Alternatively: I’m a Telecoms company that can’t communicate
The O2 Nightmare Saga ☕
So, I’ve been stuck in this endless loop with O2 over their legendarily bad customer service. It started with direct debit issues—they took payments one month, ghosted the next, and never explained why. No emails, no letters, nada. Naturally, I escalated it to the Communications Ombudsman.
Double Trouble with the Ombudsman
Turns out, two cases got opened somehow. In one, O2 offered £50 + an apology (still pending). The other case? They dangled £110 + another apology, so I tentatively marked it “resolved”… except their system doesn’t let you add caveats like “Yes, but…” to negotiate terms. I figured there’d be follow-up options, but NOPE. Instead, they told me to call O2 customer service—the very thing I’d complained about!
The Silent Treatment
After accepting the £110 “goodwill gesture,” O2 emailed saying “reply if you have questions.” I did. Two weeks later? Crickets. Checked my email logs—nothing. Now they’re claiming it’s been “28 days since we asked if it’s resolved” (total lie—their offer came Feb 5th, today’s the 19th!). Meanwhile, the direct debit mess? Still unresolved.
The Nuclear Problem
Here’s the kicker: O2 terminated the accounts linked to those direct debits but never sent a letter explaining what I owe or how to pay. No debt collector calls, no letters—just radio silence. The “resolution” they offered? Doesn’t mention any of this. I’ve tried reopening the other Ombudsman case, but who knows?
Next Steps?
I’m stuck between:
- Badgering the Ombudsman’s open case
- Starting a new complaint
- Writing a scathing letter to O2’s Complaints Review Board (though I doubt it’ll help—they ignored me for 8 weeks before!)
- Going public. Imagine the headline: “IT Pro Battles O2’s Kafkaesque Hotline for Months Over Simple Billing Error.”
The Irony
I’ve built ISPs from scratch and worked in tech for 30 years… yet I can’t get a basic billing issue fixed because O2’s systems—phones, emails, customer service—are all stuck in 1995.
TL;DR: O2’s customer service is a black hole of frustration, and even the “solutions” create new problems. 😤
On a more serious note
I genuinely do not understand why O2 have not been able to reply back to me via email. It’s not as if I’m using a consumer grade service. I pay good money for my personal IT, and I use the business grade version of Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, as well as DDoS-protected nameservers.
This report from mailhardener.com should testify to that. (Though the only reason I can’t implement BIMI is that it’s for commercial purposes and costs a lot, and DANE is still being tested by Exchange Online/M365.)
But every time I email their supposedly monitored email addresses, I get nothing in return. Nothing shows up in the mail logs, so I assume the problem is strictly internal to Virgin O2.
