O2 - unwanted upgrade

slowmoe

random title but will keep subject brief.

o2 sent me a blackberry phone in post about 3 months ago. i had not been into an o2 shop or made phone calls looking to upgrade etc. i am a small business o2 customer and had made enquiries about my current blackberry being faulty. so no letter or anything with this phone, was bulkier than my current phone so it was left in its box and not used. i went to cancel one number of an employee no longer working with us but was told i couldn't cancel as i had 'upgraded'. You guessed it folks, the phone with no documentation that arrived from no request was apparently my upgrade on an account no longer being used. I told them that i had NEVER requested an upgrade and as the phone had never been used would just send it back. This was a no go and the resulting stand off ended on some borderline abusive languagee by the o2 staff member on phone. Am pretty mad and unsure about my next steps to proceed, any ideas?

Small claims court?

Random

I don't know how your call managed to desend into "borderline abusive language by the o2 staff member" but I would suggest calling O2 again. Ask can you speak to a supervisor and make your complaint in a clear and reasoned fashion. Take it from there then.

dudara

OP, contact them again, and ask to speak to an account manager. Get them to provide you with proof that you requested/accepted the upgrade. If the contract was apparently extended, then they must have proof.

slowmoe

sorry should have given the extra info, essentially the person on the phone kept saying i had signed a contract and had upgraded so i couln't cancel the number. she kept trying to just shove me off the phone but i wasn't having any of this until my issue was sorted. She refused to let me speak to a manager, there is none available and i'm perfectly capable of dealing with your query etc :rolleyes: eventually she pretty much told me to f off.

I asked for copy of imaginary contract and was told i couldn't as they are 'archived' and i would have already been given my own copy. Again i explained i hadn't got a copy as i had never upgraded or been to the store or even signed something but she just repeatedly said i had but refused to provide prrof of that

krpc

O2 have a customer service presence here on boards; so it might be worthwhile contacting Talk2O2: Daryll.

slowmoe

spoke to o2 again and its the same thing. they cant produce the upgrade contract (that doesn't exist) as its archived and i would have been given a copy. Do they not get that i never signed any upgrade contract????

Small claims court it is, thinkk i will be moving to meteors max plans now

douglashyde

Having worked for O2 Moe - I can tell you now that they NEED to have a signed contract from you.

If you get abusive on the phone, they arnt going to help you. Simply say that you never signed a contract- if they argue, then tell them that they need to present a copy of the contract you signed - keep in mind, if you did sign a contract with them - it is a joint contract, so you have a right to see it.

If call centre can't help - go into store and ask for a Manager.

BurnsCarpenter

douglashyde wrote: »

Having worked for O2 Moe - I can tell you now that they NEED to have a signed contract from you.

Not true. Under contract law, a signed contract is not required. It's only mandatory for certain specific types of contract - mortgages for one.

But there has to be an agreement to enter into a contract at least and in this case it definitely sounds like their argument wouldn't stand up in court.

Before going down that route, try going through Comreg's complaint process.

douglashyde

BurnsCarpenter wrote: »

Not true. Under contract law, a signed contract is not required. It's only mandatory for certain specific types of contract - mortgages for one.

But there has to be an agreement to enter into a contract at least and in this case it definitely sounds like their argument wouldn't stand up in court.

Before going down that route, try going through Comreg's complaint process.

I never said anything about contract law - I meant it is O2 policy to have people sign a contract. However, there is a Direct Debit mandate on the contract forms that people sign - which ARE required by law to be signed.

cgarvey

douglashyde wrote: »

it is O2 policy to have people sign a contract.

I've had 4 upgrades, and have only signed for one of them. I know of others who have upgraded over the phone with no signature required. So, either there's a very frequent breach of policy, or you're wrong (see below).

douglashyde wrote: »

However, there is a Direct Debit mandate on the contract forms that people sign - which ARE required by law to be signed.

There is no such legal requirement. Even the Direct Debit scheme's contract for originators has no such requirement (i.e. Direct Debit Plus). Remember, the Direct Debit Scheme is a private scheme, and is not afforded any special meaning in law (other than regular consumer law, I mean).

As with any contract, there is a requirement of some form of acceptance, but a signature does not have to be that.

Cabaal

slowmoe wrote: »

spoke to o2 again and its the same thing. they cant produce the upgrade contract (that doesn't exist) as its archived and i would have been given a copy. Do they not get that i never signed any upgrade contract????

You could say you want their DPA access request details as you want to obtain am copy of the contract under the data protection act, doesn't matter if its archived they MUST give it to you if you follow this process

You don't have to physically sign anything to go into a new contract, but of course if you did it over the phone then you can request a call recording and if you did it via e-mail then you should request a copy of the mail.

Solair

The fact that it's "archived" means it should be easy for them to find!?
That's what archives are used for!!

