Upgrading with O2 (Pay Monthly)

JoeBaz · 12-09-2008 4:39pm #1

Hi Everyone,
just checking to see if anyone else has experienced the same problem I have noticed with O2.
I currently use the Sony Ericsson K800i, but it's getting a little shabby looking, so I decided I would get an upgrade.

I checked online a few weeks ago and I was entitled to a "Gold" upgrade, but I didn't have the funds to upgrade at the time.
I checked back a few days ago and have noticed that I am no longer entitled to my upgrade.
I contacted O2 about this and this was their response....

"Thank you for contacting O2 Customer Care by email
I’m afraid we can’t offer you an upgrade handset right now as I have checked your account and your 12 monthly spend is approx €---.--

Please find below our upgrade criteria: effective from 8th September 2008

- Silver €1,200 spend in 18 months

- Gold €1,799 spend in the last 6 months

- Platinum €1,800 spend in the last 6 months

- Diamond €2,400 spend in last 6 months"

So as you can see, the criteria for an upgrade has been increased, where you have to spend a tonne of money on your bills in a very short period of time.

I checked my sister and brothers accounts and their upgrades have been removed also. My brother spends over €150 a month on the phone and he was entitled to a "Diamond" upgrade, but now he doesn't have any upgrade.

Can anyone who uses O2, please check into this for their own sake. Let us know if you are being screwed as well.

I can't see this issue as being an isolated case of 3 people. From looking at the figures above, you'd be better off buying a phone Sim Free.

I have sent them another disgruntled email about this and told them I would be more than happy to change Service provider.
As soon as I get a reply I'll send it on.

Thanks,
Joe

brettmirl · 12-09-2008 4:58pm

Same as yourself. We have our company phones through O2 and a few weeks ago we were entitled to upgrade 2 phones on the a/c and now...nothing!

Shower of cowboys!

Slice · 12-09-2008 5:55pm

If you are outside your contract period and being refused an upgrade then there is nothing stopping you from switching to another provider. Or if you wished to stay with O2 you could always move to pay as you go and then move back to billpay as a "new" billpay customer and avail of whatever introductory offer that entitles you to...

Oryx · 12-09-2008 5:58pm

Or, phone customer services to tell them that you are considering leaving them because of their new upgrade policy. They often have the ability to 'push' an upgrade for you. Or at least they did any time I tried it when I was an 02 customer.

Doctor DooM · 12-09-2008 6:20pm

JoeBaz wrote: »

"Thank you for contacting O2 Customer Care by email
I’m afraid we can’t offer you an upgrade handset right now as I have checked your account and your 12 monthly spend is approx €---.--

Please find below our upgrade criteria: effective from 8th September 2008

- Silver €1,200 spend in 18 months

- Gold €1,799 spend in the last 6 months

- Platinum €1,800 spend in the last 6 months

- Diamond €2,400 spend in last 6 months"

So as you can see, the criteria for an upgrade has been increased, where you have to spend a tonne of money on your bills in a very short period of time.

I checked my sister and brothers accounts and their upgrades have been removed also. My brother spends over €150 a month on the phone and he was entitled to a "Diamond" upgrade, but now he doesn't have any upgrade.

Can anyone who uses O2, please check into this for their own sake. Let us know if you are being screwed as well.

I can't see this issue as being an isolated case of 3 people. From looking at the figures above, you'd be better off buying a phone Sim Free.

I have sent them another disgruntled email about this and told them I would be more than happy to change Service provider.
As soon as I get a reply I'll send it on.

Thanks,
Joe

I think you may have some mistake there...

There's 1 euro difference between gold and platinum?

AFAIR silver is based on time, not on spend.

I will go find out though.

ongarite · 12-09-2008 6:37pm

What the hell? I was entitled to upgrade last month when I checked but now I'm not.
Not impressed and not incentive to stay with O2 after 7 yrs if they are pulling this now.

Stokolan · 12-09-2008 6:57pm

ongarite wrote: »

What the hell? I was entitled to upgrade last month when I checked but now I'm not.
Not impressed and not incentive to stay with O2 after 7 yrs if they are pulling this now.

