Dear O2.

I knew the time would come in which I’d be blogging my problems with O2 and an iPhone.

Unlike most of the other bloggers, I actually managed to get my hands on not one, not two, but four iPhones. Its a shame I’ve had them all because the previous ones have broken.

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Let me start by saying that I love the iPhone. I think Apple have done with smartphone’s what no-one else has been able to do, they entered the market at the right time (when normal people start buying BlackBerry’s and Nokia N-series phones) and took the complication out of owning a phone that simply does more.

But after having one for so long (I bought my original one in July of ‘07, a month after the release in the US and then lined for the 3G in Cork) the charm disappears and you develop a routine with the phone (RSS, twitter, e-mail, facebook and text in my case) and it just becomes another smart-phone, another tool day-to-day tool.

Now, my understanding of the term tool is that its something reliable and something of use. We’ve already clarified that I think its of use, why isn’t it reliable?

My first iPhone 3G had a dodgy 3G chip, so that went back to Apple in September.
My second iPhone 3G  had an unresponsive strip on the screen, that went back in January.
My third iPhone 3G completely died on me when I was on a school trip to London recently and it was sent back on Paddy’s Day - no-one could figure out what was wrong with it, it wouldn’t even charge in the shop.

So I pointed this out (maybe a bit too strongly) to the very nice lady working in O2 on Patrick’s Street, she told me there was nothing I could do but send it back to Apple and wait a week for my new replacement to arrive. I simply couldn’t return the phone or switch to a different phone because of my contract and iPhone plan.

Now I completely understand that, we signed a contract in July for the iPhone plan but come on, four phones and anyone would be pissed off. I don’t get an apology from anyone, I’ve never even been offered a loaner phone – understandable if I weren’t spending around €150 a month on the ruddy awful plan that came with my iPhone.

Where are O2 customer care? Do you guys exist? Do they even want me as a customer? I want to switch to a phone that works. I’ll still be on your network, still be paying stupid amounts of money texting (which is free on Three, Meteor and on your own PAYG plans). I refuse to pay for a new handset, I paid for the iPhone and have had nothing but problems with it, I’ll return the damn thing (it’ll be brand new in box too!) if you insist on it.