to think taking £s for an item you don't have, & then not returning it is theft - 02 rant

[BanoffeeSplitz]

Well maybe not theft - if they ever do actually get around to returning the money that is - but taking & holding money under false pretences at the very least. Surely that's just plain wrong? - or at the very least a bloody good way of alienating a potential customer?

Aaargh!

7th May: order PAYG phone on 02 website with click & collect to a local store, money taken from my credit card, order confirmation says phone 'will be available to collect on or after 10 May'

8th May: get an email saying 'Your order is being processed and will be despatched shortly' & 'We'll email or send you an SMS to confirm when your order has been
despatched so that you'll know when to expect your delivery. '

10th May: pop into shop to see if phone is ready to collect, staff check order number, can't find phone & suggest I wait for a text to say phone is ready to collect. Fair enough, I think - I haven't actually had a confirmation text yet.

Couple of days later: still haven't had a confirmation text, so phone 02 (oh yes, btw, the whole 'track your order' thing they refer to on the despatch email doesn't seem to actually exist on their website) and ask when the phone will be despatched...
"Oh, it's out of stock, would you like to wait for it or cancel the order?"
Decide to cancel the order, & ask when the money will be returned to me..
"That'll be 7-10 working days"
at that since they were able to take my money (for the phone they didn't even have in stock to sell ) immediately, but - OK - if that's how long it takes...
Ask if I'll be able to track the refund online - "No, just wait 7-10 days"
Will I get an email confirming that my order has been cancelled and my money will be refunded?
"No we can't do that" Not really too confident with that...

17th May: Phone to check the order has been cancelled... well if they aren't going to send me any kind of a confirmation that seems liek a good idea... "Oh yes, cancelled on 14th May, it'll take 7-10 days for a refund, there's no point phoning again before then"

23rd May: No refund has shown up yet - in the meantime I've had my credit card statement which has royally pissed me off since I now have to pay £250 to my credit card company for a phone I haven't received, which 02 apparently never even had in stock, and which they they still haven't got around to refunding me for...

phone 02 again..."your order's definitely been cancelled but it doesn't look as if the refund has been sent" FFS are these people ever going to give me my money back? Is this remotely normal behaviour for a supposedly reputable company?

Anyway the upshot is that a refund 'should' be back with me by 29th May - nice to know they can be definite about that I asked the question - nicely I promise - (honestly - I feel for the call centre bods, I've done thankless customer service myself) - a few times & I couldn't get her to say anything more definite than 'it should be with you by then' .

Can I get some kind of email confirmation, or anything in writing to say that they are cancelling the order & refunding? No, the system doesn't allow that...

Why does it take 10 working days* to refund someone when it takes them a single day to help themselves to your money for an item they don't even have in stock to sell you ? Some explanation follows, involving the processing of orders and refunds between different departments which tbh I didn't take in fully. Though it does occur to me that they wouldn't have this problem if they didn't actually take your money until they despatch your order which is what almost everyone else does. Or have I just been spoilt by some gentlemanly code of conduct which doesn't apply to mobile phone companies.

*this is a hypothetical '10 working days' at this point, remember, since it doesn't feel at this point as if they're ever going to give my money back or acknowledge other than verbally that they're planning to refund me.

Lesson learned - if you absolutely must buy a phone from 02 (not that I'm ever going to attempt that again) then FGS don't hand them any money unless you can physically see and touch the item they're selling you.

And if you're already a customer then just hope you never a have a problem that needs resolving - unless it's the kind where they fix it by taking money from you - they seem pretty efficient at that side of things.

And just re-read & can't actually believe I spent time typing that out, hope it didn't bore you to tears, it was quite boring making all those phone calls - just hope I can save someone else from making the mistake of trying to give 02 their custom .

Shame really, their PAY & GO GO GO offer for 4G looked quite promising - would've been nice to get a chance to try it out.

But on balance, I suppose best to find out at the outset that PAY & GO GO GO seems to stand for 'You PAY us for a phone that we aren't going to give you and then we GO GO GO away with your money and don't give it back until we feel like it, maybe sometime, maybe never'

Anyway - I'll let you know if I ever get my money back - & since they can't find a way of sending any kind of confirmation that my order's been cancelled - did I mention that 'Track My Order' seems to be a complete fiction? - then I'll use this thread to keep track of the progress of my as yet hypothetical refund

(so you don't have to read to the end - yes I am going to tweet them - thanks for the info & advice above... esp the twitter addresses and the twitlonger and even just for reading or skimming these stupidly long posts about what is, after all, just money not life or death...)

