O2 shops/stores and O2 web site - completely different companies!!

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Dan Williams - 09 Oct 2003 15:45 GMT

I bought my current mobile phone from a web site called www.genie.co.uk
which was originally BT Cellnet. They were obviously taken over (or changed
their name) to O2.

My current contract is up this month so i'm eligible for an upgrade of my
mobile.
Having tried to upgrade online via www.o2.co.uk i didn't have much success
as its not currently possible to upgrade online. So i phoned them up, asked
for the new Nokia 7250i, was told it'd be £49.99, gave my switch card
details, everything hunkiedory! (apart from being told i couldn't have it
delivered to my work address, as they've had to many thefts. Didn't quite
understand their point of view, as no one would be in at my home address
during the week, so it'd only end up getting stuck with a neighbour or taken
back to the post depot. Probably more chance of it going missing that way
than if they delivered it to me somewhere where i'd actually be! Anyway,
thats another story)

So, i'd managed to order my new phone and was expecting delivery within the
next couple of days. That evening i received an email from O2 saying that
there was a problem with processing my order. On phoning them, it turned out
that they didn't have any phones in stock and my order had been cancelled. I
was told to phone back on the following Monday (a week later) and re-order
it. Surely my order should stay open and one sent as soon as they get some
in stock?!?

Anyway, i thought, hang on a mo, there's an O2 store in town, i'll give them
a ring and see if they've got any in stock. Lo and behold, they had plenty.
Went down there, told to grab a chair, it'd be no problem. After about 30
minutes of waiting for a spotty teenager to serve me, and then attempting to
log my details on to their web site system (much similar to the O2 web site,
i might add) it turns out that i can't upgrade my phone in an O2 shop as i'd
bought it off the Internet. The bloke even told me they were two different
companies?!

What the bloody hells going on here?! All i want to do is get me new phone.

Suppose i'll just have to wait till Monday and try and beat the phone queues
to get one.

What a shabbles.

Dan Williams

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Darren Baker - 09 Oct 2003 15:56 GMT

> it turns out that i can't upgrade my phone in an O2 shop as i'd
> bought it off the Internet. The bloke even told me they were two different
> companies?!

That's correct, they are 2 totally different companies, and now they are O2
and ur old contract was Genie, I suspect that will try to get to change
tariffs, as the old genie tariffs were not MMS compatible, so I was told
when I upgraded. And I assume as ur getting an MMS phone you will want the
functionality.

But no doubt someone will correct me, if the information I have given is
wrong. But im just replying on my own experiences

D Baker

Reply to this Message

Smith - 09 Oct 2003 16:12 GMT

> That's correct, they are 2 totally different companies, and now they are O2
> and ur old contract was Genie, I suspect that will try to get to change
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> D Baker

i'm sure they are compatabile but they do not want to continue making a loss
on those wonderful (for us) tariffs. i also changed over for mobile web
functionality

Reply to this Message

Dan Williams - 09 Oct 2003 17:59 GMT

But i've been with them for about 2 years now. I've already successfully
upgraded my phone once, 12 months ago. Surely i can't still be on the same
genie tariff.

I'll have to check it out.

Are the tariffs on offer in the O2 shops the same as what's on offer on
their web site? If not, why not?

Dan

> > it turns out that i can't upgrade my phone in an O2 shop as i'd
> > bought it off the Internet. The bloke even told me they were two different
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>
> D Baker

Reply to this Message

Sprite - 09 Oct 2003 19:04 GMT

> But i've been with them for about 2 years now. I've already successfully
> upgraded my phone once, 12 months ago. Surely i can't still be on the same
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> Dan

O2 Online tariffs are considerably different to O2 offline tariffs. O2
Online don't have shops etc therefore can afford to give more free in their
contracts, for example 500 texts/month. As far as I am aware, O2 Online are
the only company that offer this and it is still a good deal despite the
contracts now being twice as expensive.

When you upgrade, they will switch you onto a new, more expensive tariff.
This happened to me (Genie contract originally started in November 2001), so
I went from a £10/tariff to £15/month (sim only deal) but it's £20/month for
a tariff with a phone. 12 months ago, they may've kept the tariff the same
but if you're paying £20/month then you're on a newer one ;)

They claim the old tariffs are not MMS compatible, but whether they truly
are is another matter - I half expect those remaining on these tariffs to be
"given their notice" as it were before too long....

--
Sue

Reply to this Message

Dan Williams - 09 Oct 2003 21:06 GMT

The bloke in the O2 shop offered me the Nokia 7250i for free if i went on
the O2 400 tariff.
This is £45 a month with 400 minutes free to any network and 50 free texts.

He also said that after 3 months i could change my tariff and go back down
to the O2 50 or 100 tariff, which are £19 and £20 respectively. I was some
what suspcious of this as i'd have thought i'd be held to a 12 month minimum
contract?

