My widowed sister’s 18-month battle with O2

My sister lives in a house that was designed by her husband, who took his own life in December 2022. The house has a high-tech front door, which can only be accessed by phoning the door system. Her husband had a master phone that allowed other people’s phone numbers to unlock the door when they called it.
He had programmed in the phone numbers of friends, family, lodgers, workmen and even estate agents, so my sister, Claire, needs this master number to manage the list of people who can enter her home. The company that built the door went into liquidation years ago so we can’t install a new locking system and it would cost £8,000 to buy a new door.
In February last year Claire called O2 to let them know that her husband had died and it agreed to transfer the number to her. She got a new Sim card and was told that the number would be transferred in up to ten working days. She chased O2 for months but the transfer never happened.
During this time she took in two lodgers who have to text or call her so that she can phone the door and let them in. This is intolerable, especially as one is a DJ who often needs access during the night.
Early this year Claire asked me to step in because she found it extremely distressing to have to keep explaining the situation. In March I called the company 33 times and we have been told that the number is now with Vodafone. I have spent a considerable amount of time speaking to both companies but have got nowhere and am finding it difficult to continually explain that my much-loved brother-in-law took his own life. Could you help?Philippa, address supplied
I was shocked to read what O2 had put your sister through. That she had to chase the company repeatedly after experiencing such a brutal loss is awful in itself, but its failure to sort this out put her safety at risk.
Claire told me that dealing with any admin to do with her husband was extremely upsetting and that this had a knock-on effect on her children and work. She said: “I know this may seem fairly irrelevant to O2, but it’s important to me.”
When a customer dies, O2 gives the option to either disconnect their phone number or transfer ownership free of charge, so Claire’s request wasn’t unusual. After the number had been disconnected for six months, it was repatriated back to Vodafone, the original owner of the number. I was concerned that this number could be given to another customer so I urged O2 and Vodafone to act quickly and thankfully O2 said it was able to retrieve it from Vodafone.
I asked O2 why it had released the phone number to Vodafone rather than transferring it to Claire as she had asked — it said it had no notes on the account to show that this had been requested or agreed. Claire told me she had been clear about what she was asking and why she needed the number, but O2 said it couldn’t check its call recordings from that long ago.
But what about the 33 calls you had made on her behalf in March? It said there was some confusion about the phone number as some of its agents didn’t understand that it no longer belonged to O2.
When I intervened Claire was put in touch with someone at O2 who promised to get the number transferred, but that was in June and nearly two months later she was still waiting. She told me that the dedicated person who was dealing with her issue had stopped communicating with her.
I asked O2 for an update and it said that the agent had moved to another team — another example of O2’s chronically careless treatment of Claire as it once again left her in the lurch.
I reminded the company how this was affecting Claire and it finally sent her a new Sim card and ported the number, which has allowed her to remove some of the 60 phone numbers that were programmed to the door.
O2 said: “We apologise to Claire for the delays in resolving this and we have given her £300 as a gesture of goodwill.”
I hope O2 learns some much-needed lessons and improves the way it handles requests like this so that no one else has to go through such an ordeal.
For confidential support, the Samaritans can be contacted by calling 116 123 or going to samaritans.org.
• A guide to your consumer rights
I am hoping you may be able to help me with an issue that I can’t seem to resolve with the home improvement retailer Wickes.
We are renovating our kitchen and asked Wickes to produce the designs. It had some IT issues at the start because the consultant couldn’t view our designs, but that was fixed a few weeks later and we ordered the components, which were delivered in May. Because of some changes in our design, we needed to return some items and replace them with others. In early June I returned about £1,400 worth of parts, the bulk of which included a cooker, its hood and a set of drawers.
The return was accepted in the store but it has now been ten weeks and I still don’t have my money. I have chased five times by email and visited the store twice in July and am told the refund is in progress.
I have also raised a complaint but was referred back to the store because I was told that the complaints department doesn’t discuss refunds. It is rare that anyone answers the phone in the store and, when they do, nobody can ever seem to track down the manager. Waiting this long for a refund seems excessive and I am hitting dead ends at every turn.
I’m not sure what to do next and would appreciate your assistance.Andrew Turner, London
You had returned the items and the store had accepted them, so I could see no reason why it hadn’t refunded you.
Wickes blamed the delay on it having new members of staff in the store who weren’t aware of your situation — the shop had a new manager who needed to approve your refund but they hadn’t been told. After my involvement, it took a day for Wickes to process the money.
Wickes said: “We always aim to resolve any issues in a timely manner but this was not the case on this occasion. We are very sorry for Mr Turner’s experience as we always aim to deliver a high standard of customer service. Our customer relations team has been in contact with him and the matter has now been resolved.”
It has also given you £50 as a gesture of goodwill. You said: “Thank you for your intervention, without it I fear this would never have been resolved.”
If you have a money problem that you would like Katherine Denham to investigate, email [email protected]. Please include a phone number.
£1,423,839: the amount Troubleshooter has saved readers so far this year