How not to handle customer service - from O2

O2 - You have let me down. I was a happy loyal customer..and now I am just frustrated and ready to go elsewhere...



Well this has been fun. I am currently in the market for a new phone and wanted to contact o2 to discuss what they could offer me. I am currently on pay as you go so phoning would prove expensive and I would prefer to take my time to think about things. Therefore I emailed O2 to see whether they could help.I got a generic response that told me to use livechat..so I did. what follows is quite probably the worst customer service I am yet to experience. I have had useless people before, but all I was after was an email address. there is no way it doesn't exist. Even if it doesn't, where is the offer to get someone to call me, the evidence they actually read what I was writing. The deal on offer in the first conversation clearly isn't suitable for what I want.

I actually work in marketing so I understand the importance of providing a good experience to your customers. I also understand the power of loyalty and brand goodwill. This is the first time I have had cause to complain about o2, and I am sharing it on my blog and social media. In the past I have only ever had good things to say. Because of an incredibly shoddy online experience from what presumably is a online customer service centre not based in the U.K, relying on people largely working from scripts, my opinion of the company has been damaged, and the chances of me switching to another network much increased.

I am a methodical online consumer, I like to take my time to anaylse the best deals available to me, hence the desire to deal with things via email. Online chat takes too long, and to contact them via phone would cost me quite a lot, as I currently only have a pay as you go phone. What is more I am not going to make a snap decision and purchase something which will ultimately cost me over £200, but would o2 try and make things easy for me, well...see for yourself.



info: Welcome to O2. Someone will be with you soon.

info: You're through to 'O2 : Alpha'

O2 : Alpha: Hi I'm O2 : Alpha. How can I help?

Anthony: Hi, I am trying the live chat after failing to get an answer via email. Essentially I am looking to get a pay monthly phone.

O2 : Alpha: I will check it for you.

O2 : Alpha: So, you want to opt for a new contract with O2?

Anthony: in addition to my pay as you go phone yes

O2 : Alpha: Okay.

Anthony: the reason i was writing to 02 was that as a loyal customer I was keen to stay with them for a pay monthly deal, but that ultimately other places offered better deals. Is it okay if I paste the content of the email?

O2 : Alpha: I will transfer the chat to sales team and they will help you with the best possible deal.

info: I’m just going to transfer you to O2 Shop.

info: You are now chatting with Chloe at O2 Shop.

Chloe: Hi there. My name's Chloe I am an O2 Sales advisor, how can I help you today?

Anthony: Hi Chloe, I am currently an o2 pay as you go customer and am now looking to get an additional phone on a pay monthly deal

Chloe: I'll be happy to help you with that.

Chloe: There are a few options, so is it alright to ask a few questions to find the best deal for you?

Anthony: If possible I would quite like to copy and paste an email I sent o2 as this might be the quickest way. This includes my requirements and ultimately why I am contacting o2, would that be okay?

Chloe: Yes please.

Anthony: Okay: Original Email Below

Anthony: I am essentially writing today because I am interested in getting a new pay monthly phone and would like if possible to stay with O2. This would be in addition to my existing pay as you go sim with o2. I have actually been a pay as you go customer for what must be nearly 10 years now, as well as a home broadband and phone customer for the past year. I have always been impressed with O2 when dealing with them in the past and therefore it has been the first place I have looked when considering a new phone purchase. Unfortunately, having looked at what is on offer in your online shop I have struggled to find the right deal for me. Comparing, sites such as phones4u and carphone warehouse have more closely matched my requirements but I thought before switching provider I would contact you directly to see if you can offer me a great deal which would allow me to stay with o2. So far I have been leaning towards something along the lines of : http://www.phones4u.co.uk/shop/shop_contract_details.asp?ItemKey=565785&MPItemKey=607332&NetKey=4#offer_details or http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/buy/SAMSUNG_GALAXY_S_3_MINI_PA26T_S7TW?intcmp=HP_Nov_S3miniTab2 , although neither of these match completely with what I am looking for. I did actually also like the look of http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/buy/SONY_XPERIA_MIRO_ZA4DY_XBHP which is with o2, but would prefer a newer phone model and if possible to spend under £25 per month. Basically I would be interested in knowing what you can offer me to stay with o2 and whether you can match or even better the above deals. To help I have put a few of the things I am looking for below. - Contact length ideally 12 - 18 months - Ideally less than £25 a month - 300 + minutes - 300 + texts - Free landline calls - Good Data Usage ( As an online marketer I use my phone a lot, checking emails, websites, analytic data and sometimes watching videos and managing social media) - Phone model flexible but particularly interested in the newer sony Xperias, samsung galaxy s III, htc desire X or a nokia lumia 820. Ultimately though I am pretty flexible and would certainly be interested in other models if they fitted my needs. - A free gift would be great and is certainly an important factor for me. My x-box 360 recently broke so looking to buy a new one in the near future. A tablet would also be useful for work, and I understand some places even offer laptops, something I need to replace soon. X-box is probably priority. I would be interested to know what you can offer me that matches the above requirements. There is certainly flexibility on most of the areas for the right deal so I look forward to seeing what you can offer me. My partner is also coming to the end of her contract in a few months time, so assuming you can offer me a fantastic deal I would certainly be pressing her to switch to o2 as well. I hope you are able to help me and that I can stay with o2 for the foreseeable future.

