less £'s but you then have the freedom to choose your own sim.

[Anonymous]

impressive arguments - who are you guys that love o2 so much ? u clearly only ever buy phones in ur life .. do you get paid y o2 or just simply worship for the heck of it