Time for a rant I'm afraid. The other day I lost my mobile phone, I've no idea what happened to it but I suspect that it may have fallen out of my coat pocket when I put it up on the luggage shelf on the train to work. Even though it was annoying to loose my phone I was quite happy to buy a new phone, even if I could have done without the expense, as the one I lost was over 4 years old, was starting to be temperamental and was basically a bit rubbish really.

The first thing to do, after trying to phone my own phone and getting no answer, was to contact my network provider, O2, to get them to put a lock on my old phone and SIM so that it couldn't be used by anyone that might find it. Now not being a big mobile user and only having a Pay & Go phone I just assumed that as I'd lost my phone I'd have lost my phone number and any credit on that phone so I was surprised and happy to hear that when I phoned O2 they said that they would just put a lock on the old SIM, issue me with a new one with the same phone number, and transfer all remaining balance onto the new SIM as well. Not only that but the new SIM would be with me in a couple of days. So far, top marks to O2. All I had to do know was buy a new phone.

I started out looking at the Carphone Warehouse website, www.carphonewarehouse.com, as although I still had nearly £20 credit with O2 I wanted to see if there were better deals and better phones with other Networks and this is where the nightmare began. Now all I really needed from a phone was one that would allow me to send a text message, i.e. any phone would do but there were a few 'extras' that I would like if they weren't too expensive. Therefore I was looking for a phone with:

A Camera (2MP ideally)
A good colour screen
A radio (if possible)
MP3 player (not essential as I already have an iPod and PSP but would be nice)
Expandable memory

As for cost, I didn't want to spend anymore than £70 top whack and as the price of phones has dropped in recent years and because O2 phones are often some of the cheapest phones this shouldn't have been a problem.

After a bit of research I found that I had a few phones to choose from:

The Sony Ericsson W200i0

• 3MP cameraMP3 Player
• 65K Colour Screen
• 27MB Memory (expandable)
• £49.95 with O2 (when bought with £10 call time)

This phone would have been fine for my needs but I was put off by the 0.3MP camera as this is very low and my old phone had a very poor camera that was so bad I never really used it.

Now you would think that buying the phone should have been a simple task but instead this turned into a real nightmare.

The white W810i can't be bought from Carphone Warehouse so in order to take advantage of the special offer it had to be bought from O2 direct. So I log onto the O2 website and add the phone to my shopping cart. Just as I'm about to complete the checkout I decide to find out about their delivery times and then find that O2 will only deliver the phone to the registered address of your credit/debit card. Being in full time employment this wasn't an option for me but O2 will deliver to you at the weekend, except that there is a £10 additional charge for this! O2 say that the reason they only deliver to the registered address is for security reason yet many other mobile phone shops such as Carphone Warehouse will deliver to wherever you want so why can't O2?

As there is an O2 store just around the corner from where I work I decide to just buy the phone from there, I mean, that would be easier than anything else wouldn't it? So off I go to the O2 store in Camden where I walk up to the counter and say:

Me: "I'd like to buy the Sony Ericsson W810i".

O2: "Certainly, we only have the white ones in stock though"

Me: "Perfect, that's the one I want"

The guy goes and get's my phone

O2: "Right, that'll be £69.95 for the phone and £10 call time making a total of £79.95"

Me: "What? That can't be right. On your website it's £59.99"

O2: "Is it? Okay, we'll do it at that price then but you still need to buy £10 call time"

Me: "Why have I got to buy call time I'm already an O2 customer"

O2: "It's company policy now, we can't sell a handset without call time"

Me: "How can it be company policy when I can order the phone from the company website without call time?"

O2: "Sorry sir, it's policy"

By this stage I'm resigned to it all and just want to complete the sale and leave

Me: "Right, okay, so I pay £10 call time and that will get added to my existing SIM and phone number?

O2: "No sir, the credit will be on the new SIM which will have a new number, you'll just have two numbers until the £10 credit runs out"

Me: "Two numbers? You know what? Forget it!"

And with that I walk out of the shop.

That weekend my wife and I were going to Bluewater to do some shopping so I thought I'd phone one of the two O2 stores there to see what they said. They said that I could buy the phone but that I did have to buy call time but this would be a voucher that I can then just add to my replacement SIM and therefore not have two numbers. This I could live with as I would eventually buy more credit anyway so off I popped to O2 Bluewater.

Now I admit I did make a mistake when i got to Bluewater. The branch I had spoken to was on the lower floor but I entered the store on the upper floor. This was a big mistake. So I walk into the store, see the W810i on display and go directly to it but notice that the price next to it says £79.95 so I could instantly tell I was going to have problems and my blood started to boil. At the same moment a sales rep comes over to me and asks if he can help:

O2: "Can I help sir?"

Me: "Yes, I'd like to buy this phone but I see you have it for £79.95 but on your website it's says it £59.99"

O2: "Oh? Let me have a word with the manager and see if we can price match it?

Price match it? I'm not asking you to price match it, just sell it to me at the price your company is selling them for!

He comes back

O2: "Well I've had a word with the manager and on this one occasion he has agreed to match it"

Me: "What do you mean, 'on this one occasion'? That's the price the phone is! Oh never mind, can I just buy it please?

O2: "Certainly. So that'll be £59.99 plus £10 call time"

Me: "Right, I understand I can just buy a voucher for the call time and just add this onto my existing SIM...."

O2: "No sir. It has to be £10 on the SIM that comes with the phone"

Me: "Look for God's sake. I phoned yesterday and explained the whole situation to someone and they explicitly told me I could just buy a voucher"

O2: "Sorry sir but it's company policy"

Me: "But it's not because I can order a phone from your own website without call credit!"

O2: "No you can't sir"

By now I am almost shouting at the man and the air is starting to turn blue

Me: "Have you got a computer here? I'll bloody show you that I can order a phone without credit! Look all I want to do is to buy a replacement handset, are you telling me I can't do this without putting £10 credit on a SIM card with a new phone number I'll never use"

O2: "You have to buy call.....

Me: "You know what? I really don't have time to be fuc*ed around by idiots like you"

With that I walk out.

Ever the glutton for punishment and now just spoiling for a fight I decide to try on last time at the O2 store in the lower mall.

Me: "I'd like to buy the W810i"

O2: "Certainly sir, I'll just get it for you"

O2: "That'll be £79.99 then."

Now I don't quite know how I resisted the urge to leap across the till and shove the W810i down the sales assistant's throat but I did and even managed to calmly say:

Me: "I thought it was £59.99? That's what the sticker next to phone says on the display over there and that's the price on the website too"

O2: "Oh yes, my mistake, it's on offer at the moment. Sorry. Yes, that will be £59.99

Now there was no mention at all of call time being added and on the one hand I really wanted to ask about this just to find out why two other stores where being such a pain over it but before I could do this the phone was in a bag, my credit card debited and I was walking out of the store.

So who was right and who was wrong? Were the two O2 branches that refused to sell me the phone in the wrong or was the store that did sell me the phone in the wrong? I'm utterly confused but what I will say is that if a website allows you to buy phones without buying additional call time than their high street stores should be the same. Oh and O2, you could have made this a lot easier for all concerned if you would deliver to peoples places of work!