Will not waive the ETF (Early Termination Fee)

[Vegapunk]

So in October I changed tariffs, Early November, I noticed that I am not receiving any text messages so I rang Customer services up and they informed me that a ticket has been raised with the technical team and will get back to me in 7 working days. After 10 working days I rang up and have been told that there has been no update provided. So they raised another one, we also went through all the troubleshooting methods and was also sent a new sim card. Still I am unable to receive any text messages. Keep ringing up and keep getting told that there has been no update regarding my tickets. Earlier this month after being told for the 7th time that there has been no update to my ticket, I requested that I be let go of my contract. I then get told that I would have to pay an ETF. After explaining things again, the Customer service advisor suggests that I change tariffs again to see if this resolve the issue. It did not.

I get told today that they are willing to give me a 50% discount on the ETF. I have also sent an email to the complaints department which was 11 days ago and still have not had a response.

I will not pay an ETF for something O2 cannot resolve. It clearly states in their service agreement 2.2 that the ETF can be waived if they have not resolved my query within a certain timeframe.

Complaints will not get back to me, Customer service advisor is a shambles and each time I have been put through to a manager, I get cut off conveniently.

To make things even worse, I am now unable to receive incoming calls!!! 

I just don't know what else to do. I am paying for a service that I am not receiving and O2 is trying to scam £600 out of me.

Someone please advise me on what I can do?

I be contacting the ombudsman for this which is all I can do but is there anything else I can do?

Thanks.
 

[Bambino]

@Vegapunk We are all customers and cannot access any account information. If you've already lodged a formal complaint, there's nothing you can do until you hear from the complaints department. The Ombudsman would not be in a position to do anything until O2 decides there's a deadlock and your issue cannot be resolved. Obviously that's not what you want to hear, but there's really nothing else you can do at this time.

[Oxonian]

@Vegapunk 

Complaints are currently taking O2 about eight weeks to investigate and issue a response to ; so if you complained eleven days ago, you should expect a response about the second week in March. 

You cannot go to the Ombudsman until either O2 respond to your complain or 56 days have elapsed since you submitted it. 

Please note that as your record will show an open complaint, it is highly unlikely that any other team within O2 will engage with you until a response is issue and your complaint is closed. 

I believe that you have to just sit and wait.  

[Vegapunk · Accepted solution]

Seems like me emailing the CEO prompted a phone call from someone at Head office and are now looking into this further. Apparently will be dealing with them from now on so looks like something worked. Thank you for your advice. 

[Oxonian]

@Vegapunk 

You are welcome and good luck in resolving this. Others have reported that after e-mailing the CEO, they heard nothing ; it is curious how an avenue works for one customer but not for someone else. 

Please keep us updated on developments. 

[HateHoldMusic]

I wish that worked for me. I went to the ombudsman and was basically told “running a network is complicated and we can’t provide service all the time” and because no one called you or emailed you back (even with CEO in copy) since 30/9/23 here’s £100… but we still won’t fix your problem 

[Oxonian]

@HateHoldMusic 

Whilst it doesn't excuse O2 for ignoring you, it is fair to say that the T&Cs that you agreed to when you joined O2 do not guarantee a service all of the time ; in fact, they do not guarantee a service any of the time.

But O2 are absolutely no different to their competitors in that regard.    

[HateHoldMusic]

very true, and I appreciate that there may be periodic albeit short lived issues, but I have been with o2 for coming up 20 years and have never had an issue like I’ve had continuously since last spring/summer time. 

There is clearly an issue and they either don’t know how to (or don’t want to) fix it, don’t know what the issue is, or the lady in the o2 store was right when she told me many are suffering the same because the infrastructure is not good enough since the merger with virgin media and they can’t update quick enough. 

[Oxonian]

@HateHoldMusic 

O2 desperately need to spend money on improving the network and also on enhancing customer service. However, I am sure that they will spend only what is required to avoid a mass exodus of customers.  

I also believe that wider considerations are coming into play too. For example, all of the mobile network operators share masts via a number of agreements. Hence, things like the proposed Vodaphone/Three merger will undoubtedly impact on O2 and the latter might be waiting to see how the future looks at the end of this year.