Same as myself.. Was entitled to upgrade a month or 2 ago. went to do it this week and have nothing... I is not impressed either!

grinder23 · 12-09-2008 7:37pm

SDooM wrote: »

I think you may have some mistake there...

There's 1 euro difference between gold and platinum?

AFAIR silver is based on time, not on spend.

I will go find out though.

Silver is based on time

The 1 euro difference should be read like this

between 1200-1799 = gold
between 1800-2400 = platinum
and 2400 or over = diamond
all in last 6 months of course

grinder23 · 12-09-2008 7:40pm

Slice wrote: »

If you are outside your contract period and being refused an upgrade then there is nothing stopping you from switching to another provider. Or if you wished to stay with O2 you could always move to pay as you go and then move back to billpay as a "new" billpay customer and avail of whatever introductory offer that entitles you to...

Not true they would charge you a reconnection fee unless you were off billpay for 2 yrs and with the reconnection you wouldn't be entitled to any phone offers

Doctor DooM · 12-09-2008 7:45pm

grinder23 wrote: »

Silver is based on time

The 1 euro difference should be read like this

between 1200-1799 = gold
between 1800-2400 = platinum
and 2400 or over = diamond
all in last 6 months of course

Wow thats a big jump, it was 800 for gold when I worked for them.

Sure with decreasing prices who is going to get a platinum, even?

castie · 12-09-2008 7:47pm

I was told on the phone that a spend of over 700 euro in 12 months would guarantee some form of upgrade. But that was last month. Must ring them and find out.

Doctor DooM · 12-09-2008 7:48pm

They took away my upgrade.

I'm out of contract.

Oh well O2, if someone doesn't override you just lost me to be honest. 14 months since an upgrade, a spend of 1000 euro...

castie · 12-09-2008 8:11pm

on the phone right now and hes confirmed i have to wait 6 months.

I agreed to changing plans last month which put me into a new 18 month contract on the basis that i was getting an upgrade on the 30th of sept (the date the old contract was due to end). Ive informed the guy on the phone that I am not very happy at being promised this upgrade only to have this promise be made null and void. I also told him that if I did not either recieve an upgrade or get released from the 18 month contract, i would be in contact with comreg about it. He quickly passed the buck onto the girl who originally promised me it, so he emailed her the details to contact me.

On a side note i asked what was with the increase and i was told by him the reason was that at current rates they would overshoot their upgrade sales targets by over 20,000. He thinks they will come back down again eventually.

That takes the biscuit really to me.
8 years as a customer and to be honest im hoping to get out of the contract rather than an upgrade.

castie · 12-09-2008 8:18pm

SDooM wrote: »

They took away my upgrade.

I'm out of contract.

Oh well O2, if someone doesn't override you just lost me to be honest. 14 months since an upgrade, a spend of 1000 euro...

I was told also that at the moment they cant override upgrades anyway.

Random · 12-09-2008 9:12pm

So they're tightening their belts it would seem. Didn't Meteor do the same recently too?

Give them a couple months, they'll bring them back down again !

Ah-Watch · 12-09-2008 11:00pm

I thought it was very bad form when I rang last month and was told to ring in a month later-I was told that their upgrade system was being updated and they couldn't check upgrades/allow new upgrades and now their making you spend that much, I will be telling people to take 02 clear sim and a speakeasy phone/ move to another provider, as seen as their all gone as tight fisted I just think serial movers is the only way to go:(

Goosie · 13-09-2008 12:16am

We had two upgrades due last week - now none - absolutely disgusted.

Both of us have been customers for the last 8 yrs.

Ah well time to change methinks - plenty of options out there and some of them seem to be a lot better value.

jahalpin · 13-09-2008 7:10am

O2 UK have tightened up their upgrade policy a lot as well. I have been a customer for 11 years and have been able to upgrade free to a nice every year after exactly 12 months, last year I got an N73 and was spending £20 a month.

This year they are only offering 18 or 24 month contracts and the monthly spend has increased to at least £30 a month.