Are they suggesting that there archive is a trash bin?!

foggy_lad

unfortunately op as this is a business account you have with o2 you can't use the small claims court but you can still write or email o2 and insist on receiving a copy of the contract they may or may not have for you,

sounds like you were upgraded "automatically" most likely without your request or permission and now o2 are trying to cover up their shady practice!

cgarvey

foggy_lad wrote: »

unfortunately op as this is a business account you have with o2 you can't use the small claims court

That's changed since the start of the year. More info.

slowmoe

sweet thanks peoples!

i had made a call regarding my phone on my number being faultty and what could be done, no talk of an upgrade just the repair policy. a few weeks later a trigger happy sized blackberry arrives in post with no documention. the thing is huge so i didn't want to use it anyway and its left in a sealed box. then i tried to cancel an unused number to be told i had recently upgraded and was stuck for the year :rolleyes: after much explaining of i haven't upgraded i got nowhere and asked for proof that i upgraded. they refused to provide proof saying their contract is archived and i would have been given my own copy-which i wasn't AS I NEVER UPGRADED!!! so i asked to speak with a manager as it was going nowhere and the response was there is none available and i am perfectly capable of handling your query, a manager will tell you the exact same etc. i kept the cool but re explained several times the situation until the person told me they were going to be hanging up, i made it clear that should they hang up before my query is resolved that i would be writing a complaint about them. i was never abusive and didn't shout or use bad language on the phone, they said something similiar to f off and hung up.

comreg followed by scc it is!!!

Thanks all

noodler

That someone here could get 4 upgrades without any sort of contract seems like half the problem to me.

djdunny

OP you mentioned that you were trying to cancel a number used by a former employee. was he a registered user on the account? ie could he have rang up o2 and requested a phone, thinking that the phone would arrive at his home. did his employment end amicably? its just a worse case scenario.

Flaregon

Just cancel all your payment to 02 they can't just Disrespect you like, it just wrong.

that way when they ring you up to find out why there been no payment for that month you get true to a higher up and get it sorted.

BnB

Hey Moe

Can I have that Blackberry that you're not usin'.....?

amdublin

slowmoe wrote: »

they said something similiar to f off and hung up.

I find it hard to believe that an employee who knows their calls are being recorded would say this.

Why did you not enquire about/return the phone when it was sent out to you?

If it was me I would have assumed it was a replacement for the faulty Blackberry and if I was unhappy with the size I would have rang them and asked for a different model.

Who gets a Blackberry in the post and does nothing about it?!

lau1247

BnB wrote: »

Hey Moe

Can I have that Blackberry that you're not usin'.....?

BnB, it looks like OP will have to return it as he didn't order it..

Gillo

amdublin wrote: »

Who gets a Blackberry in the post and does nothing about it?!

Funny that's what I was thinking, you recieved a relatively high end phone in the post and didn't think to ask questions at that stage? Why didn't you contact the network to ask why you had recieved a phone out of the blue?

Douglashydes advice to go into a retail store won't get you any answer's since the upgrade didn't happen in store so no point wasting your time OP. If it's an SME account you may have an account manager, check with the customer care to see if you do, they can probabley answer a few questions.

slowmoe

it seemed to be a basic model or maybe an old model to me but tbh i'm not into phones so i wouldn't know the value. there wasn't even anything attached to say from o2.just a po box return address. i googled it but didn't find anything. i mentioned it to another person in office for them to follow up and didn't think anymore about it until i tried to cancel this number. i work in a really busy office. i certainly have an awful lot more work to do then tracing random post. out of the four numbers we have with o2 only mine has been upgraded within the year and therfore my number is still in contract but the other three aren't. i would have even been happy to accept this phone as an upgrade for one of the other accounts as long as i could cancel the unused number. and the phone is still in its sealed box so im happy to return it. all i wanted out of this was to cancel the unused number. now i will be cancelling all of them and going elsewhere. at the en of the phone call regarding my blackberry being broken-just a prob with emails not coming through on time, they said a tecch advisor would look at my connection and contact me when resolved etc. nothing at all about a new phone but they did explain repair policy.

regarding the rude manner of person on the phone, i gathered when i was insisting on speaking to someone else and insisting i received proof of this upgrade that they just wanted me off the phone, and the phone call went on a while as i was persistent. i think they just had enough but i don't understand why they refused to let me speak to a manger when it was obvious they weren't able to resolve the situation.

employee was a registered user on account but i am account owner so all upgrades etc go through me. it all goes through office address so everything arrives here. if someone else did upgrade the phone surely they would still have proof though? the refusal to show the proof makes me very suspicious

foggy_lad

refusal to show proof can mean anything but most likely that they sent you a handset without you requesting it and now expect you to pay for their mistake! have you tried emailing them or writing a letter to their offices? you could also post on the o2 forums about your issue.

cgarvey

noodler wrote: »

That someone here could get 4 upgrades without any sort of contract seems like half the problem to me.

Just to clarify (and not too keen on dragging the thread off-topic), I never said that. All I said was that I didn't have to sign a contract. There is still a contract in place, just a verbal one. That's as valid as any signed one (but o2 would probably want to keep a recording of the agreement to protect themselves from dispute later).

Bosshogg

Thanks for posting and alerting others to the pitfalls of dealing with O2.

Run your query by these boys, if they are out of order they'll step in http://www.askcomreg.ie/about_us/contact_us.26.LE.asp

slowmoe wrote: »

:rolleyes: eventually she pretty much told me to f off.

All calls are recorded against your phone number.

djdunny wrote: »

OP you mentioned that you were trying to cancel a number used by a former employee. was he a registered user on the account? ie could he have rang up o2 and requested a phone, thinking that the phone would arrive at his home. did his employment end amicably? its just a worse case scenario.

A contract should still be available.