Cancelling a Volt O₂ sim as a result of Price Rises - O₂ want to charge me!

[swattz]

As a result of the changes to my terms & conditions, I was given the opportunity to cancel my Virgin Media and Volt O₂ sim.
They claimed that there would be no cancellation fees:
"you can change or cancel your package, including your Volt O₂ sim, any time before 4th April 2023, without paying any cancellation fees".

However, when I contacted O₂ today, they were adamant that they would change me, even though the words "without paying any cancellation fees" were clearly stated in the Email from Virgin \ O₂.

Now, like most people who have a mobile phone, I want to take my phone number with me and this is apparently what they are charging me for. So, in effect, they have completely mislead customers, because "any" means "any" - except if you're O₂.

I believe that O₂ must honour their statement and allow customers, like me, who have been given the opportunity to leave "without any cancellation fees" to do so. It could be claimed that they are in-fact advertising a fraud, as they clear are charging a fee for cancelling.

How can I get Virgin / O₂ to honour their own statement?
What is my next move?

[padrewill]

My strategy is to see this as being in it for the long haul.  Don't go in prepared to lose your head over it if you don't get instant gratification -- because you won't.  I've waited 44 hours on a VM WhatsApp chat before I could get to a real person -- meanwhile having to tell a bot every few hours that, yes, I still want customer service to pay attention to me.  I am now currently fending off the live customer service agent's attempts to haggle me into a new deal.  (The trick is to use as few words as possible: "no. I'd like to cancel.")  Still not quite there yet.  It will happen, but it will happen on their time.  Sort of like a war of attrition.  Go into it with your head in that mode.  

After this, based on several threads related to this subject matter, I'll probably have to deal with O2 separately, and the same thing will happen.  The trick is to stick to your guns, keep it as absolutely simple as possible, and always go back to that letter which says:  

If you're not happy with any of the changes announced in this email, including those to our out of home WiFi hotspots and pricing terms and conditions, you can change or cancel your package, including your Volt O₂ sim, any time before 4th April 2023, without paying any cancellation fees.  

[swattz]

Funnily enough, it was because I joined the O2 Community, a member of O2 staff took up my issue and has used her discretion and allowed me to have a PAC Code free of charge.

They also told me this, which is relevent:

"The cancellation does need to originate from VM, which I know you said you had contacted them first. 

Customers who have taken a bundled Volt Sim package through Virgin Media do have Right to Cancel due to the Cable price increases. In this scenario the only way that the O2 SIM can be cancelled without cost is if the VM package is fully cancelled first. The VM team should pass the customer into the relevant O2 channel to then process the O2 cancellation.

Since you have done this process, please reach out to O2 on social media so that they can take a look from their Facebook (https://o2uk.co/O2CFB), Twitter (https://o2uk.co/O2CTW) or Instagram (https://o2uk.co/O2CIG)."

I hope that this is useful for other Virgin customers who are cancelling their Volt O2 sim.

Cheers