Man Receives Almost 1,000 Refund Texts After His Mate Said His Number Was O2

It's been a chaotic few days for O2 and their customers after 'faulty software' left smartphone uses without data access.

No doubt it will be a big job for the company to handle all of the complaints and compensation requests they will be receiving.

Martin Houston, from Glasgow, got a taste of the task at hand through no fault of his own after his mate shared his number in a post on Facebook, claiming it could be used to claim a £50 refund.

The post read:

Facebook

The 25-year-old subsequently received 967 texts from compensation thirsty O2 customers. Realising he had been stitched up, Mr Houston decided to get on board with the prank and began replying to the messages.

Needless to say O2 customers will have been a touch surprised by the responses they received:

Martin Houston

Martin Houston

Martin Houston

Speaking to LADbible about the prank, Mr Houston conceded that his mate had done him over good and proper.

He said: "(He) just pretty much thought he would be funny and put my number on and then it just went mad, so I thought why not just play along with it and see where it goes?

"And fair play to him he's done me right good, don't think I'll ever be able to get him back."

O2 has advised that customers will be contacted directly and should not respond to unknown numbers purporting to be the mobile network.

A spokesman for O2 said: "We've seen some individuals sharing numbers to call or text for compensation. These are not right and are not from us.

"Please don't respond. We started contacting all our customers directly yesterday and will keep doing so over the next few days."

Millions of people were affected by the network failure, which began at around 5.30am on Thursday.

Here is how customers will actually be reimbursed for the network problems.

Pay Monthly customers: SMB business customers and mobile broadband customers: O2 will be crediting two days of monthly airtime subscription charges by the end of January.

Pay As You Go customers: O2 will be giving a 10 percent credit on a top-up in the New Year and will let customers know when it is available.

Pay As You Go mobile broadband customers: A 10 percent discount on a Bolt On purchase in the New Year (customers will be told when this is available).

... So don't text a random number in hope of £50, you may get abused.

Topics: UK News, Funny

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey