New phone- Trying to set up Esim

[Katrina1]

Hi O2,

I am beyond frustrated with your company, service, website, chatbot and App. 

I have been trying to get an Esim set up on my new Iphone for nearly 2 months now. I have been pushed from pillar to post with different people telling me different things, most of which seem to be untrue. I have been told tech support are looking into it, people promised they would sort it out, that it was easy and I should be able to do it myself. Today I thought I was finally there, the QR code had come through! Hurrah, but no. The installation failed after "activating" for about 20 mins. I have tried to find the live chat but its gone, the chat bot refuses to let me speak to a person, I can't get into the O2 app because it insists that I need a one time code which it doesn't send me, I tried calling 202, I tried calling the landline version and the version from abroad all of which say that "this number is not responding". To top it off I now saw a small message pop up saying 4g calls have been switched off by O2, so I tried switching to Wifi calling and in order to do that I have to contact O2! Which is all I have been trying to do ! I have sent message on whatsapp, twitter and instagram and I have made a complaint by email so now I am here. What can I do, how can I speak to someone? I just want to use my O2 phone number on my new phone. I have dual sims and the Vodafone one switched over no problem. This is causing me intense stress as I need my O2 number to work. I've spent hours and hours trying to sort this out. 

I would honestly quite O2 now but I need it for the roaming so I am stuck. Anyone out there with any suggestions please let me know, O2 if you read this please contact me!!  

[gmarkj]

o2 eSims are an absolute nightmare @Katrina1 - we see so many people with issues that the standard advice here is to just not bother.

Your best bet is to visit your local o2 store - they will have QR codes that you can get set up with. Just remember to take photo ID with you.

Alternatively they can also get you set up with a physical sim as well.

The guide for eSims is eSIM - How to activate  

[Katrina1]

Thanks for your reply, weirdly with Vodafone it was totally fine. Trouble is that i am working abroad so its not easy to get to an O2 store and the Iphone I have is from the US so there's no space for a physical Sim. I have lost track of how many times I have explained this to the customer services. Its like it "does not compute..." as it doesn't fit with their script. 

Currently my number is blocked because the system thinks its fraudulent and it would seem I can't do anything about it till i'm back in the UK in 10 days.

I remain baffled. 

[gmarkj]

The o2 eSim set up is, frankly an utter shambles @Katrina1 

While we only see a fraction of the customers here, the number that have an issue with eSims is ridiculous. Just use the search bar above and you'll see how bad it is.

The social media teams are normally better than the call centre, and certainly better than the live chat option but even they have to work within the system.