Anyway, i thought this was a pretty good idea, as my average bill at present
is between £25-£30. If i upgrade online, i have to pay £49.99 for the phone.
So by doing this, i'd only end up paying an extra £15 a month for 3 months,
meaning i'd get the phone for approximately £45, plus i'd get the added free
minutes.

However, I wasn't able to do this as you they wouldn't let me upgrade my
phone in an O2 shop, i have to do it online.

Where do i stand with this? Can i cancel my contract with the online company
and take up this offer from the shop, or will this mean me having to change
my mobile number?
Seems a lot of work and confusion!

Cheers

Dan Williams.

> > But i've been with them for about 2 years now. I've already successfully
> > upgraded my phone once, 12 months ago. Surely i can't still be on the same
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
> --
> Sue

Reply to this Message

James - 09 Oct 2003 21:12 GMT

> Suppose i'll just have to wait till Monday and try and beat the phone queues
> to get one.
>
> What a shabbles.
>
> Dan Williams

Call 0870 225 9933 (option 2, option 4) on Monday and they'll sort you
out with an upgrade... but ask them to DOUBLE CHECK that the other
order is definitely cancelled. IIRC, there's now a small surcharge
(£50-£80) for customers upgrading off old Genie tariffs. This doesn't
apply if they agree to change to the newer O2 ones and I think the
surcharge is only for people on the old Genie SIM Only tariffs (see
below) so won't affect you. O2 Online Head Office do want customers
off these tariffs and they've been asking operators to strongly
encourage customers to leave them for quite a while now.

Genie Anytime @ £20/month (SIM Only £10/£12.50/£15)
+ 100 mins o2/landline (anytime)
+ 600 text (or unlimited)
+ 600 mins WAP (or unlimited)
- no support for MMS
- no support for GPRS

landlines: 10p/min (peak) 2p/min (offpeak)
cross net: 50p/min (peak) 35p/min (offpeak)

Genie Offpeak @ £20/month (SIM Only £10/£12.50/£15)
+ 50 mins a day o2/landline (offpeak)
+ 600 text (or unlimited)
+ 600 mins WAP (or unlimited)
- no support for MMS
- no support for GPRS

landlines: 20p/min (peak) 2p/min (offpeak)
cross net: 50p/min (peak) 35p/min (offpeak)

"Unlimited" is subject to fair use.

The O2 shop/O2 Online thing is a bit of a mess - but there are far
more link ups these days - i.e. you can now go there if your O2 phone
becomes faulty and most shops now have internal extensions for
speaking to O2 Online departments, including the 50p/minute CServ line
- so you don't have to pay. I hear that O2 UK and O2 Online's systems
will become more integrated in around January which is a GOOD THING.

Reply to this Message

Chopper - 10 Oct 2003 09:43 GMT

<snip>

> Call 0870 225 9933 (option 2, option 4) on Monday and they'll sort you
> out with an upgrade... but ask them to DOUBLE CHECK that the other
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> off these tariffs and they've been asking operators to strongly
> encourage customers to leave them for quite a while now.

<snip>

I'm in the same situation as Dan although waiting for the Nokia 6600 to come
out in the next month or so.
I'm still on the old 20 quid genie tariff with 600 texts and free WAP. They
even told me at one point that I cannot get a VAT receipt unless I change my
tariff (tempted to report to OFTEL as I have the email from them with this
statement)! So I guess they really are desparate to get me off it.

Reply to this Message

Dan Williams - 10 Oct 2003 18:30 GMT

Strange. I too am on the Genie tariff with unlimited texts and free WAP, but
no one at O2 has told be anything about having to change my tariff.

Whats the betting i'll get my new phone and the MMS functionality won't
work, and i'll end up having to change it.

Oh for a company that had some people at their call centres who knew what
they were doing and weren't on minimum wage, hence they don't give a toss
about your call.

Dan

> <snip>
>
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> tariff (tempted to report to OFTEL as I have the email from them with this
> statement)! So I guess they really are desparate to get me off it.

Reply to this Message

James - 10 Oct 2003 19:45 GMT

> They
> even told me at one point that I cannot get a VAT receipt unless I change my
> tariff (tempted to report to OFTEL as I have the email from them with this
> statement)!

I thought that they'd added that to the website regardless ?

Reply to this Message

Chopper - 10 Oct 2003 20:03 GMT

> > They
> > even told me at one point that I cannot get a VAT receipt unless I change my
> > tariff (tempted to report to OFTEL as I have the email from them with this
> > statement)!
>
> I thought that they'd added that to the website regardless ?

Nope. Went through it with customer support @50p/min and they were baffled
as to why I couldn't see how to view my VAT invoice. 'Eventually' they sent
me an excel spreadsheet with all I needed.

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