O2 iPhone Customers - Get out of contract!

BBMcQ · 27-07-2010 8:50am

It's pretty simple, find out who you call most, and everyone go to the same network.

All my family and the missus are on O2, so for 40euro a month I get 150 minutes, 100 texts, 250 webtexts (these make a difference with Eirtext on the iPhone) and UNLIMITED DATA - I signed this contract extension in Feb/Mar over the phone without upgrade phone cuz I knew they'd bring out a new iPhone. I told them I had moved all my family to O2 and that I wasn't committing to 18months without unlimited data.

Since Christmas I cut my bill from 90-120euro a month right down to 40euro a month and not a penny more. I've lost my gold upgrade to a silver one but pass maths can work out i'm upto 80euro better off a month!

Edit: Also I can confirm the free calls and texts to O2 also.

guil · 27-07-2010 8:52am

Wel for me vodafone is crap at home on my work phone but I have full coverage with o2
The advance 150 does have free calls and texts to o2. My gf has it

Dinarius · 27-07-2010 11:47am

stuartmchugh wrote: »

It's pretty simple, find out who you call most, and everyone go to the same network.

Precisely. Which is why I think I'll jump. Plus, Vod reception is better where I need it most - at home. I work from there.

Finally, 600 webtexts are very tempting. I text a lot.

Thanks for the feedback.

D.

whiterebel · 27-07-2010 2:01pm

Dinarius wrote: »

Precisely. Which is why I think I'll jump. Plus, Vod reception is better where I need it most - at home. I work from there.

Finally, 600 webtexts are very tempting. I text a lot.

Thanks for the feedback.

D.

Just a cautionary note on VF. Their website is shockingly bad. Do not expect to be able to get an accurate idea of remaining minutes, texts or data. At one stage it was running 8 days behind, and VF don't seem to care in the least.
Their webtext 600 free texts is great, until you see the amount that don't go, and you have no way of checking sent emails. I detest O2, but their website is leagues ahead of VF. Even 3 is almost instant on your remaining units.

Dinarius · 28-07-2010 8:16am

whiterebel wrote: »

I detest O2, but their website is leagues ahead of VF.

Yes, I can't help thinking that O2 are a bit like Apple to Vod's Microsoft - smaller, slicker, prettier.

When you say that there can be problems with webtexts, do you mean that Eirtext (I'm assuming that's what you use) is telling you they've been sent, but they don't arrive. Or do you mean that they don't leave your phone in the first place? Since I work from home, I send pretty much nothing but webtexts using my wireless internet.

Thanks.

D.

Our man in Havana · 28-07-2010 9:57am

Then you won't be sending many with vodafone.

Dinarius · 28-07-2010 10:38am

Haddockman wrote: »

Then you won't be sending many with vodafone.

Explain, please?

To avoid any confusion, I send webtexts on my iPhone using Eirtext Pro. I never send texts from a computer.

Thanks.

D.

Our man in Havana · 28-07-2010 11:15am

Hopefully that will work for you.

I certainly could never send many webtexts when I was with VF.

Aldee84 · 29-07-2010 1:11am

I am furious I'm on an iphone 18mnth contract since last October and just heard price change etc tonight.. Anyone any idea what I can do to get out of this???I would appreciate some help on this

Lucious Sweet · 29-07-2010 1:16am

Aldee84 wrote: »

I am furious I'm on an iphone 18mnth contract since last October and just heard price change etc tonight.. Anyone any idea what I can do to get out of this???I would appreciate some help on this

Nothing you can do mate AFAIK

OCD · 29-07-2010 1:20am

Aldee84 wrote: »

I am furious I'm on an iphone 18mnth contract since last October and just heard price change etc tonight.. Anyone any idea what I can do to get out of this???I would appreciate some help on this

Nowt. You've missed the boat. You should check out the new charges cos I doubt they'll have any real effect on you unless you've a penchant for calling 11811.

Failing that, you can kick and scream to O2 but I'd doubt that it would do you much good and probably only serve to make you more angry.

Let it go, move on unless your bill rises dramatically.

cournioni · 29-07-2010 9:49am

Anyone know what the penalty or charge is for switching from a 350 contract with o2 to vodafone for the iPhone 4?

