Virgin Oomph to Volt experience
I've kept a record of my calls with Virgin and O2 during the whole debacle. Anyone else experienced anything like this? Virgin Mobile and O2 staff working in complete isolation.
- December 14th Agreed to new 18 month Virgin Volt deal - £85/m plus an unlimited O2 SIM for £25/m. I ask to stay on Virgin Mobile as the O2 coverage in London SE10 is poor but I'm told that's impossible and I have to move to O2, assured that there are no coverage issues with 4G in London SE10
- O2 SIM arrives and I port my mobile number from my VM SIM to O2
- O2 coverage in West Greenwich really is unusable. I run several speed tests over a number of days and in various locations in a three-mile radius of my home. I’m getting a 3G service with downloads of less than 1Mbps, sometimes no signal at all. We live in London SE10, six miles from Central London. When I raise this with O2 on Twitter I am informed:
Okay, from the info you've sent over it sounds like this is the available level of service in the area. We can assure you that we're busy building a faster network with more capacity. We're investing £2million daily to upgrade and create a network that monitors and tweaks your experience in real-time.
I’m also told there’s no plan for 5G in the area. It's the final straw. I'm now expected to pay £15/m more than I did for Oomph but the mobile service is twentieth century speeds.
- December 21st I call Virgin to cancel both my VM Volt deal and the O2 SIM as it not what I was promised. They arrange for me to be supplied with a new unlimited VM SIM to replace the O2 one. I am advised to request a PAC code from O2. I'm assured that when the number is transferred and I will not receive any additional charges from O2.
- December 30th I get a PAC code text from O2:
Here's your PAC.It expires on 2022-01-28. We hope you don't decide to switch today, but if you do we've estimated you'll have £415.78 of charges.
- January 10th I receive a bill from O2 for £27.61. I’m unable to view the itemised bill as there’s “a problem with my account details”. Try calling the O2 helpline several times but the calls don’t connect.
- January 12th I receive a bill from Virgin Mobile for £45.01
- I call Virgin Mobile. The woman tells me to ignore the VM bill, which should be just £10
- She takes my PAC number and says that the number switch will happen in the next three to five days
- I ask about the £415 bill O2 are threatening. She tells me this will not happen and I shouldn’t worry. When I say I’m still concerned she says she will transfer me to O2 for confirmation but, after 20 minutes on hold, the line disconnects
- January 13th My O2 SIM stops at midday and my personal number is on my Virgin Mobile SIM. Disappointed with the VM/Vodafone speeds but far better than O2
- January 26th VM text me that my Virgin Mobile Direct Debit has been cancelled and the SIM will cease to work. The DD hasn’t been cancelled – it’s never been set up as far as I know. I check my bank account and see an O2 payment for £27.61 on Jan 24th
- I call Virgin Mobile. The guy tells me there’s £10 outstanding on my account. I give him my card details and he takes the payment. He then reinstates my Direct Debit instruction but he can’t help with the O2 billing.
- I ring O2. Guy checks the account and sees that the bill was generated on Jan 10 but the PAC transfer back to VM wasn’t until the 13th. He says that I’ll be refunded and O2 will call or text for my bank details in the next few days to settle.
It's not impressive. I've been a customer since the mid-90s but when this contract's up in 18 month I'm not sure I'll be up for any more of this time-consuming nonsense!
