VM and O2 ignoring identity fraud
So looking for some advice on how to proceed. Sorry, this is a little wordy.
30th June, got a random text saying my upgrade is on the way, click link to track - no number/id, assumed it was spam. Then got another text from VM saying equipment will arrive via courier. Checked VM account and new package was listed as being bought 30th June. I didn't call or go online to make any such order.
Had a tortuous WA chat with the VM guy constantly saying I ordered, me saying I did not, it must be a mistake their end or fraud. Eventually all he would advise was to refuse the package which will cancel the order, “if I’ve changed my mind” which I hadn't since I never made the order - something he refused to aknowledge. He said he would cancel the upgrade and it would be processed in 10 mins.
10 min later, my internet went off. Back on WA for an hour, eventually got it turned on under the original contract.
Checked my bank account, and strangely there’s a £5 DD for O2 - I’m not with O2. Call them and they can’t check since I have no account, email, number or reference. Guy suggests cancelling the DD which I do, and to call VM as the sim was likely bundled with an upgrade…
Back to VM - they say they can’t deal with O2 contracts, wouldn’t listen to the reasons, go back to them. O2 say without any reference they can’t do anything, and it’s VM. Just going in circles.
Raise a complaint with VM. I get an email back saying regarding my complaint about ‘long call wait times’ (?!), apologising, banging on about their investments in staff and infrastructure, and promising to try harder. I raise another complaint, saying I suspect my account has been compromised somehow, or they auto-upgraded me. Can they look into it? No, all they can confirm is I made the order - I asked them to prove that, call logs, text, WA chat, they just ignored it.
Then I get a email saying we need to return the equipment I refused.
Complain again, and VM replies that they cannot see an upgrade order on my account and so they consider the matter to be resolved!??! During the complaint they claimed they had a record of me calling on 30th of June but I sent them call records showing I didn’t and asked for their record, and they just ignored that and claimed it was now resolved.
Today I get a disconnection letter from O2 for a sim I don’t have, saying if I don’t pay the contract I didn't take out, they will sell the debit to a recovery firm! Call O2, since now I magically have an account number and the guy will not understand/accept the situation, keeps asking me to check my O2 phone and email for bill/reference/code to proceed, just will not listen or get what the issue is even when I point out the letter address is right street, wrong number (postie recognised my name) Eventually, by crying and yelling, get him to agree to escalate it to the Fraud Team. I've heard nothing from them.
I did get a call in March asking about an upgrade, but I hung up mid-way through the pitch when they got my name wrong, assuming it was a spam call. Not sure how or why a spammer would upgrade my account unless it was to get a e-sim and use it until I cancelled somehow, or they’re some dodgy 3rd-party-seller connected to VM? Or the call was legit and they upgraded me out of spite for hanging up?
So my worry/question is, how do I get VM to accept or acknowledge it’s either fraudulent or some weird up-selling they did, and what can I say to the fraud team if they call to ensure this goes away and I don’t get Can’t Pay We’ll Take It Away turning up at my door/ruining my credit rating?
I’ve already threatened to go to the Ombudsman and Ofcom, and planned to before I got this letter informing me I debt collection firm will come looking for the £5 DD I never took out.
Thanks for any thoughts. The complaint emails back and forth are like arguing with a child, every point I argue they ignore and just rephrase the response.
Just a quick update because, wow. So get a text from O2 saying the Fraud team has resolved the issue, and to call Customer Services for an update. When I do, because I don’t have any of the security information, they won’t/can’t actually give me the update… and they won't accept the number I'm calling them on, and their Fraud team texted, as a secuirty check even though they called me on it.
They refuse to understand the situation and keep saying “without the security check I cannot give you the message” even though it’s a fraud case that assumes this account is someone fraudulently using my name/details. They just couldn’t grasp the insanity of it. One of the checks was the bank account number which I gave since I have the O2 direct debit there, and it’s wrong, proving something’s amiss.
After yelling I get escalated to a supervisor (90min wait) and they literally go through the same thing again but with more added insanity - I told them I don’t have the sim and she asked “what phone is the sim currently in can you try it” - I mean, WTH?
Eventually the supervisor says I have to go into an O2 store - so now, not being an O2 customer, I have to go into the O2 store to pass ‘in person’ checks to access the account that isn’t mine to confirm it isn’t me. Idiotic. I understand the security check, I do, but still.
So I take an afternoon off work, go to O2 store, and they access the account purely by checking my photo ID (?) and say it’s been resolved because there is no fraud… I’m about ready to lose it in the store when the woman notices that (drum roll) the sim was activated by VM when they added VOLT to my package. I told her I never ordered the VOLT and cancelled it, and she said they never got the note from VM - and when I called O2 originally on noticing the DD, they suggested cancelling the DD since they had no account for me, which triggered the contract break and the letter informing me a debt collector was now recovering the cost.
So this was all entirely down to VM who have constantly claimed it wasn’t. I wasted weeks of back and forth on email, calls, now an in-person visit, stress and anxiety.
So back to VM to confirm I am not closing the complaint until I get confirmation from O2 that the debt is wiped and my credit restored, and VM have fully acknowledged they caused this and will investigate how it happened in the first place. Meanwhile, I’m sending letters to the ombudsman, the financial ombudsman, ofcom, asking citizen’s advice what can be done, and I figured I’d drop a line to the local media, see if they fancy picking up this horrendous behaviour; VM made me out to be in the wrong and feel like a criminal. They lied about the order, lied about the connection to O2, lied about the VOLT package triggering the sim, and left me to figure and sort it all out all under the cloud of a debt collection letter, while denying they had anything to do with it.
Just the worst possible experience and all down to how they handled it. They just assumed I was wrong, turned a blind eye to all the evidence to the contrary and are only concerned with bullying me into closing the complaint. Ain't happening.
