Let me share my experiences with O2 over the last couple of months with you, you will see I have been unlucky but also this could happen to any customer on the O2 network as this is a battle against their “policy” which, like many retailers, is in breach of the law and they are unaware of this.

Lets start the story with going into the O2 store on July 5th to get a Dell Streak on contract.  The Dell Streak looked like a fantastic device, an Android phone with a screen big enough to actually browse the web and watch videos.  However, it turned out to be utter rubbish.

After owning the Streak for just over a week, it decided it would just do whatever it wanted.  It would just randomly restart or turn off or do real weird stuff like activating my sim pin lock all by itself.  The screen would often go black with the back light still on and all the buttons would just freeze.  I couldn’t live with this so I returned it to the O2 store on the 18th July.

At the O2 store they refused to exchange the device for a new one as they needed to see the fault.  This was a problem as the fault was intermittent and at the time I was in the O2 store, sods law dictated it should work perfectly.  However, the law is on my side and with any purchase within the first six months the shop has to prove to me that the device is not faulty.  In the case of intermittent faults they have to take my word for it.  So there, the law agrees with me the device is faulty and I am entitled to a replacement.  At this point I had to argue with the shop manager who kept on saying it was company policy to see the fault irrespective that company policy is worthless when up against the law (Sale Of Goods Act 1979).  I was getting no where with this so I played them at their own game quoting them their “14 day Change Your Mind Policy” which gave me the right to walk away from their contract only paying for my call charges.  So they caved in and replaced the phone for a new model.

Not leaving it there I gave O2 customer services a massive ear bashing over this and threatened to report them to anyone that would listen, namely Trading Standards.  O2 customer services agreed the shop was in breach of the law, it was not company policy to see faults (lies I think!) and that as a goodwill gesture they will credit my account with £40.  This have could been the end of my problems with a reasonable resolve, but wait the Dell Streak decided to bust itself again.

This time the flash decided it would pack up, so the phone went back to the O2 shop on the 15th September.  I was informed that the phone will need to go away to be repaired, it will take ten to fourteen days and they will call me when it was ready.  Cheekily they charged me a £25 deposit for a courtesy phone.  That was ridiculous as I had handed them a £400 phone and they want a deposit of £25 for the most basic Nokia they sell, which was tatty and barely working.  I believe I may have been legally entitled for a “like for like” courtesy phone, but I am not certain on this so just took the Nokia.

14 days went past and no phone call came so I phoned the O2 store to see what was going on only to find out the phone couldn’t be repaired so they have replaced it (No 3) and they called me 4 days ago to let me know.  I am missing something here as they certainly didn’t call me so I have no idea who they think they spoke to but it was not me.  I went into the shop on 29th September to pick up what I expected will be another shiny new Streak, only to be given a scratched and worn “reconditioned” model.  This was out of order as my phone was immaculate and they want to replace it with this – NO WAY!  The sales assistant told me this is how they do the exchanges and guess what “company policy”.  I made it clear I was legally entitled for a repair or a “like for like” replacement, which this piece of tat certainly was not.  Then the cheeky sales assistant told me my contract with O2 was only for the air time, for the phone its down to the manufacturers.  What a load of rubbish, the law is clear that if a gift is given as an incentive for a contract then it becomes part of the contract, meaning that O2 were fully responsible for the phone.  I demanded a new replacement from their stock to which they refused.  We eventually came to an agreement they they would escalate my claim to head office which will allow me to choose a different phone.  After taking some further details form me I was told that they would make a decision within 5 days and if head office decides I can have a different phone they will contact me with a list of available phones to choose from and they would send this phone to the store for me to pick up.  However, this phone will be a second hand reconditioned unit, which I expect will be tatty like the replacement Streak they tried to give me.

