Angry mobile customers hit out at O2’s service
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MOBILE phone customers in Thurso have signalled their anger towards a network operator after the lack of reception led to them being unable to use their phones in their homes.
Dozens of residents in the Pennyland area have been given different reasons by O2 about why there is a lack of signal to use mobile phones in that part of the town.
The problems began during November when people with the company could not use their mobiles at home when they tried to make a call.
When the situation did not improve, angry customers cancelled their contracts and purchased mobiles connected to different operators.
Among those was Amanda Barrowman, of Strathmore Road, who had been a customer with O2 for over 10 years. When she started experiencing problems in making calls, she put a message on her social networking site to ask if anyone else had similar issues.
She received 56 responses, all describing a lack of signal, with different reasons given for what was causing the problems.
“My husband and I have been in contact with O2 around 20 times since the problems began in November,” she said.
“We had been told that a cell site at the BT building in Thurso had been switched off, which the company denied but then said there was a problem though they could not give timescale for fixing it.”
Mrs Barrowman said: “Anyone on the O2 network at Pennyland has no signal or very limited reception if they can pick up the cell site at Olrig Street. If they work at BT, they have absolutely no signal there.
“A few weeks ago, we received confirmation from the network that the cell site had been decommissioned and it wouldn’t be going on again.
“They released us early from our 24-month contract free of charge as a result, but everyone else who called is being messed around and given conflicting info. Some are being told that the mast just has a fault and some are being told it’s OK.”
Mrs Barrowman said her family used to have three mobiles connected to the O2 network but as a result of the problems they have had all contracts cancelled and moved to a different provider.
She believes the lack of reception only hits the Pennyland area, with other parts of the town unaffected.
A spokesman for O2 yesterday confirmed that a mast had been removed in Thurso and an alternative location was being investigated to put up a new mast.
“I can confirm that we have removed a mast in the Thurso area. This is because the building in which the mast was located has changed tenants and we were asked to remove our equipment by the landlord.
“We have optimised a nearby mast to improve signal strength for customers in the area while we research an alternative location for the site that has been removed.
“We do everything we can to avoid situations like this – these incidents are rare and we are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause while we continue to look for an alternative solution.”
Are you an O2 customer experiencing problems? Leave a comment below.
