Help & Support from O2 during COVID-19

[Chris_K]

Hello, and welcome to the O2 Community.

If you're reading this, it's likely because you're looking for information or you're having issues getting through to our Customer Services by phone or through our social media. Remember, you can manage your account and get lots of self-help via My O2 without needing to contact us. Video and guides on using My O2 here.

Contacting us
The Coronavirus global pandemic has caused unparalleled disruption and uncertainty to all of our lives - not just for us all as individuals, but to businesses across the country which includes all UK mobile networks, including O2.

Due to the impact of coronavirus which has meant less agents being available with an increased demand in support, we have had to make some changes to how we operate and the queries we can handle. We therefore ask that you only contact us by phone or via social media for essential issues only. We are at this time unable to answer non-essential queries. Our My O2 service remains fully operational with many self-serve support options.

Our Customer Services
Our customer services are still in operation, though at a reduced capacity. See below the latest opening hours and the queries we can help with.

📞 Phone Support 📞

Opening Hours: See latest opening hours here Latest Info: Due to a reduced capacity within our call centres our phone lines are operating at a reduced capacity. We are training more staff to be able to work from home, which will increase our capacity in the coming days and weeks. Supported Queries: We can only answer essential query types where you are at risk of not being able to use your phone or our network to access the internet, make calls, or send messages.

🗨️ Social Media Support 🗨️

Opening Hours: 7am to 10pm weekdays, 8am to 6pm weekends Latest Info: Due to more customers messaging us on Twitter and Facebook, our Social Media team has been inundated with requests. We have aligned our opening hours to match our phone lines, and can only support the same essential queries, outlined above and below. We also have an 'out of hours bot' which sends automated messages with support for common queries. Supported Queries: We can only answer essential query types where you are at risk of not being able to use your phone or our network to access the internet, make calls, or send messages.

💬 Chat Support 💬

Opening Hours: Currently Closed Latest Info: The sites where our online chat service operated from are currently in total lockdown and as such, customers are unable to use the chat service on our website or from My O2. It is not yet known when our chat service will return.

Support for customers
We continue to review the support our customers need and that we can provide them on a regular basis. Some of the support we are giving our customers currently includes:

• Pay Monthly: Lifting the limits on voice call allowances for our Pay Monthly consumer customers. UPDATE: We are extending unlimited calls to standard UK numbers for another 30 days till 31st May. Your tariff won’t change, these calls will just show as free of charge on your bill and in My O2.
• Pay As You Go: We’ve added a 300 minutes allowance for standard UK calls to select Pay As You Go customers to help them stay in touch.
• Keeping you connected: Focussed efforts in maintaining our network for all customers during these difficult times
• Free website access: We have zero-rated NHS websites and many mental health websites for all customers
• Reduced Hospedia call rates: We have removed our charges for calling Hospedia bedside telephones, used in 130 NHS hospitals. We'll also automatically credit back customers who’ve called since the pandemic began.
• Keeping the country connected: We are standing united with the other UK mobile networks to help protect our critical communications networks and infrastructure, to ensure you, the NHS and our emergency services continue to have access to our networks
• Roaming Customers: If you are currently stuck abroad, we’re going to credit roaming costs back to you for the period between 16 March and 15 April. You do not need to contact us about this - you’ll see the credit within the next week. If you require roaming support from 15 April, we welcome you to contact our customer services so we can discuss this with you directly.
• Gurus on the Community: We have introduced over 20 Gurus and support resource to the O2 Community to help answer as many customer queries as possible. We're unable to support with account specific queries or issues from the O2 Community.
• Payment Support: For any of our customers who have been impacted by COVID-19 and are unable to pay their O2 bill due to their individual circumstances, we request that you please call our Customer Services where our Payment Manage team will be able to discuss your individual circumstances with you further and hopefully find a solution. More information on this here: https://www.o2.co.uk/covid-19
• NHS Staff: O2 is committed to supporting the valuable work of the NHS, helping frontline staff on O2 stay connected. From Thursday 23rd April O2 will be giving NHS staff a free 10GB bundle of data each month, for a three month period, so they can stay in touch worry free. More info here.
• NHS Nightingale: O2 is also providing free voice calls and data for 2,000 devices to be used by patients in NHS Nightingale sites, keeping people connected with loved ones as they recover.

What are essential queries?
This list isn't exhaustive, but while our Customer Services are prioritising only urgent and essential call queries, here are some what we will be able to support you with. If your query doesn't fall into any of the below, please see the non-essential queries section further down this page.

Issue / Query

Issues with our network, where there's no known issue on https://status.o2.co.uk/

Reporting your phone lost or stolen

Issues with a bar or restriction being applied to your account

Removing a spend cap

Device faults preventing you using your device properly

To report potential fraud on your account

If you're unable to pay your bill and face being restricted or disconnected

Cancellation & returns

If you're a vulnerable customer and need support

Porting or migrating networks

Pay As You Go top-up's or allowance changes

SIM swaps

To order a replacement SIM

What are non-essential queries?
With a reduced Customer Service capacity, we need to prioritise support for our vulnerable customers, or for essential and urgent queries only which would prevent you from either being able to use your phone or connect to our network to use data, make calls or send messages. For any non-urgent support requests listed below, we are currently unable to provide support and request that you use any available self-serve options instead.