I went home and spent some serious time on the Internet reading the Sale Of Goods Act and found out a few interesting points which is that the retailer must repair the device to a satisfactory condition or they are in “breach of contract”,  also I am not to be given “significant inconvenience”.  For both of these points I have the right to “rescind the contract”.  Armed with this information I contacted O2 customer service and spoke to the customer retention team (select option to leave O2) and explained the whole situation and demanded to either be switch to a sim only plan or have the contract canceled without penalty.  I got fobbed off being told I need to go back and speak to the shop, which is ridiculous as they are waiting on a decision from head office about sending me a reconditioned phone which I don’t want.  Also I pointed out my contract is with O2 so customer services should be good enough to deal with this problem as I expect the shop manager would not have the authority to do anything anyway.

Annoyed that customer services couldn’t care less I decided to write an email to O2, the email I sent is below this post and I sent it to the following email addresses care@o2mail.co.uk, mycarewebform@o2mail.co.uk, mycare@o2mail.co.uk, complaints@o2mail.co.uk, complaintreviewservice@o2.com

After not hearing anything for a few days I phoned up customer services retention department again to see what was going on. This time I asked for the price for the contract cancellation fee, which I would subsequently claim back by small claims court.  After saying this and writing the letter I seemed to be getting taken seriously for a change.  O2′s solution to the problem was to do an early upgrade putting me on a new 18 month contract and sending me a new phone.  As I will be on a new contract I can cancel within 14 days on O2′s “14 day Change Your Mind Policy”.  If I don’t want the the phone, I can just send it back and have the contract ended without penalty.  Claire from O2 promised me I would get this phone on Wednesday 6th October.

Well you can probable guess on Wednesday no phone turned up.  I called O2 customer services again to see what was going on only to be told that the HTC Desire was out of stock.  I argued that I had been promised the phone on Wednesday by claire (extension 43247) and that this whole situation was far beyond acceptable.  After explaining the whole situation in detail the customer advisor spoke to a manager and said that I could pick up the phone from the local store as they had it in stock.  Its more inconvience but just to end this ordeal I said I would do this and pick it up in my lunch break.  The customer advisor said that I would have to wait 24 hours as they have to cancel the telephone order and re-order it for store pickup.  I decided that I have no faith in O2 for this to actually happen and due to everything I now want to speak to a manager and get this contract rescinded as I have had more than enough of O2.

I was out through to a manager called Richard Wood (extension 03137).  Richard was quick to tell me that he didn’t see what my problem was.  I had a broken phone, they replaced it, I wasn’t satisfied with the replacement so as a gesture of goodwill they offered me a brand new phone.  I was amazed at how naive Richard was.  I explained the whole story again, how my rights had been refused at all stages and how O2 was an absolute disgrace.  Richard insisted O2 had performed its side of the contract by replacing the broken Streak and that all they had to do was provide a functioning phone, the fact it was cosmetically damaged was irrelevant.  Richard also made it clear that if I want the contract ended I must pay a cancellation fee of £600.

I demanded to Richard Wood that the contract be rescinded, which is my legal right.  Richard refused and told me to take the new phone whenever it arrives and that will be the end of it.  I then demanded compensation, after all I am paying  a smartphone tariff but have no smartphone to use on it.  Richard said he would refund me the difference between a smartphone tariff and a normal tariff at £1.33 a day from the day the HTC Desire was ordered (4th October).  This is not good enough, I asked surely he should refund me from the day the replacement Streak was given in an unacceptable state (29th September) to which he refused.

Reluctantly I backed down as I was getting no where and I said to Richard that I will pick the pone up from the local store tomorrow.  Richard Wood then told me I was not allowed to do that and I must wait until it is delivered.  I explained this had just been offered to me by the person who I was speaking to before him.  Richard Wood still did not budge and refused to let me pick up the pone from the local store.  I also made it clear to Richard that I will now exorcise my rights to cancel the new phone within 14 days and walk away from O2 as Claire told me I could do.  Richard then told me Claire was wrong and I’m still in my original contract which there is no option to cancel.

I am really disgusted with O2 and especially with Richard Wood.  I am soon to buy a house so I cannot afford to do anything such as refusing to pay any more bills from O2 as I can not have my credit rating effected.  Also I can not get my PAC code and transfer my number out the whole time I am considered to be in contract with O2.  To be honest O2 have me over a barrel on this whole issue.  I could cancel the order for the Desire and take O2 to small claims court but I believe the only realistic thing to do will be to take the phone and wait eight weeks and then report O2 to Otelo, the telecommunications ombudsman who regulates O2.

In future I will only get sim only contracts and buy my phones sim free using my credit card.  This way if the phone breaks I can take the phone back to the shop where I bought it from and if they want to give me hassle, as it was bought on a credit card then there is always Section 75 to claim on.

Copy of letter sent to O2

Dear Sirs,

REF: Contract with mobile number 07914 314778

After taking legal advice on an issue I have with O2, I have been advised my best course of action is to email yourselves as the final stage before legal action is submitted.

I have been with many mobile operators over the last 12 years and not once have I had the problems or bad service, until I joined O2 in July this year. I shall detail the problem I have below.

I need to make clear that O2 was selected due to the fact you were the only network carrying the phone I wanted, the Dell Streak. I went into your store at Southampton High Street on the 5^th July to get a Dell Streak on a 18 month contract.

After owning the Streak for a week, it decided it would just do whatever it wanted. It would just randomly restart or turn off or do real weird stuff like activating my sim pin lock all by itself. The screen would often go black with the back light still on and all the buttons would just freeze. I couldn’t live with this so I returned it to the O2 store on the 18th July.

At the O2 store they refused to exchange the device for a new one as they needed to see the fault. This was a problem as the fault was intermittent and at the time I was in the O2 store, sods law dictated it should work perfectly. Your shop refused to repair or replace the device informing me it was “company policy” to see the fault. After much arguing with the sales assistant and the manager the handset got replaced only after I threatened to cancel my contract under the “14 day Change Your Mind Policy”. As prove to me that your company policy was this, the manager told the sales assistant “you must write down you have seen the fault”. This was “significant inconvenience”.

The law does inform that in the first six months it is the responsibility of the supplier to prove the fault to the buyer which in the case of intermittent faults they cannot do so they must take the word of the buyer. Sale Of Goods Act 1979 section 48A(3), 48B(1) does clearly state that the law requires the seller to repair or replace the goods.

I quote from DTI A Traders Guide

Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977
Consumer Sale of Goods Contracts
Consumers cannot have their legal rights removed in sale of goods contracts. Furthermore, it can be an offence to mislead consumers about their legal rights. To do so could result in a criminal prosecution.
For example, notices such as “We do not give refunds” are misleading and cannot be used. Enforcement is undertaken by local Trading Standards Departments.

The replacement Dell Streak didn’t take long to break, this time the flash stopped working properly. I went to the O2 shop (West Quay as Hight Street closed) on the 15th September. I was informed that the phone will need to go away to be repaired, it will take ten to fourteen days and they will call me when it was ready. Cheekily I was charged a £25 deposit for a courtesy phone. That was ridiculous as I had handed them a £400 phone and they want a deposit of £25 for the most basic Nokia they sell, which was tatty and barely working. I actually had to pay money to avoid “inconvenience” , which was in itself “significant inconvenience”. I would like to add at this point that I use smart phones as part of my job as a web developer to develop websites for mobile devices and to pick up my important emails when I am out of the office. In this case the replacement pone was a “significant inconvenience”.

