Yes a bold statement to start - "The poorest customer service I have had"
On 19th May I did the wrong thing on an unsolicited call purporting to be from O2 and My O2 account got hacked. Yes I should have know better, yes, yes, yes I have kicked myself several times. What I didn't expect was how poorly O2 would then deal with this when still on the fraud call the issue and then immediately called 202.
On call O2 my account was immediately blocked on 19/5 and had email sent to me by Fraud department on an alternative email address I gave on my call to say they had got the fraud and were "We'll aim to resolve this in the next 10 working days". Suffice to say what I didn't realise this meant being phoneless for actually be over 19 calendars and 13 working days and from yet another discussion today if I hadn't been chasing this it could have been 30 DAYS! Yes it is now taking due to a massive spike in fraud calls up to 30 days to resolve fraud calls. REALLY????
I have had a long and very frustrating time trying to get back "on my phone". Yes I caused it so ok have to expect some issues but really 19 days without your phone - you try it going cold turkey on your mobile phone for that long or even longer as above.
When finally my fraud was resolved with an email from the fraud department by a short brusque email of "We’re just letting you know your fraud report (no: FRD-A004682) has now been resolved. Thanks, O2" Really is this the best wording you have when dealing with your customers? Oh by the way both the initial email and resolve email from fraud do NOT comply with - "Real O2 emails always show the last four digits of your mobile number at the top". Why ? BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE THIS ON THEM! Really?
Next I sent in a complaint email on 02/06/23 about all the issues I had experienced up to that stage and also one on Ofcom yes it was that frustrating! I had a reply email from Complaint Review Service (UK) at 06/06/23 16:07 containing the words "We'll be in touch once we've assessed the matter and we aim to do this within 7 working days. Well there we go again the wonderful get of jail free wording of "we aim to". Yes O2 you can aim to do things just like I can aim to Prime Minister it doesn't mean I am going to achieve it!
Today is 14th June some 8 working days since and obviously Complaint review Service aim is OFF as not hear a word or even a call from them. So I call yet again 202 for the umpteenth time only to be told i could not be put through to complaints and a ticket had been raised to ask them to call me. Oh but I better not hold my breath.
When finally my fraud was resolved I then hit another issue which was I had under advice from o2 cancelled my direct debit to them to prevent any fraud payments being taken. I did as instructed costing me over £2 in the process and more importantly then I received several emails growing in intensity from O2 saying I hadn't paid my bill with growing being polite about it "firmness". Doesn't a fraud ticket on account mean anything to payments section. Yet another clear example of O2 departments not working together. So to my issue I couldn't still use my phone so I call 202 yet again paid what I owe and promised within 24 hrs or less my phone would be back to normal. Yet another FAIL. Phoned 202 next day to find out no it hadn't been done and had to wait yet another 24hrs - n.b. even the payment was still pending on my bank account - was the reactivation service broken. With latter had to be done manually and yes you have guessed it had to phone the next day after 24 hrs still NOT WORKING and told bar still ON! Finally a some hours believed this had been removed tried my phone still no joy so I thought just to check I would switch off my phone and switch back on ( please note I did this not on recommendation of O2!) and low and behold it started working.
Overall the above is just a few snippets of what has transpired or more accurately NOT transpired. I am now paying twice for the same period which includes all the time I WAS PREVENTED FROM USING MY PHONE. Easy money O2.
I have to ask of you dear reader if you have lasted this far - "How would you be feeling after all of this?"
I could say if only Mark Gait - Director Of Customer Service at Virgin Media O2 was aware of all the issues I have uncovered even down to the MyO2 website tells me on two different linked pages my next payment on one is to be made on 25/6 when the next page says 26/6. I would love the opportunity to present to Mark all my findings notes and screenshots and see how he would feel about all of this...
REALLY SOMEONE IN O2 NEEDS TO GET A GRIP.
I look forward to comments
PS The moral of this story despite the complete lack of guidance on the O2 website and lack of regular emails from O2 reminding you about fraud and how to prevent it...
IF YOU GET A CALL FROM SOMEONE SAYING THEY ARE FROM 02 (O2 DO NOT EVER UNSOLICITED CALL YOU) AND SAY THEY HAVE A SPECIAL OFFER FOR HALF PRICE MONTHLY PAYMENTS AND A FREE RANDOM HANDSET AND THEIR NUMBER IS +44 29 2264 3893 CARDIFF WALES -
THIS IS A FRAUD AND PUT THE PHONE DOWN IMMEDIATELY
