Martin Lewis is urging customers to leave O2 as he revealed how one customer has already saved a whopping £459 due to the ‘boycott’ of its price hike on a price hike.
Speaking on the latest episode of the Martin Lewis Money Show Live on ITV1 on Tuesday, November 11, Martin’s co-presenter Jeanette Kwayke told viewers: “Martin, we had an enormous response to your callout last week, saying that people could leave O2 because it’s hiking its price hike, if you like. Just wanted to show you a few messages – this has come in from Nicola.”
She then read out the message which said: “I saw your O2 increase information this week, requested my PAC code and switched to a new provider. I got a great offer for three months, pocketed a saving of £38.25 a month, £459 a year, new SIM up and running, O2 boycotted.”
Martin then replied: “So if you watched last week you’ll know I got on my soapbox about this, O2 put up the price hike it had previously said, when people signed up it would give them, so it was a price hike on the price hike, mid-contract.
“Crucially, if you get that notification, you’ve got 30 days in which you can leave. And then, you might be able to go and save a lot of money and I’m encouraging people to do so.
“Because we want it to cost O2 in the pockets, so it never behaves like this again, and other companies think, ‘we don’t wanna do that either’.”
Martin then heard from another customer, Shaun, who shaved £408 off his O2 bills.
He told Martin: “I rang up O2 yesterday and after a phone call I stayed with them but saved £34 a month on my two contracts, with more data, a huge saving of £408 a year.”
Martin then added: “Now this is the interesting one because when I told people their rights last week, normally when you’re at the end of the contract you can use it as an opportunity to haggle, benchmark the best deal, take it to your firm.
“But because this is a unique experience, this 30 day notification that you can leave, I wasn’t 100% sure it would work with O2 like it would at the end of a contract, so I asked people to try, Shaun is a success, and frankly I’ve had hundreds of other people who’ve taken this opportunity to go to O2 and say, I will leave you unless you give me a better deal, and they’ve got better deals, so that’s working.”
Martin also moved to clear up some confusion about the messaging from O2. Several customers reported that they had been told they must pay off their handset ‘in full’ when they tried to leave.
Another viewer, Julie, wrote to Martin to say: “I’ve seen your item on O2, I just asked for a PAC code and they’ve come back saying I need to pay the device off in full. Is that correct?”
The money expert said that the phenomenon may need to be investigated by Ofcom, adding: “Very interesting….listen, I’ve seen some of those messages and it does say you need to pay this off in full.
“But, I think that is a terrible piece of phrasing by O2, I’m gonna hope it’s accidental and not deliberate, certainly something the regulator should look at.
“What that means is, you’re still gonna have to pay your handset. It doesn’t mean you’re gonna have to pay all of your handset now, you were paying it by the month, and you can continue to pay it by the month, but you’ll have to pay everything you owe them on the same plan but when they say pay it off in full it sounds like you have to give them the money now, doesn’t it?
“It’s poor communication, bad phrasing, I hope it hasn’t been deliberately done to stop people switching, if it has that’s something the regulator should look at. You can leave O2’s airtime plan and keep paying your handset by the month, just as you were doing before. You’re free to leave.”
An O2 spokesperson said: “As acknowledged by Ofcom in its letter to providers last week, its rules do not prevent companies from increasing annual price changes – for example, to invest in improving networks for customers. A price increase equivalent to 8p per day is greatly outweighed by the £700m we invest each year into our mobile network, with UK consumers benefitting from an extremely competitive market and some of the lowest prices compared to international peers.
“We appreciate that price changes are never welcome, but we have been fully transparent with our customers about this change, writing directly to them and providing the right to exit without penalty if they wish.”
