O2, the worlds most extortionate phone company

[Rob Dobson]

Originally Posted by j.w.

Its also the quickest way to the best deal with your current service provider. Phone them up and ask for "that code thing I need to move my number to someone else". Chances are someone will soon offering little perks that they can give out to loyal customers but on the whole choose not to, until pushed that is!

Wot he said.

I had enough of Orange a while back having been with them since they first launched in the UK ('93?), so I called them up to tell them their fortunes with the intention of going over to O2. Then they offered me an apology, a new phone (of my choice), 750 cross network minutes and 240 text messages for a mere £35 a month.

I was most impressed with the apology but the deal was a blinder.

Sorted.

[Pen Simon]

Gee - whatever you do, don't go with Orange!

I had them for over ten years after switching from having Cellnet from BT in 1989 - yes, that far back when the phones were like a suitcase and cost a bank vault of money, and people thought you were a doctor or something for having one.

I ditched them when they tried to overcharge me and refused to talk about it with me.

I have only recently bothered again to have a mobile phone after not bothering with one for three years, and have this time gone for "pay as you go" - it seems to be a much cheaper option for me.

I think they are all crap though with not much to choose between any of them.

[DecoWarrior]

ooh dont get me started on this one i switched from orange to o2 that was suposed top be a cheaper deal the result was a jumpo in a bill from 125 quid a monthj average to 300 pound a minth average for roughly give or take a few minutes difference when i called and challenged them this and showed them my equivalent orange bill they said that it was crossd network calls and i said that shouldnt make any difference as the tarrif iu chose reflected this so i told them bollox cancel my contract and take me to court and they threatened to and they got as far as baliffs for the outstanding money but when i told them bollox too see them in court they backed off and after a long battle with customer services they cancelled it without hesitation i tyhink with o2 if you are lucky and speak to some one clued up then you are ok but you can land a right numpty

[colinicky]

Originally Posted by Pen Simon

I had them for over ten years after switching from having Cellnet from BT in 1989 - yes, that far back

I actually remember before Cellnet when it was "Hutchinson Comunication "! but O2 can not be beaten in my book .I have 4 yes 4 phones with O2 ,2 of them get 50 mins a month free of charge to any landline or O2 number -not a lot of free mins you might say but consider they only cost me £99 each to buy for life so if the 50 mins are not used & no other numbers called then no charges ever !!
1 of the other 2 is £200 a year for 400 mins anytime but I may be cancelling this one,because of changes in work I never use the free mins on my last phone which is the best deal ever for me as a continental lorry driver it costs me a massive £50 a month but I get 300 mins a month free of charge anytime ,anywhere & by anywhere I mean anywhere in Europe sent or recieved calls ! Nobody does a tariff like it ,the other companies keep telling me with absolute 100% certainty they can beat any tariff I'm on untill I tell them what I've got .
I can also say that I have never had a problem with O2 or any of their previous incarnations maybe in 17 years I've just been lucky

[markymark]

I've always been with Vodaphone,you can get some good deals and up to yet I've not had any complaints,good luck!

[dry suit diver]

I used to be with vodafone but they were unwilling to help when I needed internet down the mobile phone line, so I switched to Orange who promised me that they could do it, true to their word they did do it and I got a 'Matrix phone' from them.
when I started work for the new lot a mobile was included so I ditched the contract and ported the number to Pay as you go on Orange, no hassles or aggravation at all.

My brother was with Cellnet now 02 and they are the worst company ever to deal with but you knew that already.

[SoggyFox]

If you believe you've had a really rough time from O2 you could take your case to the Office of Fair Trading or to OFCOM, they might not be in breach of any guidelines or laws but the more pressure is put on these companies the better. If there are enough complaints of extortionate rates and tariffs and appaling customer services OFT or Ofcom may act and kick the company.

just a thought.

[Bantam]

Originally Posted by Lofty

God only knows why, but i've been a loyal O2 contract holder for about three years now. Perhaps out of convenience more than anything else, as I hate changing phone numbers.

However, today they have really urined in my cornflakes. Usually, when I check my online bank account, my ringpiece puckers upon coming across the astronomical amount of cash O2 charge me for their services... monthly, I must send around 80 text messages and make an hours worth of calls to a mixture of landlines and mobiles - nobody really likes me that much, so I dont have to waste time talking to people. Am I delusional, or is £65-£75 a lot of money to charge for my calls and texts, seeing as my base contract amount is about £25. So, today I decided to check my online internet bank thing just out of idle curiosity really... and I nearly prolapsed!

Recently, they decided to cut my phone off because of a mystery billing error - although I had a substantial amount of money in the account, for some reason it was rejected - more investigation required. Naturally, their reaction was to cut my phone off immediately and send me a nice letter that I am assured does exist, but I have never actually seen. O2 have both my email address, mobile phone number and landline number, I wasn't contacted on any of these. So I asked their "customer services" if they were stuck in the dark ages and hadn't mastered the use of these new fangled telemephones and the interweb, their excuse... "it's not cost effective".

