O2 Debacle - Legal/Compensation Advice Please
Discussion
This is a crazy situation to be in so let me start from the beginning:
In August 2005 my girlfriend decided to move from an O2 pay as you talk service to having an O2 contract.
Her pay as you go number will be known as 07725 for this tale.
She arranged a contract through an O2 store in Glasgow, but had to get the phone in my name, as she had insufficient credit history, hence how I am involved.
Upon starting the contract her phone was assigned a contract number, which we'll call 07746, which was only meant to be temporary until they transferred her 07725 number on to the contract.
The transfer never happened, so she simply used the 07746 number and everyone got used to it. Her bills were initially sent to her flat, but when she moved back home she wasnt able to get them sent there as I would have had to phone O2 to do this as it was in my name. She never mentioned this so it wasnt done. Throughout her contract, the money was direct debited from her bank account, and on a few occasions they managed to balls that up, taking it twice in the one month etc, but this was refunded when hell was kicked up in due course.
Now due to the amount she was paying, which always seemed extraordinarily high, she changed contract in July of this year to a different O2 contract, this time opened through Phones4U. They paid her final months existing contract as a deal sweetener and told her how to close the account.
After sending them the letter, they didnt cancel the contract for the 07746 number, because I needed to send the letter as the named person on the account and with my address on the paper.
I phoned O2 about cancelling the contract there and then to try and avoid having to wait another full month for it to be cancelled. This is where the fun begins.
07746, the number she has been calling me from for the last year and the number I have been calling her on for the same period, is NOT a contract number. According to O2 its been a pay as you talk number since November 2003. Her mobile contract is registered to the number 07725, the number that was never transferred.
Immediately I demanded answers of the person at O2. This, I thought, would explain the high call charges if she had been paying for her own calls and somehow someone had a pay as you talk phone being charged to her account. She tried fobbing me off, I told her to put me through to someone that could give me answers straight away or the next point of contact would be through trading standards and my legal representatives.
I was passed to their Cardiff call centre and talked to a chap called Matthew. Now, fair play, after being passed pillar to post before, this guy was on the ball and very helpful. He logged everyting I said and agreed the matter was serious and would need in depth investigation. As it was a Saturday, nobody was there who could authorise suck work, he would need to talk to his team leader on Monday, who could then dedicate a resource to sorting out the problems. He told me to call him back on Monday (this was Monday the 21st of August I was to call back) and gave me his extention number. He said although he couldnt give a direct number, if I called the general number, insisted to be put through to Cardiff and then gave his extention, I would get through. Well, 6 lunch breaks later, I'm just not getting through.
Anyway, immediately after talking to him, I still had to deal with getting the phone disconnected and was passed to their disconnections department. The now standard place panto of what number are you calling about, try this one, try that one, took place and I got told how to get the phone cancelled. Still working on the theory that someone had been getting a free load off her phone, I asked the guy, what the last number dialled on the account was and when was the call made? This should alert us if the phone had been used in the previous month because it had been switched off the whole time.
Now, O2 were still adamant that the number we actually were trying to cancel was the 07725 number, the last call made was at 18:06 on the 8th of July, the number dialled was 07725xxxxxx, ie the number they were adamant the phone actually was! I said to the guy, "do you now see where I am coming from?". He said he felt frankly ridiculous reading out to me and that the number appeared ALL THROUGH THE STATEMENT.
My new conclusion is that instead of transferring the number, they have set up some convoluted re-direct. This explains why the bills have always been so high for a moderate use phone, because effectively, we/she have been charged for inbound calls via a redirect as well as outbound calls and text messages!
Where do I stand from a legal point of view here? As I still cannot contact them via phone it is time to go to old fashioned letter writing. Issues to be resolved:
I have had no word regarding the 2nd letter to cancel the contract
A further £47.50 was dd'd from her bank this morning pushing her account in to overdraft
I am unable to get any further with them investigating charges to her account
My initial thoughts are detail all the above in a letter, and send them a copy to customer services recorded delivery, mentioning I have also sent copies to my lawyer and BBC1's Watchdog programme.
In August 2005 my girlfriend decided to move from an O2 pay as you talk service to having an O2 contract.
Her pay as you go number will be known as 07725 for this tale.
She arranged a contract through an O2 store in Glasgow, but had to get the phone in my name, as she had insufficient credit history, hence how I am involved.