Anthony: Please feel free to take your time :)

Chloe: Please allow me a minute to read above.

Chloe: Thanks for waiting.

Anthony: no problem

Chloe: I have checked your above chat.

Chloe: Just to confirm can you tell me that now which phone you like to know the deal?

Anthony: can you rephrase the queston

Chloe: Can you tell me which phone you looking for?

Anthony: Not looking for a specific phone, just one that matches the above requirements.

Chloe: You are pay and go O2 existing customer, right?

Anthony: correct

Chloe: we have a excellent offer specially for pay and go customer to move to pay monthly for 12 months phone contract.

Chloe: Let me help you with the deal.

Anthony: okay, can you keep your phone with pay and go as well with this deal?

Chloe: Yes you can keep your pay and go phone and you will get new phone on contract.

Anthony: okay, tell me about the deal.

Chloe: Sure please allow me a minute.

Chloe: We are offering Sony Xperia miro free phone on £16 a month you will get 200 minutes and unlimited texts with 100MB data.

Chloe: Actual charge of this tariff is £29 per month but you'll get discount of £13 for the whole contract.

Anthony: are there other tariffs, really looking for more data and a few more minutes, as i stated above.

Chloe: Let me check.

Anthony: Actually Chloe, is it possible to get an email address for yourself or someone else on the sales team, or even just a general email address for the sales team, as I have to go in a moment. I am not in a rush to buy a phone so would prefer email communication if that is okay. That will also allow plenty of time to look at available deals and see which one best matches my needs.

Chloe: Ok, no problem Tara, you can come online and ask for Chloe and I can help you further with this.

Anthony: ???

Chloe: You can come back on this chat and ask for my name and I'll help you with the deal.

Chloe: you can also call our Sales team on 08442 020202 as they're our specialized team and you can check with them if they can so anything for you.

Anthony: Can I not email someone instead? I really would prefer to communicate via email

Chloe: mycare@o2email.co.uk

Anthony: okay, but when I emailed mycare I got a generic response telling me to ring the sales team. what I am looking for is an individual member of the sales team's email address where someone will read what I have written and respond with any deal they can offer me that matches what I am looking for. Surely this must exist?

Chloe: We as a single Sales advisor doesn't have a Email address, if you send you a email it directly comes to us and then our support team can access it and don't worry your all email will be with us with all the details.

Anthony: so if i email mycare@o2email.co.uk I will get an individual response with any deals you can offer me. I only ask as I have already sent said email.

Chloe: Yes sure you will get response.

Anthony: Okay thanks.

Chloe: You're welcome.

Chloe: Is there anything else I can help you with?

info: We'll email a copy of your chat transcript to .

Anthony: not for now. no

Anthony: thank you



I then emailed mycare as suggested by chloe, but unsurprisingly that didnt work. It bounced. So this time I went to chat with sole purpose of getting an email address.





info: Welcome to O2. Someone will be with you soon.

info: You're through to 'Jalal'

Jalal: Hi I'm Jalal. How can I help?

