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I have been a subscriber to a major (don’t know if its alright to name them on this board) phone provider for a number of years. This December, I upgraded to a Motorola e365 handset. All well and good, until I closed a car door accidentally on the handset on the 27th December. This damaged the LCD screen, and rendered it unreadable and unusable.
Due to not having any sort of contact number on the documentation enclosed with the upgrade package (strange for a phone company eh? NO phone contact number) and no Internet access, I returned the handset using the first class business return service to the company which is used if the phone is delivered damaged, or the person is not happy about the handset, etc. I thought it was the correct thing to do. Obviously not……………………
What I should have done is sent it to the insurance company, as the phone company have since told me. Again, I thought this would not be a problem, as they would simply return the phone to me. The order number was on the package, and the return form with the damaged handset had my address and the details of why it was being returned contained within.
After talking to the customer services advisors four times during the past month that the phone has been posted back to the company I was informed by the complaints department that: -
1) I will be unable to get a repaired / new handset sent to me.
2) The handset I *did* send back will be repaired and placed back into O2 stocks for other upgrades.
3) I am unable to pursue any other course of repairing the handset.
4) I am unable to have the handset returned to me in its original damaged state to forward to the insurance company.
So now I’m stuck with a crap Samsung handset, am unable to upgrade, and under contract for another year.
The moral of this story? If you send ANYTHING to a company in similar circumstances as above GET A RECEIPT OF THE PACKAGE BEING POSTED. I am unable to do a damn thing apart from write them a letter of complaint (which they have conveniently ignored, hell, I was waiting on hold for 45 MINUTES this morning once they knew I wanted to complain and cancel) and tell them to cancel my account as soon as possible for me to get legally out of the contract.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. B’STRDS
Due to not having any sort of contact number on the documentation enclosed with the upgrade package (strange for a phone company eh? NO phone contact number) and no Internet access, I returned the handset using the first class business return service to the company which is used if the phone is delivered damaged, or the person is not happy about the handset, etc. I thought it was the correct thing to do. Obviously not……………………
What I should have done is sent it to the insurance company, as the phone company have since told me. Again, I thought this would not be a problem, as they would simply return the phone to me. The order number was on the package, and the return form with the damaged handset had my address and the details of why it was being returned contained within.
After talking to the customer services advisors four times during the past month that the phone has been posted back to the company I was informed by the complaints department that: -
1) I will be unable to get a repaired / new handset sent to me.
2) The handset I *did* send back will be repaired and placed back into O2 stocks for other upgrades.
3) I am unable to pursue any other course of repairing the handset.
4) I am unable to have the handset returned to me in its original damaged state to forward to the insurance company.
So now I’m stuck with a crap Samsung handset, am unable to upgrade, and under contract for another year.
The moral of this story? If you send ANYTHING to a company in similar circumstances as above GET A RECEIPT OF THE PACKAGE BEING POSTED. I am unable to do a damn thing apart from write them a letter of complaint (which they have conveniently ignored, hell, I was waiting on hold for 45 MINUTES this morning once they knew I wanted to complain and cancel) and tell them to cancel my account as soon as possible for me to get legally out of the contract.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. B’STRDS
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So pandemonium, they have basically stole your phone?
Hmm that is bad.
You might have had problems with O2, but in my experience they are the best. I've been with all the networks apart from 3 now.
T Mobile were the worst. Astonishingly bad. I had 3 contract phones on the one account. 2 were due to run out on the 31st, with the last contract being 4 months later. I decided that I had had enough of the high prices and so decided not to renew the first 2 contracts.
That was fine, they turned them off at the end of the month. However they also turned off the third phone. And refused to reconnect it for several days. Best part was I had broken down in the small hours of the morning and was stranded.
When it was coming up for expiry, I phoned them twice and told them that I would not be extending the contract. I also sent them two letters categorically stating that I would not renew. So they didn't renew me, they just charged me for it. Oh and some random £80.
So I moved. Orange were lots of hassle as well. A reliable network and OK tarriffs, but if you need to use customer service, I pity you.
Vodaphone were much better. But even then they were just OK.
O2 on the other hand were fantastic for 2 years. In June I had a problem with them when they lost my order and ran out of stock of the Samsung V200. Despite the fact that they had stock allocated for people who ordered 7 weeks after me, they wouldn't send any out. A rather forceful call to a regional director meant I had my lovely new phone delivered by hand from a shop.
I once had an MMS problem with them, in September. So I phoned them and they told me everything would be fine by the next day. But they did nothing. I phoned them the next day and they said the same thing, but still did nothing. Phoned them a third time, spoke to the manager and was fixed within 5 minutes.
Moral of the story is the have poor staff at the bottom of the scale, ask to speak to a superior and you should be fine.
And they are now the most reliable network. Officially.
You might have had problems with O2, but in my experience they are the best. I've been with all the networks apart from 3 now.
T Mobile were the worst. Astonishingly bad. I had 3 contract phones on the one account. 2 were due to run out on the 31st, with the last contract being 4 months later. I decided that I had had enough of the high prices and so decided not to renew the first 2 contracts.
