Charged? for my only ever sim replacement by O2.

100gSoma

My phone was restarting randomly and I read that an old sim card could cause this behaviour sometimes. My sim card is 7 years old and has never been replaced. I rang O2 customer care and told them the situation and they said they would send one out right away, no problem. They never mentioned I would be charged for this. and I presumed they shouldn't after I read this on the website:

Q. My SIM card has been damaged or lost. Can I get a new one?

A. All customers are allowed two free SIM Replacements in any 12 month period. After that O2 charges €15.24 (€18.44 incl. VAT) for each SIM replacement. If you have insurance, all SIM replacements are free. Please visit your nearest O2 store to get your new SIM. Unfortunately we are unable to send a replacement SIM from our Online Shop.


But... low and behold I have been charged the 18.44euro this month for a "replacement sim". I have neevr had a replacement sim before, yet alone 2 in 12 months. seriously not happy with this. The customer care representative should have informed me on the phone if there was a charge associated with this. They should also update their FAQ on the website as my current bill is testament to the fact the FAQ is wrong.

I have been in a similar situation with O2 like this before. How can they get away with this stuff? seriously? :mad::mad:

Random

Your thread title is very misleading IMO.

I've had many SIM replacements and although O2 (like all networks) reserve the right to charge they don't unless you're taking the p!ss.

Have you rang O2 (1909) or emailed them (customer.care@o2.com)? I'm confident they will refund this to you if you are telling the full story.

Why have you not contacted them about this?

The agent probably just made a mistake and forgot to waive the charge (usually it shows as a credit / debit on your account)

Their customer care is 24 hour so ring them up now and then post back in 5 mins when you've had it refunded.

Mr. Presentable

100gSoma wrote: »

.

I have been in a similar situation with O2 like this before. How can they get away with this stuff? seriously? :mad::mad:

And yet you stay with them..........
As PP says, likely to be an oversight. Call and straighten it out. Be nice!

100gSoma

yeah fair enough, I will edit the title to change it. I am aggrieved because I have had several issues with them over the past 12 months.
I replaced my phone myself and rang them to give them the new IMEI number. No problems. then the phone malfunctioned and I could not get it replaced or repaired because I did not buy it from the o2.ie shop? Well then why were they taking the model and IMEI and selling me insurance for it? doh.

yes I stay with them because Iit would cost me 100s of euro to buy out at this stage, as I agreed an 18 month contract extension about 5 months ago for good price deal. Obviously, perhaps it would have been wiser (in 20/20 hindsight) to decline it and assess my options.

Random

Insurance is sold by a separate company and this is explained in the T+C of your contract. It has nothing to do with the warranty on your phone.

In my experience once you have a receipt then O2 will send it away for repair for you if it's covered under warranty.

Hindsight is a great thing but you can't blame them for you agreeing to a contract extension.

Let us know how you get on with them when you call.

Alanstrainor

100gSoma wrote: »

yeah fair enough, I will edit the title to change it. I am aggrieved because I have had several issues with them over the past 12 months.
I replaced my phone myself and rang them to give them the new IMEI number. No problems. then the phone malfunctioned and I could not get it replaced or repaired because I did not buy it from the o2.ie shop? Well then why were they taking the model and IMEI and selling me insurance for it? doh.

yes I stay with them because Iit would cost me 100s of euro to buy out at this stage, as I agreed an 18 month contract extension about 5 months ago for good price deal. Obviously, perhaps it would have been wiser (in 20/20 hindsight) to decline it and assess my options.

What did they say after you called them about the sim they charged you for?

Random

Insurance is sold by a separate company and this is explained in the T+C of your contract. It has nothing to do with the warranty on your phone.

In my experience once you have a receipt then O2 will send it away for repair for you if it's covered under warranty.

Hindsight is a great thing but you can't blame them for you agreeing to a contract extension.

Let us know how you get on with them when you call.

100gSoma

wait time exceeds 5 minutes, Im on hold. Will do it. yep, thats what happened. The insurance company would not cover the phone. In the end, O2 refunded the year of insurance I had paid, but it was difficult to get to that point and took alot of letters and calls. I had read all the terms and conditions and it did not clearly state that ONLY phones sold in the O2 shop were covered by insurance. It said all "approved handsets" were covered. The drop down to send settings even had my "approved handset" in the list so it was a bit of a grey area. I think they have changed it now after this particular issue.
still on hold. Im sure they will reverse it, but I normally would not have noticed it as I was abroad and presumed my bill wa sjust big due to roaming...

Got through, yep the reversed it straight away, should not have bee charged etc. thats fine etc, but I cannot help feeling that it wa smore of a "chance your arm" than a genuine mistake. ala Quinn direct.
In fact in Ireland in general the customer service is very very poor, but I think people don't realise this as they have nothing to benchmark it against.

thanks for your replies guys. Apologies if I appeared a bit hotheaded. Having an issue with eflow.ie too. but cannot get a reply off them via the email submission form, and refuse to ring the 1890 "cheap" number from my mobile as it costs 35cent per minute. They apparently reply to all emails in 72hours. not my last 3 mails anyway which have gone unanswered... lol. anyway, cheers. I woul dnot have thought to ring O2 1909 now as I didn't think they were 24 hours, so cheers for that.