Anthony: Hi, I am trying to email O2 with a query, but the email has effectively bounced because I did not include personal information

Jalal: May I know your query please?

Jalal: I'll try to help you with this.

Anthony: can you let me know how I can make sure the email gets through to the correct place

Anthony: I would prefer to deal with the query via email

Anthony: As I explained to another individual on chat called Chloe who gave me the email address so this would be possible

Jalal: Anthony, Please give me a chance.

Jalal: I'll check this for you.

Anthony: sure

Jalal: May I know your query in short please?

Jalal: Anthony, Is your number is 07716.....

Anthony: yes

Jalal: I can see that your number is a Pay&go number.

Jalal: I'll transfer you to our pay&go team and they'll help you with this.

Anthony: my query in short is related to interest in a new monthly contract phone

Anthony: no...

info: We’re putting you through to the right person, won’t be long.

info: You're through to 'O2 : Manish'

O2 : Manish: Hi I'm O2 : Manish. How can I help?

Anthony: hi manish, ive been wrongly transferred here, but perhaps you can help me anyway

O2 : Manish: I'll check that for you.

Anthony: im looking for the email address for O2 sales team

O2 : Manish: Please give me a minute while I check that.

O2 : Manish: You can mail us on mycare@O2.co.uk

O2 : Manish: If you looking for new Pay Monthly contract phone I can transfer your chat to sales team.

Anthony: okay, when ive emailed mycare i have got the following response:

Anthony: Hello O2 Customer Thanks for your email. We can tell that you've not sent this email to us using the form on our website. Because we need some of your personal information to be able to answer your query, can you please click on the link below and webchat with us right now. http://www.o2.co.uk/chatnow We're doing this so that we can answer your query straight away. If we don't have the right personal information in your email, we'd have to email you back asking for it. This is because we need to make sure we're talking to the right person before we can answer any questions about someone's phone or account. If you'd still like to email us, please click on the link below and complete the form ? we'll get back to you within 24 hours.

Anthony: how do i actually make sure the email gets through?

O2 : Manish: Let me check that.

O2 : Manish: Can you help me exactly what your query related to?

Anthony: Buying a contract phone and getting a better deal than I can get elsewhere, BUT, I wanted to discuss it via email, not livechat, not phone and was hoping this might actually be possible

O2 : Manish: As particularly for sales team we don't have email address. you can directly sort the issue here on chat right away. Our dedicated sales team will help you with best Pay Monthly deal.

O2 : Manish: Shall I transfer you to our sales team for best deal?

Anthony: All I want to do is send an email, which will be read and responded to by someone who wants to help

Anthony: I don't want the email to bounce, I don't want to talk to the sales team, I just want to email O2 and get a response. I am stunned at how difficult this seems to be

info: We'll email a copy of your chat transcript to

O2 : Manish: Please give me a minute.

O2 : Manish: I'll check the best way I can help you.

O2 : Manish: You can email us on mycare@O2email.co.uk

Anthony: and that way I won't get the automated response I posted above?

O2 : Manish: Yes you'll get response from our email team shortly.

Anthony: Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently: mycare@O2email.co.uk Technical details of permanent failure: Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 550 550 #5.1.0 Address rejected. (state 13).

O2 : Manish: Just a minute.

O2 : Manish: I'll transfer your chat to my supervisor and she'll sort out your query.

info: Hold on. You're being put through to Ariel.

info: You're through to 'Ariel'

Ariel: We only chat when you agree to it. We do collect some information, but no more than websites normally do. We monitor chats for quality assurance, but we only use this information internally.

Ariel: Sorry for the above statement.

Ariel: Hi I'm Ariel. How can I help?

Anthony: Hi Ariel. Currently looking for an email address to contact O2 on. The mycare@O2.co.uk results in a generic response. and manish suggested mycare@O2email.co.uk which immediately bounced

Ariel: I'm the floor supervisor.

Ariel: Let me check this for you.

Ariel: Thanks for waiting.

Ariel: I'm sorry to say that we don't have email option for sales.

Ariel: You can either call our sales team or chat with them.

Ariel: Can you tell me what exactly you want to know or purchase online?

Anthony: I am amazed no-one on your sales team has email, that makes no sense. But fine, I will copy and paste what I wrote in an email and see if you can help me

Ariel: Anthony, even if your email us on the email address given above, they'll help you with the same option.