But just so you can see how it goes - this was my 'live chat' conversation with them today:

Welcome to O2. Someone will be with you soon.

Hi I'm O2 - . How can I help?

Hi - please can you tell me the status of my order number - ***

I'll check this for you.

---thank you!

Can you please help me with the full name and email address registered with your order?

---(name & email address)

Thank you.

I've checked and can see that your order has been cancelled.

---Can you tell me what date it was cancelled & when the money (£249.99) will be refunded?

The order was cancelled on 14th May. Once the order is cancelled the amount will is refunded to the bank account within 7 working days.

---I have checked my credit card online and the money has not repaid yet.

---Do you know when it will be refunded to me?

I'm sorry about that, as you haven't received a refund for the order I'll request you to please call out Returns team on 0844 809 0222 charges 25p per minute from your phone and 5p a minute from a BT landline.

They'll arrange the refund for you.

Monday-Friday 08:00 - 21:00 Saturday 08:00 - 20:00 Sunday 09:00 - 18:00

---can you tell me when the refund for my order was set in process?

---thank you for the info about the returns team, no-one had mentioned them to me yet and I have called a few times!

I'm sorry that this wasn't mentioned to you earlier.

Please call up our team and they'll arrange the refund for you.

---Does o2 usually set a refund in process when an order is cancelled and the refund requested ? I was told that the refund was being made.

As soon as the order is cancelled at our end the refund is processed.

As your refund is still not processed you'll need to contact our Returns team.

---Thank you I will do that - but I ordered the phone 07 May. Was not told it was OOS. Was told to wait for it to be despatched. Phoned & found out it was OOS on 14 May and cancelled order. Was told refund would be 7 working days. Each time I phoned , I was told to wait longer as it took a long time for the refund. Now 31 May I am told I have to phone again to request a refund? It seems like o2 is just trying to hold on to my money and delay at every stage...

I'm sorry but that’s not the case. The order is definitely cancelled and the refund is usually processed automatically since it's past 7 working days and you still haven't received it please call up our team.

---Thank you for your help - is there any way of contacting the Returns Team in writing eg email. Based on recent experience with O2 I do not have confidence that phoning will be much use (although I will do so

I'm sorry but our Returns team are only available to call on the above number.

---£250 is a lot of money to hold for over three weeks! For a phone that was never available in the first place! Can you tell me why money is taken from the customer's account when there is no phone to send? Most companies only take the money when the item is ready for despatch...

It seems a very dishonest way for a large supposedly reputable company to do business...

(Name), as soon as you place a tariff online the charge is debited for the product.

order*

Sorry for the typo.

---It would have been useful at that point to know that there was no phone to order... Is it normal for a refund to take this long? Or have I just been unlucky?

Once an order is cancelled the refund is processed to the bank account within 7 working days.

OK - thank you for your help! You have been very patient... I will call the Returns Team now...

You're welcome (Name).

Thank you!

so far spent 20 mins @ 5p a minute in a queue on the phone number they gave me... tbf the automated voice does suggest to phone tomorrow since they close at 8pm today... which suggests that a wait of 40mins plus is not unusual

Consider that you have dodged a bullet. I tried to cancel a contract with o2 a couple of years ago. Phoned them, advised that I was't renewing my contract etc and obtained a PAC to port the number to new provider. A month later another month's rental was taken, phoned again, and the representative had the temerity to argue with me for about an hour that I hadn't in fact given them a month's notice. We went around and around in circles and I could almost feel him getting ready to explode. He was utterly obnoxious. He even offered to do me a favour and consider the phone call as my month's notice to terminate the contract.
They eventually refunded my money when I was able to tell them the exact date and time that I originally rang and told them I wanted them to forward a transcript of the conversation with me.
Thieving bastards.

Well yes - that's the one thing i'm thankful for!

OTOH I do suspect that because they know I am no longer a potential customer they have no incentive to sort my refund out.

I can't believe they told me to wait 10 working days - essentially said "stop phoning us, there is no point until the 10 working days are up and it should show in your account by then" and then told me the refund hadn't been processed and I need to phone again and ask for a different department (which btw is on the same phone number I have been calling all the way through)

Circular conversations is exactly what I have been having - they clearly aren't allowed to stray from a script - which makes me think the whole delaying process is standard policy.