That was fine, they turned them off at the end of the month. However they also turned off the third phone. And refused to reconnect it for several days. Best part was I had broken down in the small hours of the morning and was stranded.
When it was coming up for expiry, I phoned them twice and told them that I would not be extending the contract. I also sent them two letters categorically stating that I would not renew. So they didn't renew me, they just charged me for it. Oh and some random £80.
So I moved. Orange were lots of hassle as well. A reliable network and OK tarriffs, but if you need to use customer service, I pity you.
Vodaphone were much better. But even then they were just OK.
O2 on the other hand were fantastic for 2 years. In June I had a problem with them when they lost my order and ran out of stock of the Samsung V200. Despite the fact that they had stock allocated for people who ordered 7 weeks after me, they wouldn't send any out. A rather forceful call to a regional director meant I had my lovely new phone delivered by hand from a shop.
I once had an MMS problem with them, in September. So I phoned them and they told me everything would be fine by the next day. But they did nothing. I phoned them the next day and they said the same thing, but still did nothing. Phoned them a third time, spoke to the manager and was fixed within 5 minutes.
Moral of the story is the have poor staff at the bottom of the scale, ask to speak to a superior and you should be fine.
And they are now the most reliable network. Officially.
Pandaemonium wrote:
> I have been a subscriber to a major (don’t know if its alright to name
> them on this board) phone provider for a number of years.
> 2) The handset I *did* send back will be repaired and placed back
> into O2 stocks for other upgrades.
Sneaky!
> I have been a subscriber to a major (don’t know if its alright to name
> them on this board) phone provider for a number of years.
> 2) The handset I *did* send back will be repaired and placed back
> into O2 stocks for other upgrades.
Sneaky!
Try contacting OFTEL or Trading Standard and I'd defintely send an email off to Watchdog, if you don't try these routes you'll only be wasting money.
Surely there must be something you can do? How can they make you pay a contract for a handset that you no longer have - being as they have it?
I either read the original post too fast or something is definitely wrong here.
I either read the original post too fast or something is definitely wrong here.
tigamilla wrote:
> Try slipping in the dreaded "watchdog" word into the next
> letter that you write to them...
We did that to Freeserve once :D
> Try slipping in the dreaded "watchdog" word into the next
> letter that you write to them...
We did that to Freeserve once :D
ßulle††™ wrote:
> oaying any more than you need to.
By 'oaying' you must understand I meant paying :P
> oaying any more than you need to.
By 'oaying' you must understand I meant paying :P
The cheapest way to get out would be to knock your tarriff down to the cheapest one, leave it a month (not forgetting to remove any bolt-ons you may have) then pay for cancellation. There is no fee as such, you only need to pay off the outstanding months of the contract.
Or you could just leave it running, either way - if the sim card is not getting used, you won't be oaying any more than you need to.
Or you could just leave it running, either way - if the sim card is not getting used, you won't be oaying any more than you need to.
Try slipping in the dreaded "watchdog" word into the next letter that you write to them...
ßulle††™ wrote:
> I threatened them with a court case in the end. Nothing else would
> work.
I cancelled earlier (or let them know I want it cancelled)
Me – “What is the minimum date I can cancel?”
Her – “the 25th December”
Me – “and that’s the minimum?”
Her – “Yes”
Me – “well, why last time was I told that I had to call you 30 days before the contract is to be renewed?”
Her – (long pause) “oh. oh, Yes sir, that’s correct, its 30 days beforehand”
Me – “I’ll tell you what, mark it for cancellation NOW, and I’ll call 30 days beforehand TOO, to make sure you are going to perform the cancellation”
I don’t know what happens if you don’t let them know 30 days beforehand, but I think its either another year or a penalty to get out of the contract.
Unfortunately, without having any sort of proof I sent the phone back (I’ve since returned to the post office) I’m legally bound until then.
Still. My girlfriend is upgrading soon, so I’ll just get that one unlocked (she loves her current phone, and has offerend the upgrade to me) and sell my Samsung on.
> I threatened them with a court case in the end. Nothing else would
> work.
I cancelled earlier (or let them know I want it cancelled)
Me – “What is the minimum date I can cancel?”
Her – “the 25th December”
Me – “and that’s the minimum?”
Her – “Yes”
Me – “well, why last time was I told that I had to call you 30 days before the contract is to be renewed?”
Her – (long pause) “oh. oh, Yes sir, that’s correct, its 30 days beforehand”
Me – “I’ll tell you what, mark it for cancellation NOW, and I’ll call 30 days beforehand TOO, to make sure you are going to perform the cancellation”
I don’t know what happens if you don’t let them know 30 days beforehand, but I think its either another year or a penalty to get out of the contract.
Unfortunately, without having any sort of proof I sent the phone back (I’ve since returned to the post office) I’m legally bound until then.
Still. My girlfriend is upgrading soon, so I’ll just get that one unlocked (she loves her current phone, and has offerend the upgrade to me) and sell my Samsung on.
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