Ariel: Our sales team will help you in getting the best deal possible.

Ariel: Do you want to transfer your chat to them?

Anthony: No, its fine



STILL NO EMAIL ADDRESS!

Another Glee Rant - Bullying (Spoilers obviously)

Yes I am still watching it, but its credibility is hanging by the tiniest thread right now. I can actually deal with their annoying desire to see Will topless in every episode, the pointless Sue self marriage storyline that added literally nothing, but this week it was the main plot which took things too far. The recent episode of Furt saw Glee continue to tackle the issue of bullying, repressed homosexuality and the difficulties faced by Kurt, being the only openly gay kid in an unforgiving environment. Now I cannot relate directly, but for me during Furt the issue of bullying was handled fairly well, right up until the conclusion.

The introduction of the Utopian College, Kurt visits earlier in the series, rankled with many. At the end of Furt, his dad and new step mum put together all their existing funds , that were going to be used for a honeymoon, to send him to the college and he transfers. This is painted as the obvious right thing to do. Now Glee, a story about supposed outcasts probably appeals to many high school outcasts around the world and has carried some poignant messages. The message that can be gathered from Furt:

Being Bullied? Run Away to a Magical Utopia where you will be accepted.

What the Fuck Glee? Seriously? That is your answer to a bullying storyline. The ultimate conclusion which we are meant to reach? I understand the show is gravitating further and further from reality, but this seems a ridiculously irresponsible thing to write. Bullying is always a sensitive issue to deal with, and its a hard choice to decide whether to give a character a happy ending or reveal the often harsh life of the victim. Glee had been doing such a great job, with the boys standing up to Karofsky (at the behest of their girlfriends) , initial expulsion of Kerofsky, and the dance between Kurt and Finn, and general message of tolerance and understanding, but ultimately I cannot fathom what led to the choices made at the end of the episode.

It may well lead to an interesting few episodes, with Kurt now competing against New Directions at Sectionals, but Glee has made a habit of trying to deal with the issues faced by high school kids, as well as being an all singing dancing production. In this, they have given completely the wrong message. Utopias don't exist in reality and running away from your problems will rarely ever solve them.

Spooks and the Character Assassination

I have rarely had time for authors or writers who feel the need to suddenly and without any real prior warning, assassinate their leading character's personality. To pull it off convincingly you have to had it in mind from the beginning and rarely is this the case. I am a huge fan of BBC Spy Drama Spooks and believe it has been some of the best written and most suspenseful drama certainly in the U.K in the last 10 years.

Spooks spoilers follow. If you have not seen up to series 9 do not read on

Since then we have seen the demise of Tom, the demise and unrelated heroic death of Adam and now clearly it is the turn of Lucas / John. Spooks has more reason to kill off characters than most series and we have been shocked, saddened and stunned by what is ultimately a justifiably ruthless series. Last night's episode was brilliantly acted and the side storyline involving Ruth was perfectly executed, but the writing of what has become the main plot reads only as if it has been created to excuse Richard Armitage, so he could go in search of a shiny crystal instead.

The plot with Vaughn and Maya had seem forced throughout but last night it all came to a fore as John's involvement with them became clear. When John confesses to Harry, it was a little far fetched but also believable and you could see how the ultimately clueless and suggestible John had been caught up in something much bigger than himself. It was a good lie and Vaughn was an easy fall guy, leading to a semi satisfactory conclusion where John, with the help of the others would have to deal with the threat to Albany and stave off the Chinese. It was clear that John would not be able to rejoin as section chief, but he could be retired, much in the same way that Tom was.

Then came the scene, "The Big Reveal", flashbacks to the moment we realised Connie was a traitor in Season 7, as it turns out John was responsible for the civilian bombing, murdered his best friend and was ultimately a very nasty piece of work. Vaughn died, and his actual role in everything was left hanging. John was shown to be unreliable narrator and as such we were left with nothing. Vaughn remains a mystery and having died, seems incredibly like a loose plot end, designed for one purpose.