O2's new Spanish owners must have decided to tighten their belts to increase profit, however, I can see thiss backfiring very quickly as they are likely to lose a lot of customers over it as the other networks are far more generous and reasonable. Their customer service has also gone downhill as when I went to get an upgrade last week the salesman in the shop was in a queue for over 20 minutes before he managed to get through to someone regarding an upgrade.

Luckily, I'm with 3 Ireland and still get an upgrade every 12 months as well as far cheaper tarriffs and better international call tarriffs such as 3 at home and calls to the UK included in basic packages

foggy_lad · 13-09-2008 9:59am

jahalpin wrote: »

O2 UK have tightened up their upgrade policy a lot as well. I have been a customer for 11 years and have been able to upgrade free to a nice every year after exactly 12 months, last year I got an N73 and was spending £20 a month.

This year they are only offering 18 or 24 month contracts and the monthly spend has increased to at least £30 a month.

O2's new Spanish owners must have decided to tighten their belts to increase profit, however, I can see thiss backfiring very quickly as they are likely to lose a lot of customers over it as the other networks are far more generous and reasonable. Their customer service has also gone downhill as when I went to get an upgrade last week the salesman in the shop was in a queue for over 20 minutes before he managed to get through to someone regarding an upgrade.

Luckily, I'm with 3 Ireland and still get an upgrade every 12 months as well as far cheaper tarriffs and better international call tarriffs such as 3 at home and calls to the UK included in basic packages

I am also with three and my upgrade on the lowest price plan of 19/month was sony c902 for 179 and keep my 100 minutes a month. My spend last year including the monthly charge was under 240
O2 are offering customers nothing to stay with them now.

Punchesnpeaches · 13-09-2008 10:14am

I've been a customer with O2 for the past 6 years and I genuinely believe that they're becoming more expensive. Also, correct me if I am wrong, but weren't they the last to offer deals on texts/phonecalls to the same network? I tried to change provider a few months back but I was still in contract. Once I was out of contract a customer service representative rang me to try and get me to sign up to a new plan, I asked him if this would extend my contract and he said that it would. It was a bit worrying too because my phone is in my dad's name because I got it when I was under 18. Even though I pay my own bills etc they shouldn't really be able to bind someone else in a contract on my say so, should they? Think I'll change to someone else as soon as I have the mooladh.

Slice · 13-09-2008 10:35am

grinder23 wrote: »

Not true they would charge you a reconnection fee unless you were off billpay for 2 yrs and with the reconnection you wouldn't be entitled to any phone offers

Wow, if that's the case they're really not pushed about customers at all. Frankly O2 are by far the worse of all the networks in terms of what they expect from their customers. In addition to the above they're also the only network to expect their customers to renew their contract just to avail of a new price plan

krudler · 13-09-2008 12:02pm

grinder23 wrote: »

Not true they would charge you a reconnection fee unless you were off billpay for 2 yrs and with the reconnection you wouldn't be entitled to any phone offers

thats not true at all you can move off bill pay and after 60 days you can reconnect as a first time customer, theres no reconnection fee, whatever that even is

rahtkennades · 13-09-2008 12:47pm

Sickened. I just had the same experience. Last month I was entitled to an upgrade, this morning I drove to the shop to buy a new phone, which was going to cost me over €200, and the guy said I wasn't entitled to one any more, but to try Customer Care. He also said the shops had been told not to bother ringing Customer Care, they wouldn't get anywhere.

So I rang Customer Care, and after waiting about 10 mins, the girl on the phone said I wasn't entitled to an upgrade. She said they'd changed the criteria on the 12th? and that she couldn't tell when I might be entitled to an upgrade.
I asked her what the new criteria were, but she said she didn't know, they'd just been told "It's been changed".
She told me "Oh well if you keep checking online, it'll show up when you become eligable".

I've had the phone about 19 months, spent about €40-€50 average a month with them for the entire time, and I get this kind of guff?
I told her to mark on my account that I was changing provider.

That kind of 'Customer Care' stinks!:mad::mad::mad:

andyeire · 13-09-2008 3:09pm

After reading this thread decided to check my account and my platinum upgrade is gone.

I got a call from cc about 6 weeks ago as my account was coming out of contract end off October.They offered to sign me up for o2 clear 18 month contract and gave me an upgrade.I asked how long i had to use upgrade and was told it would be there till i used it.