Upon starting the contract her phone was assigned a contract number, which we'll call 07746, which was only meant to be temporary until they transferred her 07725 number on to the contract.
The transfer never happened, so she simply used the 07746 number and everyone got used to it. Her bills were initially sent to her flat, but when she moved back home she wasnt able to get them sent there as I would have had to phone O2 to do this as it was in my name. She never mentioned this so it wasnt done. Throughout her contract, the money was direct debited from her bank account, and on a few occasions they managed to balls that up, taking it twice in the one month etc, but this was refunded when hell was kicked up in due course.
Now due to the amount she was paying, which always seemed extraordinarily high, she changed contract in July of this year to a different O2 contract, this time opened through Phones4U. They paid her final months existing contract as a deal sweetener and told her how to close the account.
After sending them the letter, they didnt cancel the contract for the 07746 number, because I needed to send the letter as the named person on the account and with my address on the paper.
I phoned O2 about cancelling the contract there and then to try and avoid having to wait another full month for it to be cancelled. This is where the fun begins.
07746, the number she has been calling me from for the last year and the number I have been calling her on for the same period, is NOT a contract number. According to O2 its been a pay as you talk number since November 2003. Her mobile contract is registered to the number 07725, the number that was never transferred.
Immediately I demanded answers of the person at O2. This, I thought, would explain the high call charges if she had been paying for her own calls and somehow someone had a pay as you talk phone being charged to her account. She tried fobbing me off, I told her to put me through to someone that could give me answers straight away or the next point of contact would be through trading standards and my legal representatives.
I was passed to their Cardiff call centre and talked to a chap called Matthew. Now, fair play, after being passed pillar to post before, this guy was on the ball and very helpful. He logged everyting I said and agreed the matter was serious and would need in depth investigation. As it was a Saturday, nobody was there who could authorise suck work, he would need to talk to his team leader on Monday, who could then dedicate a resource to sorting out the problems. He told me to call him back on Monday (this was Monday the 21st of August I was to call back) and gave me his extention number. He said although he couldnt give a direct number, if I called the general number, insisted to be put through to Cardiff and then gave his extention, I would get through. Well, 6 lunch breaks later, I'm just not getting through.
Anyway, immediately after talking to him, I still had to deal with getting the phone disconnected and was passed to their disconnections department. The now standard place panto of what number are you calling about, try this one, try that one, took place and I got told how to get the phone cancelled. Still working on the theory that someone had been getting a free load off her phone, I asked the guy, what the last number dialled on the account was and when was the call made? This should alert us if the phone had been used in the previous month because it had been switched off the whole time.
Now, O2 were still adamant that the number we actually were trying to cancel was the 07725 number, the last call made was at 18:06 on the 8th of July, the number dialled was 07725xxxxxx, ie the number they were adamant the phone actually was! I said to the guy, "do you now see where I am coming from?". He said he felt frankly ridiculous reading out to me and that the number appeared ALL THROUGH THE STATEMENT.
My new conclusion is that instead of transferring the number, they have set up some convoluted re-direct. This explains why the bills have always been so high for a moderate use phone, because effectively, we/she have been charged for inbound calls via a redirect as well as outbound calls and text messages!
Where do I stand from a legal point of view here? As I still cannot contact them via phone it is time to go to old fashioned letter writing. Issues to be resolved:
I have had no word regarding the 2nd letter to cancel the contract
A further £47.50 was dd'd from her bank this morning pushing her account in to overdraft
I am unable to get any further with them investigating charges to her account
My initial thoughts are detail all the above in a letter, and send them a copy to customer services recorded delivery, mentioning I have also sent copies to my lawyer and BBC1's Watchdog programme.
First off, make sure your girlfriend cancels all Direct Debits to O2 - and using the Direct Debit Guarantee, you might be able to get the bank to yank the money back from O2 without much hassle...
Secondly send them a letter registered post, saying you'll be starting legal action if they do not reply within 2 weeks.
2 weeks later issue a claim for moneys owed, overbilling, your time etc via www.moneyclaim.gov.uk - that should sort it...
Secondly send them a letter registered post, saying you'll be starting legal action if they do not reply within 2 weeks.
2 weeks later issue a claim for moneys owed, overbilling, your time etc via www.moneyclaim.gov.uk - that should sort it...
Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff