[Nookia]

Hi to all, a request for help. I was with O2 for years. A couple of years ago they changed their billing system and overcharged some customers (I was one of them). After several long phone calls, including one where the customer services person admitted they had overcharged me on several bills and he'd sort it all out - nothing was done. And I gave up, with them owing me well over £100.

Anyway... A couple of month's ago I swapped to Virgin. I hadn't upgraded my phone with 02 for a few years so was well out of contract. However when I phoned I was told I was in contract with them until August, and had to pay up till then. After yet another long conversation the woman told me that it seemed my number was used instore for some dummy run or something and it was their error. Then the final bill comes. £123.81, with full payment up to August to pay off this phantom contract.

Yet another long conversation and yet again admitting there was an error, the customer services person spoke to the billing department while I was on hold, and told me it was all sorted out. I'd get a bill for £0.00 I didn't owe them any money. Not trusting them I phoned my bank to cancel the direct debit anyway.

Forward to today - a "Pre-court Division" has arrived. i can pay the £123.81 I owe O2, or else I'll be taken to court and will have to pay their court costs if I'm in the wrong, etc.

I don't know what to do. I was too angry to phone them, which to my experience is a total waste of time anyway, nothing ever gets done and really, at this stage O2 give me the creeps, there's something so dishonest about them.

Can anyone please tell me if they've experience of this? Also, if you do renew your contract do you sign anything? If you do I'll be fine since obviously there won't be a contract. Although my mistrust of them is so extreme now I'd not put it past them to fake one (I know this sounds paranoid but can you blame me?).

I have met two people recently, one of whom is taking them to court for a ridiculous phone bill of about £2,000 when his is usually about £50, which they are insisting he pay. Another who'd been charged for loads of texts he'd not sent to a number he didn't know, yet they refused to admit any error and he gave up.

I just wonder how many people give up with O2 when they're overcharged. Obviously my problem has now gone to a different level. Please excuse the long-windedness of this post! O2 are a nightmare company, good when everything is working fine, but as soon as there's an error, a bunch of crooks as far as I'm concerned. Help!

[prking]

I'm not sure anyone can help you, the crucial parts of your post are quite muddled.
If you were 'well out of contract' with O2 why did you phone them? You have a direct debit so must have been aware you were being billed each month and so still under contract. Therefore you would have to give notice and pay off the rest of the twelve months.
How can your number have been used at the same time both by you and in-store? most confusing.

[Hooloovoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by prking

I'm not sure anyone can help you, the crucial parts of your post are quite muddled.
If you were 'well out of contract' with O2 why did you phone them? You have a direct debit so must have been aware you were being billed each month and so still under contract. Therefore you would have to give notice and pay off the rest of the twelve months.

Could you explain how you equate paying a monthly bill with being under contract?

Once your contract ends the service provider will quite happily keep taking your money and providing the service until you tell them otherwise. He states that he hadn't upgraded his phone for a few years and so wouldn't have ever started a new contract after his initial lock-in period ended. This means he could cancel at any time.

Personally if I was sure that the bill was wrong I'd just let them take me to court, and then put in a claim for damages afterwards for wasting my time etc.

[OllieOnline]

Quote:

Originally Posted by prking

I'm not sure anyone can help you, the crucial parts of your post are quite muddled.
If you were 'well out of contract' with O2 why did you phone them? You have a direct debit so must have been aware you were being billed each month and so still under contract. Therefore you would have to give notice and pay off the rest of the twelve months.
How can your number have been used at the same time both by you and in-store? most confusing.

I'm not sure either - sorry. But you will want to make sure that you have all evidence of all phone calls letters you send etc. So that if it does get as far as court youll be in a much better position.

It doesn't necessarily follow that if you are being billed each month you are still under contract. Contract phones just keep going - i.e. you are contracted for say 12 months and after that they don't automatically cut you off, you are just free to leave and go somewhere else without having to pay a penality (usually the remaining line rental on the months you want to get out of).

Quote:

Originally Posted by prking

How can your number have been used at the same time both by you and in-store? most confusing.

Nookia mentioned that it had been used in store for a dummy run - perhaps as a training exercise for a new member of staff setting up a contract - perhaps some from O2 can tell us if this actually happens. - This is one of the problems with everything everywhere being on computer it only takes on slip of a keyboard and you can end up owing hundreds of pounds!

[prking]

There are a number of mis-conceptions here.
A number is allocated after the contract is agreed, from a pool of unused numbers. The OP's number appears to have been allocated to two accounts?
When you sign a contract there is a MINIMUM period. But it doesn't end after that period unless you cancel it. It may continue on a month by month basis or it may renew for another period. Details of this will be in the original documents. But either way you are still under contract until you cancel.