14 days went past and no phone call came so I phoned the O2 store to see what was going on only to find out the phone couldn’t be repaired so they have replaced it (No 3) and they called me 4 days ago to let me know. They certainly didn’t call me so this was clearly a lie. I went into the shop on the 29^th September to pick up what I expected will be another new Streak, only to be given a scratched and worn “reconditioned” model. This was out of order as my phone was immaculate and they wanted to replace it with this which is not a “like for like” replacement and clearly a poor attempt at dealing with my problem. The sales assistant told me this is how they do the exchanges and guess what “company policy”. I made it clear I was legally entitled for a repair or a “like for like” replacement, which this tatty phone certainly was not. Then the sales assistant told me my contract with O2 was only for the air time, for the phone its down to the manufacturers. This is a load of rubbish, the law is clear that if a gift is given as an incentive for a contract then it becomes part of the contract, meaning that O2 were fully responsible for the phone. I demanded a new replacement from their stock to which they refused.

Consumer Direct website details quite clearly that the phone is the responsibility of the trader not the manufacturer.
http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/after_you_buy/know-your-rights/mobiles/

The shop assistant was only willing to ask the repair centre to send another phone and I pointed out this was extremely unfair and a “significant inconvenience”. At this point a colleague steeped into inform him that this could be escalated to a claim in which I could be provided with a different phone. This was told to me to give me the assumption that it would only take a few minutes and I will be walking out the store with a new phone. After taking many details from me the sales assistant told me I now have to wait five days to be contacted where they will discuss with me what phones and contracts I can be moved onto. To go away and come back again is “significant inconvenience”.

Sale Of Goods Act states as I have given you Reasonable time to repair the goods I can now cancel my contract for breach of condition 48D(1), 48D(2). I also do not loose my right t to reject the goods/require my money back merely by agreeing to let the retailer try to repair them. This is made clear by s.35(6) of the Sale of Goods Act.

I tried contacting your customer service department yesterday morning to try and get an amicable resolve to this problem. I would have been happy with not having a phone provided by O2 and being switched onto a simplicity tariff (sim only). However, your very unhelpful customer service department insisted I need to speak to the shop manager as he is dealing with the phone, totally ignoring the fact I don’t really want a phone form O2 any more. Also they cannot insist on this, my contract is with O2 not O2 west Quay and going back to the store will involve more time of work and “significant inconvenience”.

To sum it up as you have failed to repair my goods to a satisfactory condition. You have also failed to remedy this situation and being fobbed off on the phone yesterday was the last straw. I can have my contract cancelled for Breach Of Condition. Also as the amount of inconvenience cause to me has been significant I can also rescind the contract as well under section 48C(2)(a).

As well as having the contract rescinded I will also demand my PAC code to port my number back to T-Mobile where I was very happy before.

To prove I am reasonable, I will happily pay for any of my call charges made outside of my calling plan. At this point I shall not demand anything more such as compensation, to enable us to wrap this up quickly.

Faithfully,

Martin Fleming

T-mobile is a little more difficult than O2.  You get a swipe card to top up with but you still need to select the usage you wish to use to deduct from your credit (daily, weekly or monthly).  This is easy with the connection manager software that comes with the dongles but all the software does is take you here www.t-zones.co.uk/apps/ebdc/en/purchase-redirect.

So its simple, get your dongle, use the swipe card and then visit the web address above and your good to go.  Your dongle will not be activated until you top up and after top up it could take up to 1 hour.

T-mobile also let you know that you can top up by using “my T-mobile” online.  However, this involves getting a pin sent to you by sms so you will have to use a Windows or Mac machine to receive this or put your sim card in a phone that will accept it.

This is slightly more hassle that the fantastic way O2 PAYG mobile broadband works as you just need to visit the website https://mobilebroadbandaccess.o2.co.uk pay and go.  No content locks or hassle involved.  With T-mobile though, you get a much better fair use policy on internet usage and you do not get charged for going over your usage, instead they may block video sites and downloads between he hours of 4pm and midnight, whereas every other provider will charge you stupid amounts or stop your usage.

Just as a re-cap, the connection deatils for T-mobile PAYG mobile broadband are

APN: general.t-mobile.uk
Number: *99#
Username: user
Password: pass