This weekend I wasted an hour in watford trying to get an o2 phone on contract - shouldn't be hard as I pay my bills, have a couple of loans which I repay on time and may all my household bills - oh and I have a mortgage and a well-paid graduate job.
But o2 check credit by your name and address - or rather they give your name and address to equifax who promptly return some useless information equating me to a liar and thief and somebody not to trust to pay a twenty pound bill every month!
Of course o2 claim that its equifax who are to blame for my not getting a contract - so I check the equifax website. They helpfully provide lots of useful information and (for a charge and week long wait, and if they are in a good mood) will send me my credit record (which I can then make official changes to using big forms and waiting 28 days, etc, but of course only if their 'sources' agree that they are mistaken).
Equifax (or rather their website) inform me that o2 are obliged to tell me why they refused credit - in the shop o2 claimed it was equifax that told them not to and were unable to give any reasons, information, tell me my rights or what I could do, or who I could contact in o2. Eventually I was given equifax's address very unhelpful and if I mentioned that it was o2's fault the 'customer services' person got all uppity and ready to call security in case I raised my voice.
The email I received from o2 claimed that I was refused credit after they took into account my personal circumstances - this is an outright lie - I know their java website can barely cope with 2 accounts having the same email address let alone make clever decisions about credit on the fly - all their system does is throw some addresses at equifax's computer which returns some kind yes/no responses and then conclude that as I don't have a barclay card and store-cards coming out of my ears that I am bad credit. Of course o2 won't tell me this - they claim its based on their experience.
My experience and that of the salespeople in independant mobile resellers is that o2 is turning many people away despite them easily affording it because of a very poor credit check algorithm based on too few criteria - and certainly not based on personal circumstances because they don't get or request that information to make the decision.
So they are liars and fail to meet their obligations and they won't give me a 20 quid a month phone. And their JSP website breaks if you look at it funny. They also practice cold calls, (and then lie about contracts to minors).
Hopefully soon I find other who have had other problems and continue with my complaints to the appropriate authorities - oh did I mention that their is no complaints or customer service contacts with o2.
oops (read the comments they are pretty realistic)
seems o2 really are a bunch of sharks.
Re:more angry o2 customers
sparky on 2004-01-10T05:25:23
Think as an ex employee of o2 online & a uni student with an o2 contract I need to wade in here. O2 the shop and o2 online are seperate companies thats why the shop couldnt help.
The advisors just see a screen saying credit checked refused refer cust to equifax.
That letter is an over exaggeration as the system does not let a customer stay on hold anywhere near that long and it is policy to offer a call back if it will take a long time to resolve. The advisors cant pass you around due to the type of phone system used so thats wrong but we cant help having to put you on hold sometimes to call other departments, like or the network services people and it is in your interest that we do.
We have 1 team leader to about 12 people obviously they cant drop everything just because a customer wants to speak to them but what we do is give them all the details and they call the person back within 24 hours. The only time an advisor refuses a call back is when the manager says not to fill in a form and instead to inform the customer the manager will not and can not do any more than what they have just offered.
Yes the sales team suck and yes sometimes we can not cancel orders but we dont trap minors with contracts. Though I can tell you how sick and tired I got of 12 year old brats calling to abuse us because they ran up huge bills on their parents bills and then their parents trying to blame the advisors for it.
O2 were not trying to sucker anyone into a contract but once its in the system sometimes we have difficulty recalling the order after it goes outwith the warehouse. In the box it says, free returns label stick to box and put in the post, once received back money is automatically credited back to your account. Or when securicor try and deliver it simply refuse delivery.
As for complaints, if you read the website or actually spoke to the advisors you would find every email you send with a complaint gets forwarded onto a complaints team and that we note everything you say down onto your personal information and pass complaints on to the appropriate people. Just because there is no direct contact doesn't mean it doesnt get taken seriously.
It does seem sandra has been really unlucky and the order was either lost by securicor on the way back or there was some problem recording it back in stock. The advisors would have been running round for hours after her call cutting off the account and asking head office to ensure the correct money was added to the account to zero it and other such things.
Right rant over sorry its so long but you all seem to forget it is not o2 that answers the phone but people. Hope that actually helped the problems as well. That job was the most stressful one Ive ever had and that included answering 999 calls. At least there they knew what their problem was and werent convinced you personally were to blame. CheersRe:more angry o2 customers
TeeJay on 2004-01-10T17:44:11
To be honest, o2 have frequently disappointed me. Nobody mentioned that the shop was a different company (its not *really*, they are all part of mm02, any boundaries are self-imposed for tax benefits, etc). The non-o2 shops were more helpful and courteus than the o2 shop (and had better offers).The website has had many issues with mozilla, and I only recently managed to read a news page with WAP without getting errors (through the 02 servers).
Finally I have to call them to enable MMS on a phone that was sold as having MMS support - I only know I need to call somebody to make it work because its not in the manual or anything I was given - my sister in law found it by calling the helpline, and then eventually finding it on the website.
In all honesty o2 have offered mediocrity at best. I wish I'd stayed with orange.
Re:Credit reports
TeeJay on 2003-06-29T22:09:06
Yes - we have the Data Protection Act that lays down fairly strict rules and a data Commisioner that enforces themWe are quite well protected but there is a lot red tap to get through and most people don't have the time rather than the money to sort out problems.
The privacy is pretty well preserved on the whole but I think the system needs updating to be more like you mentioned - free credit report if you get turned down for credit would be a tremendous step.
The problem lies with o2 and those providing the credit agencies with information. o2 are dodging the duty and blame that lies clearly at their doorstep whil those providing credit agencies with information are to be viewed with suspicion.
The worst part is you can essentially be blacklisted (or rather suffer similar effects to blacklisting) because of association - unless you can prove no association which is utterly stupid.
Just because I shared a student dig with somebody who was reckless with their spending or because a member of my family once went bankrupt should not have an impact on my ability to get credit.
What else is surprising is that o2 (and many others) rely purely on this credit check rather than use information which is not allowed to be kept in the credit check but which they often ask for marketing - such as income, marriage, etc.
Re:Vote with your feet !
TeeJay on 2003-06-30T08:34:48
my wife has already signed a 12 month contract and her sister is already with o2.This kind of forces my hand as cross-telco prices are so high and the talk time she has provided only applies to 02 and landlines.
