Wife and I have been blocked ????

[Heliospherez]

My wife and I have been experiencing problems with both our mobiles (No one can phone us, and we get a dead tone when calling out - although we can still call O2 ???)

Both phones get full signal strength and have >£40 credit on them.

So I phoned O2 Cust services and have just been told that both our numbers have been blocked ? The block came into action 6 days ago at 10pm ???

So the guy in Cust services has no Idea why, but has forwarded our details to another department (who work 8am to 4am) - and they will phone within 5 working days.

Any Idea why we would be blocked ? We top up regularly and use the phones abroad ? Its annoyed the hell out of me, as I have been expecting calls and texts from people and have got nothing over the last few days......and they didn't even let me know The wife also depends on her phone for emergencies, and now has a borrowed handset while they sort the mess out.

 

[lozza]

Where did you get the phones from? Maybe stolen phones? Have you got kids that have been messing with the phones?

 

[Heliospherez]

Both phones were purchased from rep. high street phone shops...and both registered with O2 when we got them.

No one else has been messing with them....


Only thing I can think of is O2 may have blocked them because we topped them up in Barcelona about 6 weeks ago with our debit cards (but nothing has changed with regard to our debit cards)

Any other Ideas ?

 

[PinkPig]

Did you suddenly use them abroad quite a lot all at once? Unexpected use might have triggered a block. Seems odd that it's been blocked without O2 staff being able to give a reason straightaway. Also odd for a PAYG phone to be blocked at all unless they think it's stolen or being used with a stolen card. Probably just a mistake.

 

[Heliospherez]

Thats what I was thinking - and if thats the case, I will be switching network operators.

The least they could have done is contact us before they decided to block us both, or send a text notifying us both. We have now been without our phones for 5 days - and it was only because I contacted them that I was told the phones/network were OK - but they had decided to block us (and it probably cost me about £8 to call the customer care number)

If they don't have a good reason and give me some sort of compensation - I will be going elsewhere.

 

[MeatLoaf]

If theyve blocked the SIM cards couldnt you get 2 new sims and get them to transfer the credit over. Pain having a new number tho

 

[Heliospherez]

I will wait and see why they are blocked....and see what excuses they give...as we have topped up both phones with over £200 over the last 2 years or so.

I already have 3 or 4 spare PAYG O2 sims lying around, but I don't really want to switch numbers. Had a lot of bad service off O2, so am considering switching to Orange if they don't have a valid reason.

Funily enough, I phoned them about 15 months ago to complain about their text adverts (and asked them to stop sending them) - they did, but only after 5 calls - and 3 months later

 

[rickyt]

Not to sure what phones you have, I dont think you posted that ,but , anyway do they have Bluetooth? I wonder if it's possible for someone to read your IMEI number and report them stolen for a joke . It's just , I was thinking the other day about the software I loaded on my phone last year for finding Bluetooth devices . I own a C500 and reading up on this software , you can capture the phones details , like IMEI number , etc .Apparently , once the device shows up on your phone you can send pictures ,etc anonymously . I would'nt do such a thing and I have my Bluetooth switched off .Just a thought.

 

[MeatLoaf]

Not to sure what phones you have, I dont think you posted that ,but , anyway do they have Bluetooth? I wonder if it's possible for someone to read your IMEI number and report them stolen for a joke . It's just , I was thinking the other day about the software I loaded on my phone last year for finding Bluetooth devices . I own a C500 and reading up on this software , you can capture the phones details , like IMEI number , etc .Apparently , once the device shows up on your phone you can send pictures ,etc anonymously . I would'nt do such a thing and I have my Bluetooth switched off .Just a thought.

Woulnt work unless bluetooth was on. Plus dosent the other user have to accept the connection?

 

[Heliospherez]

Neither phone has bluetooth.....and O2 security dept. have yet to phone us back on the matter - so it has now been nearly 10 days without any mobile.

I look forward to hearing what they have to say before I tell them I am switching to another network - and one that notifys its customers before it decides to cut them off for no reason

 

[jhmaeng]

With many contracts literally £1 per month (albeit after cashbacks) if you don't mind having a slightly older phone, you might as well take this opportunity to get two contracts with new phones.

I doubt O2 will be terribly apologetic - I think you'd need to be a >£50pm contract user for them to pay any sort of attention, and I'm pretty sure that PAYG users come fairly down the list of people they consider top priority... but naturally you have a choice, and so you should vote with your wallet.

 

[Spamalot]

Neither phone has bluetooth.....and O2 security dept. have yet to phone us back on the matter - so it has now been nearly 10 days without any mobile.

I look forward to hearing what they have to say before I tell them I am switching to another network - and one that notifys its customers before it decides to cut them off for no reason

If your going to leave why not just call up now and get your pac codes? if I was you I would move to contract with deals like e2save offer with free 12 months line rental.

 

[Dolph]

Neither phone has bluetooth.....and O2 security dept. have yet to phone us back on the matter - so it has now been nearly 10 days without any mobile.

I look forward to hearing what they have to say before I tell them I am switching to another network - and one that notifys its customers before it decides to cut them off for no reason

No network notifies you if customer security has grounds to restrict your phone for any reason, and network T&C's mean that pretty much any reason is valid while it is under investigation.

 

[Vertigo]

No network notifies you if customer security has grounds to restrict your phone for any reason, and network T&C's mean that pretty much any reason is valid while it is under investigation.

Which is a pathetic attitude if ever I saw one. In this day and age, when networks will do just about anything to poach customers from other networks, to unnecessarily annoy the hell out of customers like this is madness.

If they think the phone has been compromised, all that is required is a call to the handset from customer services asking for proof that you are the account holder. If they'd done this to me I'd be walking too and making a point of never coming back.

 

[Deleted member 651465]

I have heard that if you run up an intense "roaming" bill then the company frowns on this, and in extreme cases can end your contract

 

[jhmaeng]

I have heard that if you run up an intense "roaming" bill then the company frowns on this, and in extreme cases can end your contract

The OP and his wife are on PAYG... They're not spending anything they haven't paid for.

 

[Dolph]

Which is a pathetic attitude if ever I saw one. In this day and age, when networks will do just about anything to poach customers from other networks, to unnecessarily annoy the hell out of customers like this is madness.

It's normally done when people sign up with unverifiable address details (eg not on electoral roll), or when people have very high unverified usage. It's done to protect the company when people haven't complied with the Terms and Conditions of service, or where is good grounds to suspect they aren't. It can also be done at the request of various agencies (emergency services and other networks primarly) where there is proof of the phone being used for malicious or prank calls.

Networks don't do it to annoy people, they do it because of the number of shonky fraudsters about. Unfortunately some innocent people get caught in the net, either because they are using the same tricks as the fraudsters, or just through bad luck.

If they think the phone has been compromised, all that is required is a call to the handset from customer services asking for proof that you are the account holder. If they'd done this to me I'd be walking too and making a point of never coming back.

What would calling the handset actually prove? If the account (for example) is set up by someone fraudulently, chances are they'll have the details they signed up with

Remember, fraud losses are always passed on to the rest of the customers, so if you want cheap bills, it makes sense to minimise them.

 

[Dolph]

I have heard that if you run up an intense "roaming" bill then the company frowns on this, and in extreme cases can end your contract

They'll only end the contract if you can't pay it. What's more likely is that your service will be suspended if you run up an unusually high bill (for example a customer who normally spends £25 a month will often get action taken if they spend £1000 while abroad) until you verify you are still in possession of your handset.