O2 New Contract - Do they not want my money?

seamus

So I go into an O2 store to get ported from Vodafone to an iPhone today, have my documents photocopied, sign all the forms and head off, being told I can collect my phone in 2 hours when the account's been set up; they'll contact me. Grand

So 2 hours comes and goes, I ring O2 customer care who say there was information missing from what the shop faxed over. So I go down to the shop (they wouldn't answer their phone), and I'm told that O2 are looking for proof of employment in order to give me an account. A little baffled, I asked "A payslip?". No, no, "A letter from your employer confirming your employment".

So I rang O2 customer care who confirmed this.

WTF is this about? I'm attempting to sign up brand new business to O2, pay them €1000 over the course of 18 months, with direct debit to ensure that they get their money, I present them with documents confirming who I am, where I live and the fact that I've been paying vodafone bills for however long. Yet on the basis of "preventing fraud", they're looking for a piece of paper which I could print out and sign today if I wanted.

I'm just completely baffled by it. Where my money comes from is no business of O2's, and when I asked the guys in the shop, "What if I was unemployed or self-employed?", they said, "Well then there'd be no problem". Surely the mandatory direct debit is anti-fraud enough. A letter from my employer gives them no more useful information because I could (theoretically) lose my job or change jobs next week.

Anyone else experienced this?

Kenno90

i asked for a phone on bill pay a while back , i bought the phone , filled on all the forms and i could never make a phone call or txt a msg , i rang them up and said it'll be a while till the bill order goes through, it'll be a week (A WEEK went by and the same thing happened , another week went by) i said do you not want my money , and left o2 , never looked back

krudler

seamus wrote: »

So I go into an O2 store to get ported from Vodafone to an iPhone today, have my documents photocopied, sign all the forms and head off, being told I can collect my phone in 2 hours when the account's been set up; they'll contact me. Grand

So 2 hours comes and goes, I ring O2 customer care who say there was information missing from what the shop faxed over. So I go down to the shop (they wouldn't answer their phone), and I'm told that O2 are looking for proof of employment in order to give me an account. A little baffled, I asked "A payslip?". No, no, "A letter from your employer confirming your employment".

So I rang O2 customer care who confirmed this.

WTF is this about? I'm attempting to sign up brand new business to O2, pay them €1000 over the course of 18 months, with direct debit to ensure that they get their money, I present them with documents confirming who I am, where I live and the fact that I've been paying vodafone bills for however long. Yet on the basis of "preventing fraud", they're looking for a piece of paper which I could print out and sign today if I wanted.

I'm just completely baffled by it. Where my money comes from is no business of O2's, and when I asked the guys in the shop, "What if I was unemployed or self-employed?", they said, "Well then there'd be no problem". Surely the mandatory direct debit is anti-fraud enough. A letter from my employer gives them no more useful information because I could (theoretically) lose my job or change jobs next week.

Anyone else experienced this?

Could be a few reasons tbh the fraud team could have seen something on the new account they didnt like, your work contact number may not have been correct etc, ask Daryll from the TalktoO2 forum to have a look at the notes on your account for something specific, or ring customer care on monday again and ask them to check with the fraud team to give you a defintive answer

I do agree with the silliness of the unemployed rule though, I've seen people be accepted onto the network with no current job with zero hassle and once saw a woman who worked in a government job and been with the same bank for 20 years be declined a billpay phone , makes no sense

towel401

jeez. and i thought i had a bad experience with them wanting an insurance cert from the past 3 months and them not taking my driving license which was issued in the past 3 months.

bad times i suppose with the recession. desperately trying to avoid bad debts

Random

I agree that the letter from your employer is nonsense but if it's there rule etc .. Personally I'd be p!ssed off with having to get a note from my employer .. it's like a note from your mammy!

Did you bring in a couple of recent Vodafone bills to show you'd been paying them? I know they used to override your domestic services and give you international before if you could show bills from another operator allowing it.

thecommander

towel401 wrote: »

jeez. and i thought i had a bad experience with them wanting an insurance cert from the past 3 months and them not taking my driving license which was issued in the past 3 months.

bad times i suppose with the recession. desperately trying to avoid bad debts

I can't see the issue with them wanting you to prove your identity. Otherwise I could go in and get a phone with your name.

towel401

3 months seems like an awfully short time. especially since they only send 1 insurance cert every year and right now i don't really have anything else to give them

Gillo

towel401 wrote: »

3 months seems like an awfully short time. especially since they only send 1 insurance cert every year and right now i don't really have anything else to give them

Since it's to prove your address, three months is reasonable enough.
Surely you'd have a bank statement at home?

O2_Daryll

I can't ask for your account details here to investigate but if you want to pop me an email I can have a look for you.

seamus

Thanks for the offer Daryll, but I went ahead and ordered online on Sunday afternoon and it arrived today without any (major) hassles. automated processes, removes the human error component.

In fact this is my first ever post from it

3DataModem

FYI: usually these things are caused by your name or address popping up on a fraud list. Perhaps someone in your flat has defrauded o2 or bounced a cheque or similar.

Remember, o2 give you an expensive price of hardware based on a "promise" from you that you'll pay the bills. It's easy to fake identity and many many many people do it specifically to defraud o2 and other companies.

Glad you got it sorted though.

seamus

Actually that makes sounds plausible. The guy I bought my house from seems like a bit of a moron judging by the amount of mail I still get for him 14 months later. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd had a run in with O2.

Random

seamus wrote: »

Thanks for the offer Daryll, but I went ahead and ordered online on Sunday afternoon and it arrived today without any (major) hassles. automated processes, removes the human error component.

In fact this is my first ever post from it

That just annoys me - the lack of consistancy

Glad you got your phone though

3DataModem

Random wrote: »

That just annoys me - the lack of consistancy

Glad you got your phone though

It's not a lack of consistency.

Buying a phone online requires you give them a legitimate delivery address for the phone to be shipped to. That gives you a significantly lower risk profile in o2's eyes.

Random

3DataModem wrote: »

It's not a lack of consistency.

Buying a phone online requires you give them a legitimate delivery address for the phone to be shipped to. That gives you a significantly lower risk profile in o2's eyes.

I guess that's a fair point.