This list isn't exhaustive, but here are some of the most common 'non-essential' queries our customer service teams are receiving which are delaying us from supporting our most vulnerable customers, or those with urgent queries.

Issue / Query	Available support
Anything already supported by My O2	My O2 provides many self-serve options such as managing your account, viewing and paying for bills, managing your bolt-ons and loads more. We will not be able to support you with any queries that can be handled from within the My O2 app or website. If you need help using My O2, check out our Guru video and member guides here.
S20 store orders	If you ordered a Samsung Galaxy S20 device prior to our stores temporary closing, and have not yet been contacted by us to re-arrange delivery, then we're afraid we're unable to progress with your order at this time. If you have not heard anything further on your S20 store order, then you currently have two options: 1) Wait for our stores to re-open and we'll process your order ASAP 2) Re-order online for delivery to your home, and once our stores re-open you'll be able to take your receipt with you and get any deposits you paid refunded to you You do not need to contact us about any of the above options. We're really sorry, but these are the only options available; we're unable to provide further support or options via customer services.
Returns queries	We’re temporarily extending our cooling-off return period from 14 to 28 days until 31 May. We’re also changing the process for store sales and upgrades so customers can still return their devices while our stores are closed. For customers who want to Return & Cancel: Follow the instructions on https://www.o2.co.uk/help/phones-sims-and-devices/our-returns-policy For customers who want to Return & Exchange: Our usual process still applies, so you'll still need to call us to arrange this, however you will also benefit from the extended return period.
Unlatching or unlocks	Most new devices sold by O2 since Jan '19 are already unlocked. If you have an older device you need to unlock, please visit our unlatching page. Typically, this could take up to 10 days but may take longer in some circumstances. We also have an O2 Community Guide: Unlocking an O2 phone to use a different SIM card
Allowances or tariff	You can view your available allowances from My O2 for Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go, or My O2 Business for our SMB customers. If you need help viewing your allowance on My O2, check out our Guide: How-to guide for My O2
O2 Extras such as Disney+	More info on O2 Extras can be found on our website here. You can choose or add an Extra from within My O2.
Spend Caps	For new or upgrading customers, you can choose your spend cap when adding a device to your basket on our website. For existing customers, spend caps can only be removed by contacting our Customer Services. During this time we request that you monitor your account via My O2 to stay within your means, and only to contact us if you need to remove your spend cap. If you are looking to add a spend cap, this isn't something we can currently support and request instead that you contact us at a later date to add this, and to monitor your spend via My O2.
Insurance	For existing customers looking to add or remove insurance, you need to contact our Customer Services. We request you only do this if absolutely essential. For new and upgrading customers, you can add insurance when adding a device to your basket on our website. To make a claim, you must contact our Customer Services. There's no way to do this online or via our Social Media team.
5G/4G rollout info and network issues	You can find our most up-to-date network coverage here, and more info around our latest 5G updates and rollout here. If you have recently experienced network issues, please check for any known issues on our Status Checker. If there are issues, you'll find the latest updates there. If there are no known issues and you have no network connection, then please get in touch with our Customer Services.
Roaming info	If you are currently stuck abroad due to coronavirus, we understand the added stress that this may cause and so we want you to know that you don’t have to worry about your roaming charges. We’re going to credit these back to you for the period between 16 March and 15 April. You’ll see this in the next week. If you are looking for roaming cost info for a future holiday, please find the info you need here.
Phishing or Smishing	If you have received an email or text that your suspicious about, please find all the latest info, support and tips here. There is no need to contact our Customer Services to report these messages. You can verify your latest bill and charges via My O2.
Account, billing or charge queries	We request that you do not contact us at this time to query your bill or recent charges. This information can be found via My O2. If there is a charge that you would like to dispute that you're unable to pay for, you need to contact our Customer Services - but please do so only if absolutely urgent.
Store Click & Collect	O2 Stores are back open now. As of Thursday, the 13th August Click & Collect orders can be picked up from O2 Stores again. More details here.
Upgrades, devices or accessories	If you're an existing customer, you can view your upgrade date and latest device plan payments from My O2, which will show you how much it would cost to pay your device plan off early, and help you through your upgrade. For new device or accessory orders, please purchase online here.
Order tracking	If you have ordered a new device or accessory, you can track this via My O2. We will also notify you as soon as your order has progressed and is out for delivery. If you ordered a popular device that was on back order, we are unable to provide any updates - but you will be notified as soon as it dispatched.
Age verification	With our stores temporarily closed, the only way to remove age verification checks is by verifying your age via a credit card check. More information and how do to this here. If you don't have a credit card, this is a non-essential query we cannot currently support with via Customer Services.
Coronavirus support	If you have general questions around how we're operating during this time, the support we're giving our employees and partners, or the support available for our customers, please visit our website which has the latest updates and info.

