I can't recount this blow by blow but daughter bought a new phone and plan at an absolutely unmatchable rate on Black Friday (26 Nov). She got the contract and they have taken the first payment (nearly £40).
The phone didn't arrive. After numerous calls they found it had been sent to their Brixton branch. After numerous calls they managed to get the Brixton branch to return it.
After numerous calls she still has no phone, and is being told by customer services that she needs to speak to Sales, and by Sales that she needs to speak to Customer Services.
In response to her requests to escalate, she has been told at least four times that a manager would call her back within 24 hours and this has never happened. Managers are not apparently available for them to pass a caller on to in real time.
One time they promised her a message, which duly came, and amongst other useless stuff said "if you still have a problem, please call this number" - and it was her own number!!
She has mailed the (supposed) CEO on some email address she found on t'web but no reply.
Yesterday she raised a complaint with the Ombudsman and also documented it to the Mail and Martin Moneysaving. (I am not sure that the Ombudsman will be interested as they have fairly specific issues which they get involved with)
When I say numerous calls, in total she has now called them 22 times and they have never called her. None of the calls has been less than 10 minutes and often the wait time is considerably longer. Each time she has to re-explain the issue, even (for instance) when CS have transferred her to Sales - though that isn't surprising, it simply adds to her annoyance.
She is going to keep trying but as it stands she is out of pocket for a device she hasn't received, and cannot get anyone to listen to her and take it seriously. And has spent many hours trying to resolve it. I've run out of ideas really, it is just startling incompetence and lack of care for their customers.
What would you do next?
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Ask for a credit card recharge.
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When I had problems with 1. local transmitter and 2. a replacement for a faulty Sim I contacted the CEOs office and told them to sort it and also told them that their excuses were just words and I had proved that 1. was their fault and 2. was theiir franchise not being honest.
Also the company did not believe their own help desk answers.
Do check if the outlet is not a franchise with all the familiar Logs etc.
My son quite cleverly got a notebook out and warned them he was noting what was said but did not adviise them that his phone was recording.
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>>What would you do?
I would contact my credit card company, and ask them to reimburse the full amount.
That's what I did years ago to get back a deposit on a new car, when I was getting absolutely nowhere with the dealer.
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CEOs office hasn't responded. I'll try to check the name she used.
It was an online offer on O2s own website, not through a shop.
And she won't want to do a recharge as she wants the phone, it was an extraordinarily good offer, probably half what it will otherwise cost her (and she's not that well off).
But I get what you are saying.
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I've always had excellent response when trying to deal with these sort of problems by emailing the CEO (www.ceoemail.com). Of course you don't get a reply from the top person, but it immediately gets elevated above the pond life. This time of year and pandemic may cause delays.
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As mentioned, no reply from CEO.
I have a dispute running with Revolut and their CEO has ignored me too, so we're off to the Ombudsman. In my experience, it doesn't always work...!!
EDIT: I don't think it was credit card now I think about it, she doesn't use one.
Last edited by: smokie on Fri 31 Dec 21 at 17:04
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Is it worth popping in to a branch to talk to a person in real time - you may get a result?
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Could try but when her phone was sent to one and she was trying to recover it, she got the impression that the branches are virtually a separate business.
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We thought we'd reached the conclusion of this but we haven't.
Would appreciate any quick comments people can make on the legal side, as she needs to follow up the latest development urgently.
Summary so far - daughter ordered a Black Friday deal with O2 for a new £30 pm plan and phone, the phone didn't arrive here and she was charged the first month. She didn't manage to get the phone and was bounced between Sales and Customer Services so she write to the CEO.
In a nutshell - daughter had an email in response to her email to the CEO which included
"I’ve asked our retention team to contact you directly to see what we can offer you; I’ve also advised them to either match or better the deal you had originally (I’m unclear exactly what that was and this may be subject to stock and other things out of my control) but, we’ll do our best to get you a deal you’re happy with. "
So the phone arrived this morning and she has set it up and used it.
She then received a second email from the same Executive Relations person saying
"I can see your new order now (and the old one). [She never cancelled her order, and has not received any money back]
"The maximum discount the system allows is £13 x 24. This brings the overall monthly amount to £39.32.
