I made the first very small step early this morning when I called O2 to cancel a phone account I have with them.

I took out an 18 month contract (about 21 months ago) as a way of getting an XDA Exec without paying for it in one go. I took out the contract which gave the XDA exec free, knowing that I could reduce to the minimum tariff after 6 months (provided I remember to do that the XDA Exec wasn’t too much more than buying it directly). I was really only interested in using it as an electronic diary and I’d used an iPaq and a Sony Clie successfully for several years.

When I reduced the initial contract on time (which itself is unusual for me) I didn’t notice until 6 months later that O2 hadn’t reduced the amount they were billing me. Fortunately, when I called to query this, they had a note of my request and back-dated the reduction, giving me a credit to my account (though not the actual cash).

I called to cancel the contract at the end of November to be told that I had to write to a specific address to cancel the contract rather than doing it over the phone (which is bullshit as I’ve cancelled contract with Orange and Three in the past without having to write to them). I sent the letter the next day and on Saturday received a line rental bill with no apparent mention of the contact termination.

So I called them this morning (which is much better than leaving it for months as I could easily have done) and they had no fucking record of my letter. They did agree to cancel the contract as of today and they will re-issue the invoice.

As far as my dealings with them have been concerned, O2 are either a shower of useless bastards, or are a bunch of fucking crooks – you decide!

So far, that was £20.00 per month saved and I was feeling good about myself…

I managed to pass through lunch without spending much, other than the cost of 2 Greggs macaroni pies (I could have doen better and made lunch in the morning, but that step will come).