OCD · 29-07-2010 10:18am

i believe it's the number of months left on your contract x the monthly price but i have heard that if you are leaving the country they will reduce the monthly rate. not sure this would apply if you ported to VF though. ring them and ask or go to the o2 forum and ask one of the o2 moderators. they're very helpful.

alanmc10 · 31-07-2010 4:35pm

just rang them there thinking i could still get out of it but was told that they had to only notify customers of a month and they did that by media press release

"Under Regulation 17 of the European Communities (electronic communications networks and services)(Universal Service and Users’ rights) regulations 2003 an operator shall not shall not less than one month prior to the date of implementation of any proposed modification, notify its subscribers to that service of the proposed modification in the conditions of the contract for that service, and their right to withdraw without penalty from such contract if they do not accept the modification"

Im wondering now, since they didnt write out to me or text me and the fact I was out of the country between the 12th of June and the 25th of June doesnt that mean I wasnt notified as I wouldnt have been here to read the news paper or see the news. And the regualtion above states that they have to notify its subscribers of the modification but I was never notified. Dont get me wrong I did hear about the changes but that wasnt until I was back and that still should be within my one month right to withdraw. Am I right?

Bob Z · 31-07-2010 6:38pm

alanmc10 wrote: »

just rang them there thinking i could still get out of it but was told that they had to only notify customers of a month and they did that by media press release

"Under Regulation 17 of the European Communities (electronic communications networks and services)(Universal Service and Users’ rights) regulations 2003 an operator shall not shall not less than one month prior to the date of implementation of any proposed modification, notify its subscribers to that service of the proposed modification in the conditions of the contract for that service, and their right to withdraw without penalty from such contract if they do not accept the modification"

Im wondering now, since they didnt write out to me or text me and the fact I was out of the country between the 12th of June and the 25th of June doesnt that mean I wasnt notified as I wouldnt have been here to read the news paper or see the news. And the regualtion above states that they have to notify its subscribers of the modification but I was never notified. Dont get me wrong I did hear about the changes but that wasnt until I was back and that still should be within my one month right to withdraw. Am I right?

They never do notify you about stuff like contracts changing or prices going up and yet thet will send out texts a couple of days a week about Paul weller playing at the o2 areana

whiterebel · 31-07-2010 10:14pm

alanmc10 wrote: »

just rang them there thinking i could still get out of it but was told that they had to only notify customers of a month and they did that by media press release

"Under Regulation 17 of the European Communities (electronic communications networks and services)(Universal Service and Users’ rights) regulations 2003 an operator shall not shall not less than one month prior to the date of implementation of any proposed modification, notify its subscribers to that service of the proposed modification in the conditions of the contract for that service, and their right to withdraw without penalty from such contract if they do not accept the modification"

Im wondering now, since they didnt write out to me or text me and the fact I was out of the country between the 12th of June and the 25th of June doesnt that mean I wasnt notified as I wouldnt have been here to read the news paper or see the news. And the regualtion above states that they have to notify its subscribers of the modification but I was never notified. Dont get me wrong I did hear about the changes but that wasnt until I was back and that still should be within my one month right to withdraw. Am I right?

That would be my argument. I buy no papers, and I don't spend time trawling their T&Cs on their website, so how would I know......

Our man in Havana · 31-07-2010 10:50pm

That would be a matter for the courts.

misk · 06-08-2010 9:53am

whiterebel wrote: »

That would be my argument. I buy no papers, and I don't spend time trawling their T&Cs on their website, so how would I know......

Me too, I completely missed this notifiction and was quite pi$$ed off about the lacklustre attempt they made to inform me.

I spoke with a supervisor at O2 today and she was extremely unhelpful and completely snotty about the whole thing. I told her that as someone in the business of telecommunications, O2 should have at least texted if not called their affected customers to inform them of the price change, and that simply posting a blanket notification in a national newspaper was in no way going to be a successful attempt to get the information to their customer base. What it was was possibly a thinly veiled attempt to make sure most of the affected customers (how many web enabled iPhoners buy a newspaper every day?) were left in the dark, while complying with some loophole in EU law which might deem this enough effort.

She (<snip>) reamed off a bunch of scripted answers regarding their opinion that this was a reasonable effort even though they have all the affected customers' phone numbers, O2 email addresses and home addresses.

This is just not good enough and an example of why I'm now going to leave O2 as soon as possible. I'm going to write them a letter (don't have the cash to take an ad out in the paper to inform them) today and send it to their complaints dept, next stop, solicitor's letter.

The EU article states that O2...

"...shall not less than one month prior to the date of implementation of any proposed modification, notify its subscribers to that service of the proposed modification in the conditions of the contract for that service, and their right to withdraw without penalty from such contract if they do not accept the modification."

...and I don't think taking out an ad in the paper is a good enough attempt to notify subscribers. Notification should be direct (as they're in the habit of doing for O2 concerts, my phone bill and roaming charges) and not doing so is clearly an attempt to hope many will miss it.

