O2 and the new Blackberry phone.

Emily’s phone recently died so she went to 02 for a replacement, as she has a contract with them, she left the shop with a Blackberry which seems to do everything she wants.

Within two weeks it becomes obvious that it does not work properly in her flat, calls keep breaking up. Since she only has this phone (no landline) for use in her flat it is therefore not fit for purpose.

Taking it back to the 02 shop she is told it is a network issue and she has to call 02 from her flat but from a different phone so they can check the network. The shop said they were aware of network problems in the TQ1 area. The shop also said if you tell 02 your alternative number they will call you back on it so you don’t use up all your credit.

The only way to call 02 from her flat without using her phone is on my (Orange) mobile phone so I travelled over there tonight so she can do this.

Naturally this gets her though to a call centre :-( where the operator asks her name, number and security details before asking for details of the problem. When the operator is told the problem, he/she puts her through to the network department, who promptly asks her all the same questions again and then proceeds to try to diagnose the problem. Emily tells them she is on an Orange 'pay as you go' and can they call her back, giving them my number, they agree to do this immediately. I heard her give them the correct number.

30 minutes or more later after having no phone call from 02, Emily calls again, only to go through the same ritual again of telling 02 everything twice. She cannot get the same person again so she has to explain the problem again. They then try to diagnose the problem again while she is hanging on using my Orange phone. They call her on her 02 blackberry and sure enough the call breaks up. The total duration of these two calls is now so long that my credit expires and the call is cut off. (£10 last me two months usually!)

Emily rings 02 for a third time, (from her faulty phone) and gets annoyed with ‘Abby’ the 02 operator who will not give out her second name or put her through to Ryan who was the person trying to identify the problem unless she goes through the security process for the third time.

Fortunately Ryan then calls back on the 02 phone and through the call, which is breaking up, manages to get my Orange Number. He then calls on this line and advises that there is not a network fault in TQ1 (ie the 02 shop were telling lies). He advises Emily to go back to the shop and get the phone replaced and get a new sim as well.

As she is at work this will probably have to wait to next weekend, and in the meantime she will have to struggle with a breaking up line while at home in her flat. Personally I think 02 could do better, furthermore they owe me £7.20 credit for my Orange phone, which I will be asking for.

Update 16/12/10 Emily has finished work early so she can go back to O2 shop, the manager called 02 himself and explained the problem which he still says is a network fault in TQ1 (The 02 call centre denied this yesterday). Somebody is not telling the truth. I await a solution, perhaps she should move to Orange.