These days smart technology is not sold as a luxury. Rather, it is marketed as a basic tool for convenience or safety, providing reassurance and peace of mind at the touch of a button.
Yet this promise can quickly unravel: even if a device is fully functional, lack of customer support can turn “smart” tech into something totally useless.
In this edition of Resolver Stories, we bring you Linda’s Apple Watch saga: where a straightforward problem became a maze of call centres, conflicting advice and buck-passing between companies.
This is Linda’s story…
It all started when I decided to buy myself a new Apple Watch for my 75th birthday in January. As I live alone, I specifically wanted a model with its own eSIM so it could work independently of my iPhone. If I ever needed urgent help, it would quite literally be on my wrist.
I bought the watch from the main Apple Store in Reading. The staff were extremely helpful and set everything up except the eSIM. For that, I was told I needed to speak to O2.
From the shop, O2 said the eSIM could take up to 24 hours to connect. It never did. What followed were many hours on the phone to O2, speaking to countless different people, repeatedly resetting the watch and still no connection!
I was told a technician would call me within 72 hours. Eventually, someone did, but they rang off after three rings and I didn’t reach my phone in time. Several days later, they rang again. This time I answered within two rings, only to find no one there.
So I started again. After more calls and long waits, I was eventually told this could be sorted easily in an O2 shop, guaranteed.
I duly went to the O2 shop in Bracknell. And no, they definitely couldn’t do it there. They could have done it if I’d bought the watch from O2, but because I’d bought it directly from Apple, it was apparently impossible. I was told yet again to ring O2!
You can only waste so much of your life on the phone, being passed endlessly from one person to another…
While standing in the O2 shop, I rang O2 and handed my phone to the member of staff, asking him to sort it out for me. After a very long conversation, the manager (or at least the person who appeared to be in charge) gave up. He couldn’t make the person on the phone understand what was needed. He handed my phone back and told me to “hang up”.
The only solution offered was that I return the watch to Apple and buy a similar one from the O2 store instead, which he would then set up for me on the spot. Needless to say, I was neither convinced nor willing to go to that amount of trouble.
On several occasions I was almost reduced to tears with frustration, which is hardly good for one’s health. In the end, I gave up. You can only waste so much of your life on the phone, being passed endlessly from one person to another, sitting through long holds, and still never reaching anyone who can fix what must surely be an everyday problem.
Was I just unlucky, or is this happening to many others? I would very much like to hand my phone to one of the top bosses at O2 and ask them to try.
When lack of support makes smart tech useless
Linda’s experience is not just about one Apple Watch or one network. It reflects a broader problem in the telecoms sector as new technologies become more complex while customer support becomes more fragmented, leaving people stranded with expensive tech they can;’ use and no clear route to resolving their issues.
Smart tech products are sold as simple, seamless and “everyday”. Yet there are thousands of customers who discover that when even a simple issue arises, things quickly become time-consuming, stressful and exhausting.
If connected devices are being promoted as tools for safety, independence and peace of mind, the industry has a duty to ensure that support is accessible, joined-up and human—otherwise the very people who could benefit most are left feeling excluded and overwhelmed.
With Resolver Stories you can read real experiences of people fighting for fairness and share your own. Whether you scored a big win or are stuck in a never-ending nightmare, we want to hear from you!