"Your previous offer was an incredibly good one. I can’t lower it any further than that in terms of discount as it’s not physically possible. I will add on a lump sum credit to cover half of the difference ( £108 ).
"This will be on the Airtime Plan – as will the recurring £13 discount. We can’t change anything on the CCA. "
Surely
1) they accepted and are in a contract with her by taking her money and sending her a phone, albeit it got lost
2) The lady stated that she would be no worse off but she is
What next? Daughter would love compo but really just wants the phone for £30 pm.
The Ombudsman won't help for 8 weeks or more.
I ask for urgent help as she needs to get back to them soon.
TIA.
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get them to add a lump sum to bring the contract cost down to 30 quid a month.
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Thanks - yep, that's the minimum she'd want. I did say to her if they can add a lump sum, they can just make it a bigger one.
I'm veering towards a county court claim though (aka small claims). Certainly threatening one anyway, and most likely going through with it if we can be bothered.
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Dealing with companies like this can be a real PITA when it shouldn't be.
Quite simply they are obligated to provide a phone and contract at the price agreed.
(Shoe on the other foot) If this were you breaking the contract, you would be sure that they would be coming for you for their losses. What makes them think they can do differently when it's them in the wrong?
Point that out to them and threaten small claims court.
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As I'm seeing it the gaffer has said that the original deal should be matched or bettered.
Someone down the food chain has said they cant do it due to the 'system'.
Maybe another contact with the gaffer to highlight that their instruction is being obstructed.
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Thanks. She wrote back along those lines and received
"I had hoped to get the new offer as close to your original but promotions, deals, offers and discounts are all subject to change. It’s regrettable that there were problems with delivery which in turn meant the order was cancelled – this does not mean we are bound to honour the original offer on a new contract.
"I’m sorry to disappoint you but this is my final position.
"If you wish to make a legal claim you’ll need to write to O2’s head office. Alternatively, you may wish to seek the advice of the Ombudsman.
"Please let me know which you’d like to do and I’ll send you the details.
Advice elsewhere is that probably that's as good as it'll get now, but I believe daughter still wants to pursue it, not least due to the amount of time it has taken her, and the number of times she was told stuff e.g. a manager was not available and would call back, and no-one being prepared/willing to take it on.
Court would cost > £50 and I suppose she could lose.
It just seems wrong that they can renege on a contract - they've cancelled it unilaterally - and say she can no longer have the deal, just because they failed to deliver the phone correctly, so she'll be out of pocket - albeit not by a great deal if the lump sum is paid but it still just seems wrong.
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I’m no legal expert but i would have thought that them taking a payment was tantamount to the agreement being signed and in force.
They took your payment and then refused to deliver. Though on their part IMHO!
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My memory of the law of contract is a bit sketchy but perhaps the person who wrote the letter is thinking that their advertised price is not an offer but an invitation to treat. I suppose the question is whether that changes when payment has been made, particularly if the payment can be shown to have been accepted.
I'd go the ombudsman route I think, after checking that it couldn't let me in for any material expense. If it's anything like financial services, O2 will have to pay for the complaint win or lose which gives them an incentive to settle when you indicate that you will invoke it.
What is beginning to annoy me now is that many of these very large companies have created such a monster that they can't apply a common sense solution even when if they want to. Utilities seem to be the worst.
One such has just emailed me to say my balance is now £0.00 and they are very sorry that for 8 months they have been sending me bills for unused gas supplied via a non-existent meter. Trouble is we have been here before, and I fully expect another bill in the next post.
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What is beginning to annoy me now is that many of these very large companies
>> have created such a monster that they can't apply a common sense solution even when
>> if they want to. Utilities seem to be the worst.
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>
I know someone who doesn't have an electric meter, the electricity company refuse to believe it. They just keep going round and round in circles.
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She is wasting her time. They can cancel the contract at any time, as long as she is reimbursed for any payment she has made. They do not have to offer her the same terms on any new contract.
She has no redress other than vow to never use O2 again.
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O2 - what would you do? - Manatee