(BOARDS.IE EDIT: Do NOT use people's names in your posts, please. It's not a nice thing to do and we don't allow it. Thanks.)

guil · 06-08-2010 10:41am

Read the rest of article 17. It gives the methods that are a acceptable to notify customers. O2 gave the required notice so whats the problem

misk · 06-08-2010 11:50am

guil wrote: »

Read the rest of article 17. It gives the methods that are a acceptable to notify customers. O2 gave the required notice so whats the problem

The problem is with a company doing the legal minimum required, which conveniently avoids informing their customers in the channels it normally uses to contact customers directly. It was an underhand move which looks like a clear attempt to hoodwink people.

guil · 06-08-2010 11:55am

That's life. Name one company that would do as ur suggesting and chance losing a massive amount of the customer base. These changes affect everyone. Not just iPhone users

07-08-2010 11:02pm

guil wrote: »

That's life. Name one company that would do as ur suggesting and chance losing a massive amount of the customer base. These changes affect everyone. Not just iPhone users

I think that's his point...plus o2 lost loads of customers anyway.

If I were in charge of o2, I would have notified my customers personally and let them know instead of being sneaky. I think this is the reason a lot of people left, lack of consumer trust (especially nowadays in the current climate) is a huge no no. It's like a stab in the back, most people who are on bill pay tend to stay with that network for years.

I know i would have stayed with them if they called me and explained the situation.

ingen · 08-08-2010 12:16am

i got out of contract with o2, under reg 17, 3 mths into an 18mth contract,

however, i was not able to then upgrade, so converted over to PAYG,
now they tell me i have to wait 90 days, to go back on bill pay..

their phones are overpriced even if you sign up to the top package.

im gonna leave them asap.

90 days is a joke realy.
bye o2, and thanks

can you port out on a Sunday? are mobile stores open on a Sunday ? and does the port go through on Sunday?

guil · 08-08-2010 10:02am

Deleted User wrote: »

I think that's his point...plus o2 lost loads of customers anyway.

If I were in charge of o2, I would have notified my customers personally and let them know instead of being sneaky. I think this is the reason a lot of people left, lack of consumer trust (especially nowadays in the current climate) is a huge no no. It's like a stab in the back, most people who are on bill pay tend to stay with that network for years.

I know i would have stayed with them if they called me and explained the situation.

its all well and good saying ya would this and that but the reality is if ur were in that position i doubt it would be any different
was thisorthis sent in a message to all customers
also wasnt there a report in one of the papers saying o2's contracts increased 25% in the second quarter

i got released from contract over it aswell but vodafone are useless where i live and 3 have no service, i wouldnt switch to voda over something like this

08-08-2010 11:42am

guil wrote: »

its all well and good saying ya would this and that but the reality is if ur were in that position i doubt it would be any different
was thisorthis sent in a message to all customers
also wasnt there a report in one of the papers saying o2's contracts increased 25% in the second quarter

i got released from contract over it aswell but vodafone are useless where i live and 3 have no service, i wouldnt switch to voda over something like this

5 times harder to get a new customer than it is to retain existing ones...

o2 blew it.

guil · 08-08-2010 12:40pm

yeah they really blew it, all iphone 4's have bein only to o2 customers and they all sold out
i only got out of the contract for the sake of it and i'd say there is thousands who thought the same

BBMcQ · 08-08-2010 12:41pm

ingen wrote: »

can you port out on a Sunday? are mobile stores open on a Sunday ? and does the port go through on Sunday?

you can do your store work on a Sunday, sign up, pickup phone etc but the porting will be done first thing Monday morning as far as I know.

ingen · 08-08-2010 3:39pm

stuartmchugh wrote: »

you can do your store work on a Sunday, sign up, pickup phone etc but the porting will be done first thing Monday morning as far as I know.

actually, found out, porting is done up to 4pm on sunday!

also i requested port off o2 today , to a different network in shop, 4 mins later i was up and running on my new network!! now thats fast..

porting prepay is always done a lot faster.

ingen · 08-08-2010 3:43pm

guil wrote: »

yeah they really blew it, all iphone 4's have bein only to o2 customers and they all sold out
i only got out of the contract for the sake of it and i'd say there is thousands who thought the same

yep i was on o2 release EDGE, 3 months in to an 18 month contract, this contract cost me €20 ex vat per month, however if you wanted to end the contract early, they had a clause in the contract that if you cancel, you pay €50 per month for the remaining months as termination fee, ie was an expensive get out.

thanks to Eu Reg 17, i got out no penalty;)

Tommydev · 20-08-2010 7:17pm

just after hearin that o2 raised their rates for i phone does anyone know if i can still get out of the contract. I heard about the offer in july but its obviously to late now..:(

O2 iPhone Customers - Get out of contract!

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