The problem was it didn't fit. It didn't make sense. As a spy, who has on several occasions killed, it is fine that the character may have a dark side but it has just has not been given much development. Lucas was a well written character and I actually preferred him to Adam, and now from the preview it seems he takes Ruth hostage, threatens Harry, the others and no doubt is shot by people he would have called friends. For what, a relationship with a character introduced this season, whose attachment to him is totally unexplained.

There are in the end ways to write characters out of a show. Actors move on and sometimes characters are even removed for plot based reasons. Death in a show like spooks is a common one and given Adam died heroically it was inevitable that John had to die a traitor. My issue arises when series or even books kill or destroy characters for reasons other than it fits with the character and the events, and on this I am disappointed to say Spooks has totally failed.

Just how awesome was the mega-drive?

A friend of mine has recently brought his megadrive back out of storage along with a host of old games titles. I admit, my eyes glazed over a little bit when I saw it, there is something about the console that radiates awesome. Either that or it was the console that for my generation, was their first experience of console gaming, and therefore the device that got them hooked.

One of my all time favourite games was on the megadrive in the form of "dungeons and dragons warriors of the eternal sun." This basically involved you having a 5 man party and wandering around a strange land defeating monsters and ultimately looking for allies. The story was simplistic and linear but the gameplay had a steep but manageable difficult curve, you could use a host of different battle tactics in turn based combat, or have to deal with being FPS in the dungeons. It was an altogether amazing game and one I have played several times before. Sure it did not have the size of say oblivion, or the reels of dialogue from dragon-age but I enjoyed it as much as any other game of its genre.

It got me thinking, we have come a long way in terms of game development but there is still a huge attraction in the old games of the megadrive. For one thing they seemed harder. (partially due to a lack of saves, a harsher game over, and also partly probably because gaming did not need to be so mainstream) They were simplistic, the graphics were often pretty awful, but they were great fun. Amazingly some of the franchises that made their name on the megadrive never worked when the graphics improved and gameplay became more complex.

Sonic is still *going* but nothing I have played has matched sonic 3 and knuckles combined. Micro-machines I believe is now dead, it was genius on the megadrive, right down to allowing you to create your own racetracks. Huge choice and selection taken away by the ps2 version. Even worms suffered when taken outside of the standard simple design seen on the megadrive, although armageddon and world party were both great fun games. Sega themselves struggled to produce a better console and in the end they lost the battle.

Ultimately the megadrive is still an amazing piece of technology and even though I have had a gamecube, a ps1 and 2 and an x-box 360 since, my eyes still light up at the thought of playing the megadrive again!

The rise and fall? of Glee

When I heard about the concept of glee I can honestly say I had no interest in it whatsoever. A show about attractive teens who sing, a program which is half musical, both put me off ever watching. This post will contain spoilers. Season 1 Part 1 first paragraph.

Then a friend recommended it to me and I thought I would have a look. I was almost instantly hooked. Not because of the barnstorming performances, the talented actors and actresses or even because of Sue (Jane Lynch). I was hooked by the drama, the unfolding storylines that ran through the first part of season 1, as well as many of the little side plots. For me the show whilst exhibiting exaggerated sterotypes of characters who spontaneously burst into song while walking down a corridor or in the middle of class felt human and somehow real. It did not matter that you had to suspend your disbelief as suddenly a team of american football players performed Beyonce to win a match, it just simply worked. Part of the power of the show lay in its antithesis of the title and the dark humour which was cleverly written in. The storylines built nicely and both main plotlines involving Finn, Quinn and Puck, and Mr Schuester and his wife's faked pregnancy were acted and written superbly.

This led Glee to become an inevitable hit, one of the most popular shows out at the time and as with many mainstream popular shows, Glee lost its way.

From the offset of the second part of season 2 we were greeted with some strange writing decisions. Characters suddenly acted out of character or performed sudden U-turns in beliefs/morals. We were greeted with mutiple themed episodes, where the theme drove the episode and the story took a back seat. There were some strong moments and Glee continued to deal with issues but they felt forced, as if they had been put in just to fill the gaps between each showpiece performance. Exaggerations were continued with characters failing to grow but into bigger stereotypes of themselves. Even an episode produced and directed by Joss Whedon felt out of place, and although entertaining, ultimately pointless. The conclusion to the series was inevitable and ultimately disappointing in its execution if not content.