Rang cc today to find out wht story was an was told upgrade is gone and i am locked in too contract.I asked when i would get another upgrade he checked my account and said NEVER :eek:

On my account i have 2 bill pay phones and an average spend of 200 a month.I have also bought 3 Speakeasy phones in last 3 months on this account.

In total including topping up kids phones i spend about 250 a month with them .

Can they just change the terms of my contract and leave me with no options?

I think i was had by O2 cc

Jaysoose · 13-09-2008 8:44pm

Just checked online and my gold upgrade is gone, rang and was talking to one of the girls and got the same story as everybody else. Told her to calculate how much it is to get out of my contract and to make a note on my account that i ill be leaving and i that i was also making a complaint to ofcom. Wont make a blind bit of difference anyway until enough people leave.

To be fair the girl on the phone sounded like she had been fielding complaints all day and i felt sorry for her.

Random · 13-09-2008 8:46pm

Someone mentioned changing the terms of the contract - I don't believe upgrades are referenced in your contract? So what have they changed in your contract?

Doctor DooM · 13-09-2008 8:53pm

Random wrote: »

Someone mentioned changing the terms of the contract - I don't believe upgrades are referenced in your contract? So what have they changed in your contract?

Indeed, it has nothing to do with contracts. There's nothing to stop them doing what they've done: It's nasty, and personally I think quite silly, but its completely legal.

As I pretty much say constantly in this forum, you want to show O2 you're not happy with them? Walk away from them.

Money talks, everything else walks in business.

BanzaiBk · 13-09-2008 9:58pm

We have a massive business acc with O2 and according to a rep today it was just to cull upgrade numbers and it would probably be back down to more reasonable (choice words, clearly not the old levels) levels in a matter of months. Interestingly they were fairly apprehensive when we all upgraded last month:rolleyes:

Doctor DooM · 13-09-2008 10:01pm

BanzaiBk wrote: »

We have a massive business acc with O2 and according to a rep today it was just to cull upgrade numbers and it would probably be back down to more reasonable (choice words, clearly not the old levels) levels in a matter of months. Interestingly they were fairly apprehensive when we all upgraded last month:rolleyes:

That doesn't make sense to me though... why would they ever want to reduce their retention and churn figures?

andyeire · 13-09-2008 10:02pm

Random wrote: »

Someone mentioned changing the terms of the contract - I don't believe upgrades are referenced in your contract? So what have they changed in your contract?

The cc rep told me that it was in the contract that they could grant and withdraw upgrades at will.

My point was they contacted me to get me on a new 18 month contract 3 months before my original contract expired .I agreed to do this on the understanding that i could upgrade my existing handset.This was 6 weeks ago

I didn't sign a new contract as it was all done over the phone.I even rang them back a few days later to confirm the upgrade situation .

Now they insist i keep to my side of the agreement but they will not honor theirs .

And yes i will move all of my business away from O2 but it will cost me over 360 euro to get out of my new 18 month contract.

Is this legal?

BanzaiBk · 13-09-2008 10:05pm

SDooM wrote: »

That doesn't make sense to me though... why would they ever want to reduce their retention and churn figures?

No idea to be honest, we only ran into the rep by chance and he seemed fairly frazzled. At the moment we're sitting pretty anyway, having all mass upgraded last month. We'll see what happens in 18mos.

Archeron · 13-09-2008 10:17pm

Just checked too and I'm no longer entitled to my upgrade that I was offered two weeks ago. I've had nothing but hassle with this shower of gimps.
Definitely time to move, and I'll be doing it monday. :mad::mad::mad:

krudler · 13-09-2008 11:46pm

andyeire wrote: »

The cc rep told me that it was in the contract that they could grant and withdraw upgrades at will.

My point was they contacted me to get me on a new 18 month contract 3 months before my original contract expired .I agreed to do this on the understanding that i could upgrade my existing handset.This was 6 weeks ago

I didn't sign a new contract as it was all done over the phone.I even rang them back a few days later to confirm the upgrade situation .