Random

If the phone is sold by O2 then the insurance O2 charge you for will cover it (Daryll on O2 forum has checked and double checked and confirmed this on the O2 forum). There seems to have been an error here, at least you got a refund in the end though. As you say though, maybe they've changed it because when Daryll told me I was a little taken by surprise too.

So O2 made a mistake, you pointed it out to them, they refunded you right away. It's not a "chance your arm". The amount of SIM replacements I've had they'd have "chanced their arm" a number of times by now.

Customer service in Ireland is very poor in a lot of cases but I wouldn't rank O2 at the bottom of the list, although it has got poorer recently (and better in some ways with their forum).

Don't even start re eflow .. most will probably agree with whatever you write

100gSoma

Cheers Random. Fair points. Don't worry, I won't even start about eflow at this hour of the evening, I wouldn't be able for it myself. DEfo one for another day. :rolleyes:

Slice

Random wrote: »

Insurance is sold by a separate company and this is explained in the T+C of your contract

That's pants and it's the ultimate excuse for bad customer service. If O2 are willing to endorse a product, even if not their own, then they assume some degree of responsibility for it regardless of the T&Cs. Ultimately, it will affect their brand.

Random

Slice wrote: »

That's pants and it's the ultimate excuse for bad customer service. If O2 are willing to endorse a product, even if not their own, then they assume some degree of responsibility for it regardless of the T&Cs. Ultimately, it will affect their brand.

And they did to the extent that they refunded the charge.

hussey

I usually find o2 excellent

I've been away from Ireland nearly 4 years now, and whenever I go home I get my old o2 number back, always a new and free sim card

alexmcred

Was the handset you tried to insure being sold by o2 i.e. approved by them? If not there were correct as they state that they only cover approved handsets.

maxy jazz

this is typical o2. they do not show any decency to their existing customer base, crazy when you consider the fact that they send out sims for nothing to potential customers. what a bunch of tw*ts, look at how they deal with customers on their forum, which is heavily censored.
You would need a magnifying glass to read the t&c they send out.

Last year they were in a mess after taking away customers upgrade.
what an outfit...

BTW - dont forget they are call centre of the year. not sure how that is measured! must be all the customer satisfaction!

DD

100gSoma wrote: »

My phone was restarting randomly and I read that an old sim card could cause this behaviour sometimes. My sim card is 7 years old and has never been replaced. I rang O2 customer care and told them the situation and they said they would send one out right away, no problem. They never mentioned I would be charged for this. and I presumed they shouldn't after I read this on the website:

Q. My SIM card has been damaged or lost. Can I get a new one?

A. All customers are allowed two free SIM Replacements in any 12 month period. After that O2 charges €15.24 (€18.44 incl. VAT) for each SIM replacement. If you have insurance, all SIM replacements are free. Please visit your nearest O2 store to get your new SIM. Unfortunately we are unable to send a replacement SIM from our Online Shop.


Hey, you really get to replace for free. All the telecoms companies replace once or twice a year the SIM free of charge. I'd say to make a complaint and you definitely should get it for free. I am sorry I don't work for O2, but in my company the policy is to replace it for free, especially when you are so old in the network.

Random

DD wrote: »

100gSoma wrote: »

My phone was restarting randomly and I read that an old sim card could cause this behaviour sometimes. My sim card is 7 years old and has never been replaced. I rang O2 customer care and told them the situation and they said they would send one out right away, no problem. They never mentioned I would be charged for this. and I presumed they shouldn't after I read this on the website:

Q. My SIM card has been damaged or lost. Can I get a new one?

A. All customers are allowed two free SIM Replacements in any 12 month period. After that O2 charges €15.24 (€18.44 incl. VAT) for each SIM replacement. If you have insurance, all SIM replacements are free. Please visit your nearest O2 store to get your new SIM. Unfortunately we are unable to send a replacement SIM from our Online Shop.


Hey, you really get to replace for free. All the telecoms companies replace once or twice a year the SIM free of charge. I'd say to make a complaint and you definitely should get it for free. I am sorry I don't work for O2, but in my company the policy is to replace it for free, especially when you are so old in the network.

Have you actually read the rest of the thread?

DD

Yes and I said to make a complaint. Any company has Reclamation Department and this can be written and analyze and the customer will be given the money money.

I don't know how O2 works, but a complaint should be done.

Random

DD wrote: »

Yes and I said to make a complaint. Any company has Reclamation Department and this can be written and analyze and the customer will be given the money money.

I don't know how O2 works, but a complaint should be done.

O2 charged him. He rang them and queried it. He got the money refunded.

What money do you want now?

DD

Good. My mistake, haven't read it well.

krudler

And the world keeps spinning, I was a bit worried there...