Uncle Matty’s Blog

13:30: Attempted to call the Complaint Review Service but the line was busy.

End of Day: Didn’t receive any missed calls, so no contact from the Customer Review Service today.

Update 24th May: I subsequently found out that the number I was trying to call was incorrect, so it’s not suprising the line was busy!

16:00: Attempted to call the Complaint Review Service but the line was busy.

End of Day: Didn’t receive any missed calls, so no contact from the Customer Review Service today.

Update 24th May: I subsequently found out that the number I was trying to call was incorrect, so it’s not suprising the line was busy!

10:30: Received a phone call from S— at the Complaint Review Service, but as the number was withheld I didn’t answer it at the time. Picked up a voicemail later and need to call her back on 0845 320— x—.

12:00: Attempted to call back but the line was busy.

13:00: Attempted to call back but the line was busy.

14:00: Attempted to call back but the line was busy.

15:00: Attempted to call back but the line was busy.

15:30: Received another call with the number withheld (was away from my desk) – may have been Complaint Review Service but no message was left.

16:00: Attempted to call back but the line was busy.

17:00: Attempted to call back but the line was busy. As I was unable to contact the Complaint Review Service, sending an updated copy of the complaint to their e-mail address to keep them up-to-date with the current situation, and also querying if the number I have is correct.

Received an automated e-mail from the Customer Review Service saying a member of the team will contact me soon.

Update 24th May: I subsequently found out that the number I was trying to call was incorrect, so it’s not suprising the line was busy!

According to the e-mail from Customer Service, the Complaint Review Service should have got back to me by this date.

Updates from the original:

1. Time without iPhone. When I handed my iPhone for repair on the 27^th March, I was expecting it back on 13^th April. At the time of writing, this means I have paid for the use of my iPhone for 17 days in April and 12 days in May: 29 days in total. My contract costs £35 per month. At a pro-rata rate of £1.15 per day, I calculate I am owed £33.35 for lost usage time. Although I now have a second-hand iPhone, I still expect an old-for-new replacement for a phone that was lost by O2.

Expected financial compensation:

• Time without iPhone: 29 days x £1.15 = £33.35.
• Time and inconvenience: 29 days x £10.00 = £290.
• Total: £323.35.

11:00: Received a phone call from the O2 store from a male member of staff saying that the phone was in the store and asking if I wanted it sent out or to be collected. I said that I’d collect it this evening.

11:30: Received an e-mail reply from R— at O2 Customer Service apologising for the problems I’ve had, and as I’ve already contacted Complaint Review Services I should wait for their reply, and that they should respond within five days. Case reference is KMM—.

17:00: Picked up the replacement iPhone from the O2 store. No offer or mention of compensation was made when picking this up. I opened the package in store and was satisfied that a 32GB White model had been replaced. On returning home, however, it became clear that this was not a new phone, as had been promised, but rather a second-hand one. (See the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yRS-bS3iww and the photos at http://gallery.me.com/mpass#100082.)

I consider this is a loan handset, and not the promised new one.

I’ve updated the Nature of the Complaint accordingly.

Nature of the Complaint

I am complaining about the level of service from O2 in a number of areas:

1. Time without iPhone. When I handed my iPhone for repair on the 27^th March, I was expecting it back on 13^th April. At the time of writing, this means I have paid for the use of my iPhone for 17 days in April and 12 days in May: 29 days in total. My contract costs £35 per month. At a pro-rata rate of £1.15 per day, I calculate I am owed £33.35 for lost usage time.
2. Inability to replace the phone at the store. Even though there were iPhones in stock at the store when we went in on the 5^th May, we were told that we could not be issued one as they were for new sales only.
3. Lack of communication. Apart from one returned phone call from the O2 store circa 26^th April, and one phone call from V— on the 6^th May, all communication has been initiated by me. I believe that as soon as the O2 store was made aware that the phone had been lost, they should have contacted me with that information along with an expected date for the replacement. Subsequent to this, if any dates have slipped, I would have expected a phone call from O2 with a new expected date.
4. Misleading information. Given the lack of communication from the O2 store, I am suspicious that the repair company’s computer systems were down circa 26^th April, and suggest that this was a delaying tactic once the store realised they had lost the phone. Also, until my wife and I visited the O2 store we were informed that I could not be given a replacement phone as iPhones were out of stock. It was only when we visited the store that it came to light that the store did indeed carry iPhone stock, but rather it was not possible to give us one.
5. Goods not replaced ‘as is.’ The current proposed replacement iPhone is White and not Black, which I had originally purchased.
6. Time I’ve had to dedicate to this. I have spent considerable time chasing up my repair/replacement on the phone: at the O2 store in person; and compiling this documentation which I believe is necessary in order to make a formal complaint.

