unlock my phone

[Anonymous]

Im looking for some help, i have a galaxy alpha i bought at heathrow (pay as you go, over 2 years) LOCKED to o2, yet when i ask to get it unlocked I cant seem to get any help. I had a previous phone a c3322 which i had registered and i took the sim from that and used it in my alpha, i didnt put the alpha on my account page. Now i have deleted the c3322 hoping to put in my alphas imei etc to register it, but see that if i want to do that it will text me, lol. i lost the sim ages ago, and im now in singapore and wanting to use my alpha. I even went as far as putting an extra £15 on the lost sim so that i can get it unlocked, this is a pretty aggravating circumstance, ive bought a phone and its locked to o2, yet when i last asked i got told as it wasnt an o2 shop they cant unlock it.....WTF, to be honest i dont give a monkeys what shop i bought it in, i was LOCKED in to O2 so O2 should be the ones to deal with it. a sim unlock code isnt a lot to ask for after two years of being locked into your network.

[MI5]

Yes, we would all agree and have been saying the same for years.

[Cleoriff]

Look I am getting confused now and it doesnt take much!

*Firstly I thought if it was an O2 locked phone (wherever purchased) then O2 had to unlock it

*Then after much discussion @Toby stated http://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Pay-Monthly-and-Pay-Go/unlock-my-phone/m-p/982414/highlight/true#M11502...   "O2 can only unlock handsets that have been sold directly by us via an O2 shop, O2 telesales or O2 website. Devices purchased elsewhere cannot be unlocked by us directly – we can only generate unlatching codes for our own devices. We understand this may cause some frustration, but we simply don’t have the means to unlatch a handset that does not ‘belong’ to us".

* Now since that info we have had two or three locked O2 devices..  NOT bought from O2 ...which have been unlocked by them??

Excuse me for sounding dim but what is the correct advice?. I think it's important to know, particularly when we are advising others.....

[MI5]

We've proved that regardless of what o2 think "should" happen, the advice we have been giving for years is still actually correct. Although now, I guess, O2 have a reason to refuse if it requires any additional work on their behalf.

[Cleoriff]

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@MI5 wrote:
We've proved that regardless of what o2 think "should" happen, the advice we have been giving for years is still actually correct. Although now, I guess, O2 have a reason to refuse if it requires any additional work on their behalf.

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But surely the 'evidence' of recent unlockings shows whatever O2 are saying....the advice is flawed/incorrect/ worse than useless. Sorry if I am sounding pedantic, but I try hard when giving advice to stick to official guidance....or approved help links. This 9 page thread has conflicting advice all the way through it Rich. That's out of order. If someone asks me how to unlock their phone...I dont want to give them the usual advice...only for someone from O2 to rock up and say that's wrong.....(as happened on this thread)

[MI5]

But we've proved (3 times) it's not wrong.

[gmarkj]

I think that the trials run from here (and the experience of the people who have advice from here) shows that while the official line from o2 might be "anything not bought from us can't be unlocked by us", in reality they will (which is actually more helpful).
In all honesty if anything needs to change it will be the official policy/statement, and the response you get when it is a "sorry we can't help" so that those owners can find out what to do next.

[Cleoriff]

I agree it's the 'official statement' that requires changing...which is why I tagged @Toby into the thread again. I am NOT disputing any of the evidence of the experienced users here. I just get infuriated when the official line differs from the reality....

[MI5]

I'm sure there are hundreds of occasions where the official company line differs from the reality.
We'll never fix them all......

[gmarkj]

but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try....

[MI5]

How long have you got ?