Customers of mobile operator O2 UK (VMO2) appear to be suffering from a major problem or outage of the provider’s billing system, which for the past couple of days has been preventing them from being able to view their bills, make payments, add a data bolt-on or change their tariff.
The issues appear to have started yesterday morning and some support staff initially indicated that they hoped to have it fixed overnight, yet the situation is currently still ongoing today. A large number of complaints can now be found, spread across both social media and O2’s own Community Forum.
“We’re having a system issue at the moment that will be affecting your ability to view your bills, our teams are working to fix this as quickly as possible. Please try again later,” said one support agent via Twitter (here). A different member of O2’s support team also informed customers that they would NOT be disconnected during the outage and “won’t apply any late payment fees” (here).
The problem appears to be impacting both O2’s app and their website-based customer account pages.
Sample Complaint 1
“Am I the only one that can’t pay my airtime bill? On my o2 app it says we can’t display your latest airtime bill please try again later and says the same thing on the website. I can’t call 202 because I haven’t paid and can’t start a conversation because all agents are busy.”
Sample Complaint 2
“I’ve been trying to pay my phone bill on the app but it’s not letting me pay it keeps saying something went wrong and same on the website.”
Sample Complaint 3
“I have a problem with my overdue payment. When i try to make a payment it says: “there’s been a problem. Try again later.” I’ve tried many times but it is always the same. Did anyone have the same problem? Is it maybe something wrong with a website?”
We have requested a comment from O2 and will report back once they respond.
UPDATE 1st Dec 2021
O2 has informed us that this issue was finally resolved yesterday afternoon, although they didn’t elaborate on the cause.
O2 once stated they would pay all their suppliers on 180 day terms.
Maybe O2 customers should do that as well. See how they like it.
Just avoid 02, the services are terrible. I’ve had the worst experience costing me a fortune from 02
Your right, the service is awful. I have a problem with the signal and when the signal is fine, I have constant dropped calls and slow Internet to the point its unusable with 4G, it’s even worse when it uses 5G. The 5G coverage is very limited too to rhe point I think they should just not advertise it yet, I’ve reported all these issues and got nowhere with some responses from O2 saying its congestion, of course its congestion but the fact that they have these issues means they aren’t keeping on top of it and the service is not cheap either. I’ve made complaints because I now have a BT Mobile sim only deal because of the unreliable service and the service with BT is very good.
#AVOIDLIKETHEPLAGUE…I ORDERED A PHONE DIDN’T like it so sent back ..many calls to customer service and speaking to live chat I’m getting numerous e bills for the price of the phone and calls.. it was sent back the next day…also emailed the bills and a complaint to customer reviews still nothing now getting paper bills in the post threatening with debt collectors….please avoid this company at all costs.
Not really their fault if you didn’t like the phone, it’s always a good idea to research anything before purchasing.
Wibbledoff the fault is they have the phone back within two days of their 14 day return policy. I’m billed for no reason for a phone and service. That’s their rubbish customer service.
Reading your orginal comment, it reads that you ordered a phone and when it arrived you used it and made calls on it, but then returned it.
You can’t expect after doing that not to pay anything.
Are you telling us that you were billed early termination for the entire contract during the cooling off period?
If so this is a common complaint with them.
If you’re telling us you were billed for the time you had the service, then that’s not their fault, if you used the service, you have to pay for the services and calls that you use. The airtime is not free, you still have to pay for whatever you use, you just don’t pay for the device that you’re returning.
I left 02 because I was a virgin media customer to which I had so many issues with, following their merger which virgin becomes owner, that’s it time to switch, so I read these issues with interest. O2 now becomes a flawless goat learning nothing.
Wibbledoff not the phone I used to call them!! It was unused.
This is your comment “getting numerous e bills for the price of the phone and calls”
So basically no wonder you are getting nowhere as you talk total nonsense.
Mark goats make more sense than O2 customer service
And surprise surprise virgin TV is run by goats today. As it’s all down,
I have had an O2 phone since 2013 and changed to a Payg SIM some years ago.
I don’t use the phone very frequently but have now found that my number is no longer active even though I am still in credit.
I have an account with them so why didn’t they contact me before they ccut me off?
Unfortunately it has been standard for a number of years that if you don’t use your phone it will be cut off.
It has been industry standard to disconnect Pay as you go accounts on all networks ever since the concept of Pay as you go came about in 1997.
Ofcom puts a lot of pressure on telephone companies to manage telephone numbers responsibly which means disconnecting and recycling old numbers.
If we run out of numbers, it leads to national code and number changes and we had three big ones in 1995,2000 and 2001. It’s annoying and costs businesses a lot of money.
In 2000 6 places switched to 02 area codes because numbers were running out and its happening again in some places, all mobile numbers that did not start 07 switched to 07 numbers in 2001 meaning all mobile numbers used the 07 range, if this range starts running out, it will mean more changes.
It also costs mobile networks money to maintain your pay as you go service that your not using, so each network has a period of inactivity of between 90 and 279 days, all of this is outlined in the terms and conditions.
No network let’s you know when they are disconnecting Pay ad you go accounts, how are they going to let you know anyway if the phone isn’t being used?
Whats the address to o2.They gave me a address but they moved and sent back my postal order and .now in arrears which is terrible service