In order to resolve this complaint to my satisfaction, I would expect the following relating to each of the points above:

1. A new boxed and unopened 32GB iPhone 3GS; and a full refund of the lost usage time, at the pro-rata rate calculated above for the number of days that I have been without an iPhone (after the repair due date). The refund should be in the form of a cheque or directly credited to my bank account.
2. An explanation of O2’s policy regarding the inability to replace my handset with existing stock.
3. A written apology from the manager of the O2 store.
4. A written statement from the member of staff at the O2 store stating that on this occasion the repair company’s computer systems were indeed down; or a written apology saying that this was indeed a delaying tactic.
5. No action required, as I accepted this (albeit reluctantly).
6. Compensation not less than £10 per day without my iPhone (after the repair due date) to cover my time spent and inconvenience caused. This should be in the form of a cheque or directly credited to my bank account. If further delays occur, I would expect more compensation.

Expected financial compensation: 29 days x (£1.15 + £10.00) = £323.35.

Lessons Learned – Ideal Resolution

To my mind, once it had been realised that the iPhone had been lost:

1. I should have been contacted immediately;
2. I should have been given a replacement phone from stock and which should either be put aside for collection at my convenience, or sent to my home or work address by courier that day.
3. My account should have been credited with a pro-rate monthly rate for any days that over the expected ten business days it would normally take for a repair.

In order to improve the experience of O2’s customers, I would recommend that O2 changes its policy for lost phones in line with the above recommendations.

9:00: Received a reply to my e-mail from S— at O2 Customer Service with details of how to contact the complaints department (N.B.: I’d actually asked for an e-mail contact for the Customer Services department). S— also said that I can reply to them via this e-mail address. Case reference is KMM—.

13:30: Sent the diary of events, along with the Nature of the Complaint and Lessons Learned (see next blog post) document as a PDF and plain text as a reply to both S— in Customer Service and the Complaint Review Service.

Received an automated e-mail from the Customer Review Service saying a member of the team will contact me soon.

Received an automated e-mail from Customer Service saying they’ll get back to me as quickly as they can, normally within 72 hours. Case reference is KMM—.

18:00: (Time that O2 store closes on a Wednesday.) I hadn’t received the call from the assistant manager of manager that Asim had said I would receive on Tuesday.

18:30: Received a text from Complaint Review Service saying that they had received my correspondence and would be in touch as quickly as possible.

I phoned the O2 store and spoke to A—. He told me that neither the assistant manager nor the manager were in the store today. I informed A— that I had rang the store yesterday and was told that V— would be in today. A— told me that he thought he was ill, but either the assistant manager or the manager would definitely contact me tomorrow (12^th).

At this point I was becoming increasingly frustrated, so decided to write this diary of events. From this point on the notes should be clearer regarding times and who I spoke with.

I also found the Office of Telecommunications Ombudsman website (http://www.otelo.org.uk/) and read their ‘How to complain’ section: http://www.otelo.org.uk/pages/4howtocomplain.php, which states that in the first instance one needs to talk with the service provider’s customer service department.

14:30: Sent an e-mail to the O2 Customer Service Team via their web interface asking for an e-mail address to send the complaint document to (I couldn’t find an e-mail address on the website, and the web interface only allows 1500 characters of information). The response from the website indicates that they aim to give an answer within 24 hours.

Received an automated acknowledgement e-mail from O2 saying they’ll look into my query and get back to me as quickly as they can, normally within 24 hours. Case reference is KMM—.

I phoned the O2 store and talked with a male member of staff. I was told that V— was not in store today and would be in tomorrow (11^th).