What next?
This is an unprecedented time for us all, including businesses across the country - and O2 and other UK mobile networks are no different. We have a reduced customer service operation due to the temporary closure of our stores, the sites we operate out of, and a reduced capacity in our call centers. We are working behind the scenes to train and equip more of our staff to enable them to work from home, which will increase our capacity in the coming days and weeks.

We are constantly reviewing how we can support our customers during these uncertain times, and will update https://www.o2.co.uk/covid-19 with all of the latest info, updates and support available to you.

We hope you are all safe and well, and we hope to see normality return for all of you soon. Until then, stay safe, stay at home, protect the NHS, and save lives.

[ColinO2]

Hello everyone,

I know I'm a new face and you won't know who I am, but I feel the time is right to introduce myself and and give some updates from my side.

My name is Colin and I am the O2 business owner for the O2 Community. Though this is my first post here, I have been around and watching over the Community for many years, and with the help and support from @Chris_K and our Community Admins @Martin-O2, @LukasB and @TheresaV  (and our past Admins @Toby, @EmilieT and @Marjo), we have together made crucial decisions for the health and wellbeing of the O2 Community over the years.

I know this is a strange, worrying and uncertain time for everybody. As Chris has mentioned above, the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted our customer service operation which has ultimately resulted in a situation where there is more demand for help and support than we're currently able to provide. That is why we have longer-than-normal queues on our phone lines, and why it's taking us longer to answer your messages on Twitter or Facebook. I'm also well aware that these requests for support have overspilled onto the Community.

To our members and regulars - thank you. Truly, thank you! It's you who make the O2 Community what it is and we couldn't do this without you. I know you've been doing this for nothing in return and simply because you love the O2 Community, and that due to the additional volumes you've had a lot of added pressure and stress. I'm sorry this has happened, and while I value all of your support, I'd ask you only to provide the support you can and that you feel comfortable with. As soon as it starts to interfere with your mental or physical wellbeing, or taking you away from your family, I please ask you to stop at that point and our new Gurus and O2 Support members can pick this up until you're able to resume.

To our customers - we know you have questions. As mentioned above by myself, and by Chris, we please ask you only to contact us if you have an urgent issue, to ensure we can support our vulnerable customers or those facing being disconnected. I know we are in a difficult period and every issue is important, but we are trying to prioritise key query’s and issues that have a direct impact on you being connected. I’m also aware of how hard it is to get some of those answers at the moment and I can assure you we are doing everything in our power to get our Voice channels back up operating in full, turning back on our online chat function and supporting our other channels. We are making changes to our self-serve capabilities and updating policies to try and help people as best we can without having the need to contact us directly – as these come online we will be sure to let you know.

The next few days and weeks will be challenging for us all, but I thank you for your support and understanding and together, we will get through this. Stay safe, everyone!

[jonsie]

Thank you for this @Chris_K  @ColinO2 

[Cleoriff]

Thank you @Chris_K  and your post is so very welcome @ColinO2 

We are doing our very best and hope to continue to support each other as well as the many new members posting here. 😊

[gmarkj]

Thanks @Chris_K for clarifying what is or is not an essential reason to call.
Can I ask that you look into the requirement for idata to be added to accounts? There are lots of instances where this is missing from an account and means customers cannot use their phone correctly.
It would be useful if this could be added to the list of things that people could resolve themselves either in the app or online.
Thanks also for introducing yourself @ColinO2!

[pgn]

Finally got around to this, courtesy of a prompt by @Marjo.

Thank you for coming to the forum, @ColinO2, and giving your perspective and health and wellbeing advice - it is appreciated.

@Chris_K has put up many useful topics, and has done a great job tabulating the functions termed Critical and Important above, which will be useful in the guidance given to those using the O2 Community Forum as first-line support in the absence of O2's own Web Chat and the currently limited service on So ial Media and phones lines. 

[Luke30]

Thanks for the info o2 about what can and can't phone customer services about for now.

[DBL]

Hi,  This is all very friendly but the matter is that I can't contact 02.  I have only just transferred to them and bought a new iPhone (wish I hadn't now!!) and I asked to keep my number and they've changed it, even though on my account the correct number is shown, people tell me it's not my number when they call or I call them.  I've now spent 2 days trying to contact 02 to sort this out.  The website has links to 'contact us' which provide no contact access.  How do I get them to give me the my number which they promised to do!  The phone number gets rid of you and directs you to the website which is absolutely useless.  I'm going round in circules.How do I SPEAK to someone?

[MI5]

@DBL 

Goto Settings >Phone >My number and change it to your number.

Save and reboot phone. 

[gmarkj]

Use the numbers in the first post @DBL and use ANY option to get through - fraud, lost phone, payment team, anything.
Once you are through to a person you can explain why you are calling and they should put you through.