I am posting this here as I see no other way to give feedback as:
a) I am not able to use my phone. When I do get some signal I end up speaking to incompetant fools.
b) o2 does not publish telephone numbers to call from overseas, provide e-mail addresses and I do not have a stable enough connection to talk to someone over chat...
...so here goes!
I recently took out an iPhone 5 on a business contract as I am freelance and regurlarly travel overseas (1-2 trips per month). I travelled to Buffalo, NY and was using my phone as expected (data/calls). Then this morning, I had no service. I assumed it was a network error and hard reset the phone several times before deciding I needed to contact O2.
I was still in the hotel at this point so was able to use chat and O2 confirmed my account had been restricted due to high usage. No notification, just cut-off. I was informed this would be removed but could take 24 hours.
At this point I realised this was going to cause huge problems as at midday EST I am travelling by car from Buffalo NY to Toronto airport, Canada. With no phone/data. Nothing I can do if there was an emergency, or i get lost and need to use maps.
I also had to ask my customer in the UK to call me on the hotel phone and to conference me in their bridge for a call with the VP of HR as I had no phone. Unprofessional and they weren't happy.
However, I did as I was instructed (select networks manually) and I finally got service. It was then I received a TXT message advising me that due to high usage I should contact O2 to ensure I was not restricted. This was sent AFTER I was restricted. You see the problem here? Don't get excited though, service was only restored for a short while...
I arrived at the client site and again, I had no service. I tried connecting to several networks manually to no avail. Then out of the blue, I got some service. I quickly seized the opportunity to call O2 and explain the situation...
O2 "there is nothing wrong with your account, it's probably a network error"
me "but I was informed my acocunt had been restricted"
O2 "It looks all fine to me"
me "that as the case maybe, I am not imagining these problems"
O2 "It should sort itself out bu might take 24 hours"
me "so what do I do? I am travelling by road to Canada, then flying to the UK and transferring to Spain, I am away for another 10 days"
O2 "when you return to the UK it will probably sort itself out"
me "but... seriously?"
O2 "your account lookis fine now Sir"
me "but that doesn't mean I can use th phone, so it's not sorted. Anyhow, I also reached my data cap in the week so need to increase that please"
O2 "you don't have a data cap"
me "I got a txt 2 days ago advising me I had reached the 50mb limit and I should contact O2 to buy more data"
O2 "that's not the cause of your problem"
me "I am very aware of that. You are the cause of my current problem, however, I would like to add more data to my account so that when and if it works again, I can use data"
O2 "you need to txt 'more data' to 2????"
me "What?"
O2 "you need to text 'more data' to 2????"
me "I heard you but that's not what the txt or website say"
O2 "if you still have problems you could always buy a US SIM card"
me "right, so I take time out of my back to back schedule today to visit a phone store, buy an alternative SIM card, have the store remove my SIM card as I neglected to bring the iphone sin card removal tool, pay as I go for calls/data when most of my trip will be accross the border in Canada. Then when I get to Spain I suppose I do the same there?"
O2 "oh right, yeah I see"
Really? I pay too much money to be cut of without warning, then given a load of bullsh!t answers. Nowhere does it say I can txt for more data on a business tarrif. I speand a lot of time overseas and on all olther occasions 'buting data' does not allow overseas data. for that I need to remove the cap, which customer serivces must do.
Now I am without signal again, leaving the office in 1.5 hours for a 3-4 hour road trip, then 8 hour flight, then 2 hour transfer, andother 1.5 hour flight before I arrive in Mallorca, Spain and hopefully find a phone shop that sells micro sims, can remove and refit my new sim to allow me to use the phone at the weekend.
I have always liked O2, been with them (consumer and business) for approx. 5 years and always have high bills. Why is it so frustrating to sort YOUR mistakes out???
Paul Ryan
