Someone please tell me this is not right customer service and tell me what to do to get what I need!

[OneMustPrevail]

I don’t want legal action against me so will avoid naming unless anyone knows I can…

Last week, my phone was stolen. Phone stopped and network called up to tell them it was stolen and I wanted a replacement sim with my number.

Not the end of the world as I’m insured - New device was delivered the next day. Insurance isn’t with my network provider - But new sim, the same number, arrived too.

The new sim can take 24 hours to activate. That time came and went. Phoned them up and after a lot of digging, mainly by a lovely man in a local shop for that network, it was clear the sim hadn’t been activated. He said to call them back up, as it’ll need manually activating and he can’t do that

I phoned them and after a big faff, got confirmed that was correct and it had been sent to their back team to sort out and release it.

No problem. These things happen. Oh but wait, it’ll be a 5 working day wait!

I called them up again when that had passed and the person I spoke to said he would ask that team to prioritise it and it would be fine within 24 hours.

24 hours has passed again and it STILL isn’t working!

Where can I go from here? Who do I escalate this to? You phone their number and it’s a horrible robotic voice that you have to pass before finally speaking to someone who clearly doesn’t speak the best English and who is also reading from a script.

I need that number to access my Apple ID. That has my calendar and everything on. But most importantly, I can’t access anything without my mobile number to verify things

Halifax won’t let me in. I phoned them yesterday and I can’t reset my online banking without my usual number. The woman was really nice but quite adamant I needed to verify things via my number, and until then I can’t use online banking

I can’t access my emails. Gmail won’t let me in. No recognised devices. So they ask me to verify who I am with a text. No option to say I cannot as I don’t have access to the number

I have 2 disabled children with a huge amount of teams involved, appointments to go to. All of it in emails and on my calendar and diary. Non of which I can access :(

Search online for the CEO's address or name, and e-mil them directly if you can. Also, e-mail customer services and state that you will be referring this to the Ombudsman. Ask for transcripts of recent telephone calls. Sorry you are going through all of this.

Oh and most worryingly, there is just so much stuff going on with different departments and I can’t sit here punching into the air trying to track everyone and everything down

So if someone tries to contact me, they can’t. And if they then email instead, to say they can’t get hold of me, I won’t see it

There are a few main people who now know the situation but it’s only a small amount and there’s a lot of people who won’t have a clue

I know it sounds a bit intense as it’s presumably not for that much longer. But I have a very complex set up with regards to my DC and their different needs

I hope someone with knowledge of how mobile phone companies work comes along OP. I had an issue with my provider recently and had to say I was going to cancel the contract before I got any one to listen and act.

My sympathies are with you op!
could you return to the local store for that network? I’m wondering if the helpful person you spoke to before might be able to help you again.

You're not going to be sued by Vodafone / O2 / ID Mobile / EE / whoever the company is for naming them, but you might get some actual information here about how to contact the complaints team if you do.

Thank you all for replying

I thought I could get into trouble for naming them. Like when someone calls LBC to talk to Sheila or Nick, and is warned not to say the company unless it’s something good

Post a complaint on the Twitter page for provider. It usually gets swift attention. You can't be sued for an honest review of how poor the service is you're paying for.

OP, you are stating facts, and no telephone company can sue you for that. You're okay to name them if you wish to.

@OneMustPrevail could you direct message their customer services on Twitter/X?

Usually, big companies are very effective at solving complaints via sm

I don’t think you can get into trouble provided it is factual. If you made up a bunch of lies and posted then a company could take action.

Okay, thank you. It’s O2

I haven’t had problems before this

https://x.com/o2

Direct/private message us your name, mobile number and details on what you need help with. We’ll reply as quickly as we can.

eta; for these kinds of problems, it really is worthwhile joining X (if you don't already have an account)

I would contact them on twitter , it normally gets their attention

I have used X in the past for complaints and compliments but I can’t - Cant download the app without Apple ID, and it isn’t let me log in via safari browser

Can’t create a new Apple ID - No idea why but when I try, it comes up as ‘We can’t create a new Apple ID for you at this time’

I can't help with the actual issue but can I just say that you might want to consider buying another device you can access your important information from. I was recently in a similar situation as you and it didn't cause me nearly as much hassle because I could still use my laptop to get into my email, calendar and online banking. My sim eventually got activated after about 10 days.

You could buy a cheap PAYGO SIM in a shop in the interim.

Just phone them on 202 again and state you want to make a formal complaint and wish to speak to the complaints department now. Don't be fobbed off. They usually then put you through to a human in the UK.

I’ve managed to DM them via X on someone else’s account. It’s my O2 details so seems to be working but they take 40 mins with each one line response to each message 😔

What a drama

Honestly go into a branch. When my phone was stolen I had a new working sim within An hour. I think they were supposed to charge me £5 for the new sim but the guy in the shop
didn’t.

I have spoken to the Branch manager who was really nice, but said the activation had got stuck/not done properly automatically, so
had to be released via their back room/technical team and that has to be requested via phoning O2

This is what you need, https://www.ceoemail.com/. Email the CEO directly, they will have a dedicated complaints team who will deal with the issue swiftly as there is usually a weekly update of complaints... I worked as the Executive Assistant to the CEOs of several Blue Chip companies.

If you do not have access to an email account, go to your local library to log on, most places give you an hour.

So sorry this must be really stressful for you.

It's a good reminder to the rest of us to always have more than one device that anything can be accessed on. I can access most things from my PC but there are some important things I can only set up for PC access with a bit of faff that I keep not bothering to do

I had a similar saga when I mislaid my phone, and called to get it blocked.

When it turned up, they said it would take 24 hours to reactivate, but it took several long semi-automated phone-calls and bot-chats before they actually did it.
Even then it didn't work, because you had to turn the phone off and on again to reset it. They insisted they had told me, but I had downloads of the chats, so knew they hadn't.
Might be worth a try.

@LatteLady Thank you for that. I have emailed their (very handsome) CEO. And I copied in their complaints team email

I have tried turning the phone off and on again loads in the hope that it’ll work but no luck :(

I would be going back to a shop and making a very, very loud fuss until it's resolved.

Don't let them fob you off calling a support number, make them phone on your behalf.

Yes, it’s true. And I will say, what a shock it is to suddenly not have proper access to the working/functioning tech world we live in

Goes to show how robust Google’s security is, I suppose. No access at all to any emails because they don’t recognise the device I’m trying to login from

I am buying an iPad soon. I will be ensuring I have logged onto stuff in there to prevent this happening again

It has been a real eye opener for me. No online banking. No text messages. Nobody can call me or text me. Nobody can email to say I haven’t answered my calls or text. I can’t see my calendar, full of all the appointment dates I have for myself, my children.

It is a mess!