Then came the second season with even more hype surrounding the introduction of new characters and a whole new group of celebrity fans wanting cameos or for their songs to feature. The way in which the show is written seems ultimately has changed, with stories now being fitted together to work with the songs being sung. Progression has been discarded in favour of emotional set pieces which allow the actors to yo-yo from emotion to emotion.

Glee may still have legions of loyal fans and be an entertaining show. But for me it has lost the elements which made it great. (The story and the human characters) I will still be watching for now, but possibly not for long if it continues on the same path.

The "lost symbol" is not fact. FACT!

This post may contain spoilers. Scattered spoilers because I am not going to review the book periodically.

I have lasted longer than most when it comes to Dan Brown. Yes his stories are basically all carbon copies but its a good story right? The pages turn quite quickly, helped by page long chapters and the characters are wonderfully one dimensional and simple to understand. I thought this was all I needed, I was wrong.

With both The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons I enjoyed the story. I enjoyed the conspiricies, the locations, the mad rush against impossible deadlines and the occasional threats faced by the characters. The Angels and Demons twist even surprised me.

With Lost Symbol I did not have a care in the world for any of the characters, the conspiricies, the locations and the mad rush was muted and pathetic partly because the actual reason for the rush is not revealed until the first last minute, when it is also miraculously stopped. Who saw that coming!

Brown also attempts to present all the theory, religion and science as fact. Techncially yes, everything he mentions exists. His referencing of it suggests he spent rather too long researching on wikipedia but the theories exist. My my main issue with this novel is with noetics.

Now Noetics is a science, yes. There are some people who believe it, yes. But there is no proof of it. It is just a theory and a wild one at that and far too much of the novel is focused on trying to make you believe it is real. After all, why begin with the fact statement if everything you write is a like of jumped up, fictional drivel?

Oh, and the twist, if you can call it that.

The only reason it might not be obvious is that the character lies to himself in his own internal narration. There is no reason for him to do this storywise, its just a poor attempt to hide the truth from the reader.

This will be the last book I read by Mr Dan Brown. They work better as films anyway, which does not say much for the contents of the books.

A higher force?

I am not a religious man. Those of you that know me will know I am in fact a steadfast atheist. As time goes on though I increasingly am beginning to believe in a some driving force, something akin to fate that affects my life each and everyday.

I am talking about Sods Law

This is in fact not even my first blog entry about sods law (although you may have to go back a bit, back in blogs in fact), I regularly fall afoul of it and today was no different.

Each morning I catch the 8:35 bus to work. Some mornings it has been late, and so this morning rather than leave myself 10-15 minutes I decided I would leave at 8:25 leaving myself 10 minutes for a walk that takes at slowest speed 5.
I admit to not even being particularly surprised when at 8:29 I watched the bus speed past with me still 200m or so from the stop. I sprinted and just reached the bus as it pulled away.

If the driver knew how to use wing mirrors he was clearly just feeling vindictive. After another sprint and a deviation from the bus route I reached the stop and caught the bus.

Later on I was at work waiting to hear back from companies, it had been a relatively slow morning so I decided to have my lunch break. I went downstairs heated up leftover chinese and headed back upstairs. At exactly that moment my email went *ping* and I received not one but two responses. Halting from eating my lunch I replied to each and continued eating. As I went to get myself a drink and a yoghurt, the phone rang, and I reverted from lunch to business mode. It was then I noticed that my phone was dying.

I finished the conversation and looked for a usb cable that had until that day been sitting in my office, it had gone. Cursing I thought up a quick alternative and set up a voicemail directing people to call my other phone. No sooner had I done this than my other phone beeped to tell me it was dying too. Cursing some more I rang my boss, explained the situation and headed home where the charger would be.

Naturally I received no further phone calls over the afternoon.

Now of course there are logical explanations for nearly all these happenings
1. companies contacted me in their lunch break, when THEY had spare time
2. the guy who rang was in response to an email I had sent
3. My boss had taken the camera which used the usb to develop photos
4. both my phones were low on battery because I had been out the night before and therefore had not had much chance to charge them.
5. And I had been using it a lot thus causing the battery to run down

Alternatively some higher power simply want to screw with me. It is after all, a lot of coincedences.