Now they insist i keep to my side of the agreement but they will not honor theirs .

And yes i will move all of my business away from O2 but it will cost me over 360 euro to get out of my new 18 month contract.

Is this legal?

they can hold you to a verbal contract if they posted you out a letter advising you were agreeing to a new one, if you never got the letter you should ring and ask them to put you back on your original contract if you had any time remaining left on it, and if the agent says no ask for a supervisor

castie · 14-09-2008 4:32am

Still waiting for the original customer care person to contact me.

This is really ridiculous behaviour, In my case only way they can prove i agreed to a new contract is if they have the call recorded. And if they have that, it will also have in it me saying "I will only sign a new contract if i am guaranteed my upgrade on the 30th of september" and the sales girl replied with a "yes". So if they dont have the tapes ive signed nothing.

Jaysoose · 14-09-2008 12:35pm

Have been quoted €660 for teh remainder of my contract which has 13 months to run

.

Was thinking of reducing my tarriff to the bare minimum of €15 which would leave me paying €195 then turn the phone off and go with a different supplier.

The girl in customer care lied to me aswell when i asked her "did o2 not think to inform their customers of any change before the decision was made?" she told me that the decision was made in th last 24 hours!!! which is a blatant lie as this has been going on for a few weeks.

Jaysoose · 14-09-2008 12:47pm

castie wrote: »

Still waiting for the original customer care person to contact me.

This is really ridiculous behaviour, In my case only way they can prove i agreed to a new contract is if they have the call recorded. And if they have that, it will also have in it me saying "I will only sign a new contract if i am guaranteed my upgrade on the 30th of september" and the sales girl replied with a "yes". So if they dont have the tapes ive signed nothing.

Was back on to customer care and aparently the letter they sent after conning everybody onto the new contract constitutes an agreement. They were very narky when i told them there is no signature on that and she actually said to me "its a verbal contract"!!!!!!! verbal contract my arse.

Just saw this blurb on the website by the way!!!!

Why choose O2?

We reduce your costs
We put you first
Easier to travel abroad
We keep you covered
Technology on the edge

krudler · 14-09-2008 6:07pm

Jaysoose wrote: »

Have been quoted €660 for teh remainder of my contract which has 13 months to run .

Was thinking of reducing my tarriff to the bare minimum of €15 which would leave me paying €195 then turn the phone off and go with a different supplier.

The girl in customer care lied to me aswell when i asked her "did o2 not think to inform their customers of any change before the decision was made?" she told me that the decision was made in th last 24 hours!!! which is a blatant lie as this has been going on for a few weeks.

Actually when it comes to these decisions staff find out at the last minute so that wasnt a lie, just remember the person sitting on the other end of the phone didnt make this decision so yelling at them wont help, so few people seem to understand that

foggy_lad · 14-09-2008 10:17pm

is it just that their current customers are not spending enough and they want to strip out all the "dead wood" and get some new high spending customers signed up?

Gillo · 14-09-2008 10:17pm

krudler wrote: »

Actually when it comes to these decisions staff find out at the last minute so that wasnt a lie, just remember the person sitting on the other end of the phone didnt make this decision so yelling at them wont help, so few people seem to understand that

Fair point, it wasn't the guy on the phone or in the store who changed the rules it was higher up.

Pretty pi$$ed myself as I also lost an upgrade as I was waiting for the bold to come out.

Jaysoose · 14-09-2008 10:22pm

krudler wrote: »

Actually when it comes to these decisions staff find out at the last minute so that wasnt a lie, just remember the person sitting on the other end of the phone didnt make this decision so yelling at them wont help, so few people seem to understand that

I dont hold the staff responsible and certainly did not yell at anyone down the phone, you mentioned in another post about receiving the letter which would constitute an agreement...the customer care agent said the exact same thing which would lead to believe that you possibly work for O2.

The fact of the matter is i was on the phone a few weeks back to ask about the change of status on the online system from 'GOLD' to 'You have been pre-registered for an upgrade' and was told the system was causing problems and to try back again...shock horror the upgrade is now gone..this has obviously been in the pipeline for a few weeks now and yet again its the customer that gets the shaft and is met by disinterest when customer care is rung.

daheff · 15-09-2008 11:12am

Jaysoose wrote: »

I dont hold the staff responsible and certainly did not yell at anyone down the phone, you mentioned in another post about receiving the letter which would constitute an agreement...the customer care agent said the exact same thing which would lead to believe that you possibly work for O2.

