O2 scam

[gusl]

My German bank account is finally closed. This means that the cellphone scammers from O2 can't continue charging me. First they refused to cancel after I left the country, despite the word of the salesman in Marienplatz.

This meant that for the next 18 months I was being charged €20/month for a line that I couldn't use. This February, the two years of the contract expired, so in March I called them again to cancel it for good.
Then they demanded documents to prove that I had left the country, which should be a moot point. Despite my insistence, they wouldn't relent.

I just went to the post office and sent them a simple signed cancellation letter, which they apparently haven't acknowledged.

So they can go to hell. I only wish I'd said this 18 months (and 360Euro) ago.

Comments

[cdtwigg.livejournal.com]

Couldn't you have told your bank to block the charges? I don't think agreeing to allow somebody to withdraw bill payments directly from your account is supposed to be a "take whatever money you want for as long as you want" thing.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

yes, probably. But I might have no legal ground to stand on if I did that before the two years expired, since I had no proof of what the salesman said.

[peamasii.livejournal.com]

Fucking scammers! I had similar experiences with a German company, lost about 800 euro on a contract that was supposed to only be 40 / month, after 3 months they increased it to 120 / month and said they can "fax me the terms that were applying when I signed up" . Except of course, those terms were visible nowhere when I signed up! unbelievable.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

I think European customers in general don't expect reasonable customer service.
I think German customers in particular are willing to bend over, because "the rules are the rules".

[peamasii.livejournal.com]

In this case no amount of complaining, insults or threats helped to resolve the matter. I simply had to pay the mark-up unless I wanted to hire a lawyer in Germany, which would have been unfeasible.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

I think the level of service we are talking about here may only be possible in an oligopoly.

[peamasii.livejournal.com]

Yeah, basically a big company that undersells services, only to mark them up after 3 months according to some hidden "terms of service" that had I unknowingly agreed to. This kills their competition because they're selling at first too cheap and then suddenly too expensive.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_wirehead_/]

that's kind of crazy. i always had good experiences with O2 Ireland, and with customer service problems in Ireland and the UK. in fact i had the impression that companies there were more likely to treat customers better, because they had better consumer protection laws.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

well, America has lawsuits!

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

T-mobile Netherlands was the best service and deal I ever had. Moral of the story: these companies change a lot when they cross national borders.