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I have purchased a Refresh tablet contract with O2 in August 2014. O2 separates their Refresh contract plans into 2 parts: the Airtime Plan (data/txts/min aloowance) and the Device Plan (cost of the device spread over 24 months and payable each month). The Airtime Plan costs do not depend on the device purchased, but solely on the relevant allowances (as an example the Airtime Plan with 5GB data allowance would cost the same for an iPad tablet and Huawei tablet, the added Device Plan costs would however be different depending on a device, and therefore the total costs of a Refresh plan could vary depending on a device chosen).
There was a £5 discount offer on their Airtime plan for my chosen device (Google Nexus tablet). On their website it was clear that the Airtime Plan for the same amount of allowances (5GB data) was priced equally for both "regular" and "discounted" devices alike (£15 for 5GB at that time). That would naturally bring me to the conclusion that my dicounted price for the Airtime Plan would be £10. I went into one of the O2 stores in order to get a help with my order. The store staff confirmed that my discounted price would be £10 for the Airtime part of my Refresh plan, and helped me to complete the online order. I have retained the receipt of that. Later I've phoned the O2 customer service to confirm that the discounted price would definitely be £10, otherwise I thought of using my 14 days right to cancel. The O2 customer service rep confirmed the £10 price for the Airtime part of my Refresh plan (date and time of the call noted).
Later, O2 refused to honour the discount claiming that £15 price for the Airtime Plan advertised on their website was a discounted price already. I challenged that saying that if so, why it was exactly the same price advertised for "non-discounted" devices? Once again, the Airtime Plan price is not device-dependant and never has been since O2 introduced their Refresh plan. However O2 insisted that there was no wrongdoing from their side. Ok, the 5GB Airtime Plan prices got increased since then by £5, but my point was that in order to keep paying £15 for 5GB I had to purchase ANY tabled device on Refresh plan, not just the "special offer" one, so marking certain devices as ones on "special offer" whilst there was no difference in pricing, would be false advertising.
The case went to the Ombudsman. I have produced the screenshots from the O2 website, as well as the references to the O2 store and the phone call to O2 Customer Service. The Ombudsman however has decided that there was no wrongdoing from the O2 part.
I'm wondering what could be my possible options from that point? I am based in Scotland.
There was a £5 discount offer on their Airtime plan for my chosen device (Google Nexus tablet). On their website it was clear that the Airtime Plan for the same amount of allowances (5GB data) was priced equally for both "regular" and "discounted" devices alike (£15 for 5GB at that time). That would naturally bring me to the conclusion that my dicounted price for the Airtime Plan would be £10. I went into one of the O2 stores in order to get a help with my order. The store staff confirmed that my discounted price would be £10 for the Airtime part of my Refresh plan, and helped me to complete the online order. I have retained the receipt of that. Later I've phoned the O2 customer service to confirm that the discounted price would definitely be £10, otherwise I thought of using my 14 days right to cancel. The O2 customer service rep confirmed the £10 price for the Airtime part of my Refresh plan (date and time of the call noted).
Later, O2 refused to honour the discount claiming that £15 price for the Airtime Plan advertised on their website was a discounted price already. I challenged that saying that if so, why it was exactly the same price advertised for "non-discounted" devices? Once again, the Airtime Plan price is not device-dependant and never has been since O2 introduced their Refresh plan. However O2 insisted that there was no wrongdoing from their side. Ok, the 5GB Airtime Plan prices got increased since then by £5, but my point was that in order to keep paying £15 for 5GB I had to purchase ANY tabled device on Refresh plan, not just the "special offer" one, so marking certain devices as ones on "special offer" whilst there was no difference in pricing, would be false advertising.
The case went to the Ombudsman. I have produced the screenshots from the O2 website, as well as the references to the O2 store and the phone call to O2 Customer Service. The Ombudsman however has decided that there was no wrongdoing from the O2 part.
I'm wondering what could be my possible options from that point? I am based in Scotland.
