Phone shattered, need a new one

[Hayleypen0548]

My phone shattered a week or two ago and I haven't been able to get in contact with anyone at O2 about making an insurance claim and how to get a new phone. Today the phone is now not showing the screen display fully and I can barely use it. I'm in America at the moment because I am an international student that was studying in London. Now I have no phone and not able to contact O2 to figure out what to do. Can anyone tell me how I can get ahold of O2 and actually talk to someone about what to do and not an automated service?

[Bambino]

@Hayleypen0548 All the numbers available to speak to customer service are in this link: Guide: Coronavirus Community Help and Support

Best time to call is 8 am UK time. It's very difficult to get through, so you will need to be patient. 

To call the 0800 numbers from the US you need to leave off the first 0 and replace it with +44. If you cannot use your phone you will need to download and install Skype, which allows you to call 0800 numbers for free. A guide for that is also in the link.

If you have insurance for accidental damage O2 will not send you a phone in the US. They will only send it to the address you used in the UK to purchase it.

[Cleoriff]

@Hayleypen0548 

Excellent advice from @Bambino  and I will ask him a question(as he lives in the US)

@Bambino If the op bought a phone in the US would she be able to use her O2 sim in it?

Getting a replacement phone from O2 would be a long drawn out process.

Or would she be better off buying a US phone and US sim and transferring everything from her broken one for the time being?

Just thinking of her being a student in the US with a non working phone.

[Bambino · Accepted solution]

@Cleoriff I would advise @Hayleypen0548 to buy a phone in the US so she can use her O2 sim, but to check it against the phones listed here: https://willmyphonework.net/ That site will tell her which phones are compatible for use both in the US and UK. Not every phone is listed, but there are a decent number. Amazon US sells a lot of phones that say they are 'international'. Those are the ones she should be looking at.

[Cleoriff]

Great info @Bambino . I thought you would know the best option. Let's hope @Hayleypen0548  comes back to this thread. Thanks again. 

[Hayleypen0548]

Thank you for the information! I did buy a new phone and US sim for the time being since I needed to anyways (I am a US citizen studying in UK for the next couple years, however I had to leave quickly due to the current pandemic and will return once everything dies down).

I was just wondering if I should continue trying to contact O2 to let them know my phone is broken so that once I am able to return I can get a new one (I do have accidental insurance, I just don't know if there is some sort of time limit of reporting/receiving a new one without having to pay a substancial sum).

Thank you again for helping me!

[Bambino]

@Hayleypen0548 If you're still paying O2 for your phone and insurance you should definitely keep trying to contact O2 customer service. Use Skype and the numbers in the link in my first reply to you. Best of luck. Hope you can get this sorted.