Not cost effective!!! It's not cost effective for me to sit on my arse talking to some halfwit in Islamabad who can barely string a sentence together. No, that certainly isn't cost effective because the bastards bill you at national rate and leave you on hold for 15 farking minutes listening to some demented bubbly tune while they go and stick a brew on! Needless to say, I managed to get my phone reconnected and the bill squared away without having to fly halfway around the world to give some mong with a microphone headset a bloody good shoeing...

Anyway, got a bit sidetracked there. Back to my online account today. O2 had done the dirty on me again, charging me £74 for the privelage of having them send me regular junkmail/bills/toilet paper addressed to "Mr A. Mugg". But I was expecting that, what caught me off my guard was the additional charge of £39.00 entitled "Charges as notified". Perhaps somebody was notified, but it wasn't bloody me! Maybe they notified the same charlie uniform november tango that keeps racking up fifty quid in calls and texts.

In summary:
I am unhappy with the level of service O2 are providing me. I intend to terminate my contract with said company. I throughly recommend my fellow YD'ers avoid O2 like the bubonic plague. Perhaps some of you have actually been satisfied, or even happy with O2's service, but I feel that they have bent me over and buggered me with a marrow - they are beyond redemption in my eyes and now rank alongside Jeremy Beadle, Mr Blobby and the Big Brother Contestants in the 'people I wouldn't piss on if they were on fire' stakes.

I feel O2 need to be gripped in a big way! Phoning them is out of the question as they have made me so poor that I shall now be living on grass, leaves and snails for the rest of my life. Should I:
A) Write them a very stern letter.
B) Go to the O2 shop and give the manager a jolly good talking to.
C) Wee through their letterbox and run away into the night giggling like a little girl.

So, can anyone recommend a good mobile phone company?
Andy

Hmm. 80 texts and an hours worth of calls should only come to about £15 or £20, so £40 a month max for your bill. Sounds like a poor tariff though.

Let me take each bit individually;
Firstly, £25 a month is quite high for monthly charges. Did you get quite a nice phone initially? The high monthly cost is usually at a subsidy of the handset. O2 XDA or something like that (just a guess)? These tariffs are usually a problem as you end up paying more for the handset than if you bought it outright sim free. If you got an XDA (for example) it would cost £400 to buy new, Sim Free. However, with the tariff you're on it cost you £900. If you didn't get a new phone I can't see why you're on such a high monthly cost. For example, with Orange I can get a tariff which is £20 a month, which includes 100 minutes talk-time and 100 texts free in the tariff. So if you stay within your 60 mins a month and 80 texts you'll pay £20 a month, and that's it. You can do that direct with Orange online.

Handset subsidies, however, are low on that tariff because they include free call charges. So a Nokia 6680, for example (a 3G handset) will cost you £129.99

Nonetheless, you seem to have been messed about by O2.

I suggest you check your itemised billing and your tariff. If it matches up there's not much you can do. However, if they say they're sending you stuff you're not getting that's not your fault. Take all the documentation you have and see the citizens advice bureau. They will usually get a result.

Mark.

P.S. Before you all get confused;

Vodafone used to be part of Racal.
O2 used to be BT Cellnet then before that they were just plain Cellnet.
Both Cellnet and Vodafone's networks were opened at the same time in January 1985. Both were analogue networks.
Mercury's One2One was the first ALL GSM network in the UK in 1993, using 1800Mhz frequency. They now are called T-Mobile after their purchase by the German network of the same name. Virgin Telecom is a rebranded T-Mobile (and Tesco mobile is a rebranded O2)
Orange used to be Hutchison Microtel, before they were floated and then bought by France Telecom who have changed their entire portfolio to Orange now. They were the UK's second 1800Mhz network. (Voda and Cellnet use 900Mhz. The yanks use 1900Mhz just to be different).
Three was Hutchison's second attempt at a UK network - this time trying to steal a march on the rest of the networks by creating a totally UMTS/3G network. Unfortunately their choice of a walled garden network for their data sort-of made them a consumer only network and as such they didn't get any of the crucial business market which could have taken a lead on the others.

So there you go - a potted history of the UK mobile market. Not forgetting O2 is about to be taken over by Telefonica.

[garethwoodruff]

I have the same thing each year when I want to upgrade my handset.

Vodaphone say the deal you have got has expired and this is our best one, which is normally a complete rip off.

I go and have a look on line for a better deal, get the details ring vodaphone, and tell them to cancel my contract, they put me through to someone else and they then offer to match the internet offer or something close.

Happens every year now, kind of traditional.

[turbanator]

Well I have a good thien to say about O2.

In scapa this year I dropped both phones into the sea.
Luckily no-one took the pi$$ .

Anyway, I called O2 to see what the handset deals were as my contract with them is Sim only.
The guy said the phone would be about 2-300 quid to buy outright (Sony 750i). So I said well what if I go elsewhere for a new deal as people were offering it for 70 quid on £30/month deals. He said he supposed they could match than the asked me to hang on, came back having checked what a good customer I was and said they'd do the phone for 40 quid.

This is with me staying sim only (£20/month), with 500 free texts and a certain amount of free calls.

Yes, the billing dept. is a pita to talk to, but I don't feel that I was shoddily treated.

r
P

ps I don't work for O2.