The fact of the matter is i was on the phone a few weeks back to ask about the change of status on the online system from 'GOLD' to 'You have been pre-registered for an upgrade' and was told the system was causing problems and to try back again...shock horror the upgrade is now gone..this has obviously been in the pipeline for a few weeks now and yet again its the customer that gets the shaft and is met by disinterest when customer care is rung.

you can tell O2 to prove you agreed to a new contract...them arbitrarily sending you a letter in the post would not consitute your agreement to it...they would then have to pull out the recording of your phone call...once they do that you can tell them that on that call you were promised an upgrade if you went onto a new contract....which is then a binding agreement. If they wont hold their side of the deal you dont have to either.

Jaysoose · 15-09-2008 11:44am

daheff wrote: »

you can tell O2 to prove you agreed to a new contract...them arbitrarily sending you a letter in the post would not consitute your agreement to it...they would then have to pull out the recording of your phone call...once they do that you can tell them that on that call you were promised an upgrade if you went onto a new contract....which is then a binding agreement. If they wont hold their side of the deal you dont have to either.

The only thing with this in my case the upgrade was already in place and was nothing to do with the new contract. I have already asked for the recording of the phonecall and am waiting to hear back so watch this space..

whiskeyman · 15-09-2008 2:43pm

Happened to me too.
Well annoyed.
Going to phone up now for an explanation.

Jaysoose · 15-09-2008 2:45pm

whiskeyman wrote: »

Happened to me too.
Well annoyed.
Going to phone up now for an explanation.

Good luck.

andyeire · 15-09-2008 8:31pm

I rang them today said i didn't get letter and wanted to go back to old contract.Was told no problem got them to confirm when my old contract was up .

So in the middle of October i will move both of my bill phones and swap 3 RTG to another network .

Smart move O2 :cool:

maxy jazz · 16-09-2008 8:17am

come on everybody - stop moaning. you should have used the upgrades when you got them. o2 mobile selection is pretty dire. besides they are getting loads of new customers for the iphone so can afford to loose a few contracts here and there. I am an o2 customer, and I noticed that they are more interested in getting new customers than holding existing customers. existing customer are less valuable. stop moaning and move on!

ongarite · 16-09-2008 8:54am

maxy jazz wrote: »

come on everybody - stop moaning. you should have used the upgrades when you got them. o2 mobile selection is pretty dire. besides they are getting loads of new customers for the iphone so can afford to loose a few contracts here and there. I am an o2 customer, and I noticed that they are more interested in getting new customers than holding existing customers. existing customer are less valuable. stop moaning and move on!

Thats a load of bollocks. I've been trying to get an iPhone since they launched and its been impossible since they prefer new customers only. I had an upgrade available when I couldn't get one and now when iPhones are coming into stock my upgrade is gone, which means O2 won't sell you an iPhone.

Jaysoose · 16-09-2008 10:57am

Was just on the O2 forum and a statement has been releases regarding this subject, not good news im afraid its basically like it or lump it.

http://forums.o2online.ie/forums/showthread.php?p=16810&posted=1#post16810

ongarite · 16-09-2008 11:45am

Thanks for that. Confirmed my suspicions, poor play by O2. If I had known I could pre-approve my upgrade, I would have done so and got a reference no.
Very poor communication from O2 and poor excuses.

decsramble · 16-09-2008 12:43pm

People who feel they have been fooled into renewing a contract with the promise of an upgrade that did not then materialize could contact ComReg and the sunday papers consumer desks like this guy

http://forums.o2online.ie/forums/showpost.php?p=16810&postcount=145

ComReg may be a toothless kitten but nothing says pissed off customers like phone calls from the papers to a PR dept asking for a statement.

matchthis · 16-09-2008 12:52pm

Joe duffffffayyyyyy

Upgrading with O2 (Pay Monthly)

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