Apple have announced the new iPhone 3G S this week, which sounds pretty good, but unfortunately they are still allowing the ghastly O2 a monopoly on this product.

Why do I say ‘ghastly’? Well, about a year ago we (Headline) bought an iPhone – it was from the O2 shop in New Street. And I have to say the experience would be hard to beat in terms of how awful it was.

The shop – and particularly the people working in it – was unbelievably poor. I shall spare you the details, but basically we walked out, and on my return to the office rang up O2 to complain.This being O2, the complaints procedure was as tortuous as the shopping experience, but eventually I was told to write in about my experiences, which I did. I’m still waiting for them to respond and address the issues I raised.

Here’s a couple of excerpts from my letter, just to prove how dismal the O2 experience is/was: “I then demanded he (O2 moronic salesman) get the manager, and very grudgingly, an assistant manager was eventually produced, who was about as much use as a chocolate teapot as he patently did not want to listen to our complaint or do anything about it.

“On returning to our office, I called the O2 customer services department – the lady I spoke to rang the store herself, and on returning my call she said: ‘I see what you mean – calling that store was not a good experience.’

“To summarise, I have never been treated to such an unprofessional attitude in a shop in my life – the whole experience was like being hassled by a back-street spiv trying to sell you a fake Rolex.”

So you get the picture. Anyway, I vowed never to have anything to do with them, which is why I still don’t have an iPhone – bit annoying when you are an Apple fan and everyone around you seems to have an iPhone and you don’t!

I’ve considered buying an iPhone (not from O2, of course) and getting it unlocked so that it will work on other networks. I’m told that the problem with that is when you come to download updates, Apple blocks the phone. Can someone confirm if that is right, or not?

Anyway, I’m determined not to reward the appalling O2 by giving them any further custom – it would be a bit like putting up with Gordon Brown and Labour’s efforts to ruin the country in the past 12 years and then voting for them in the next election (don’t worry folks, I’m not going to do that either).

So, my plea to Apple is, please make the iPhone available on other UK phone networks – and if anyone thinks my experience of O2 is unique, try Googling either ‘O2 is cr*p’ or ‘O2 is rubbish’. It’s quite illuminating!

Filed under: Public Relations