No, that is not true.
As I said above twice: I don't mind paying something to reimburse O2 for their costs so far in terms of producing and distributing the SIM but £10 is excessive imo. (See
#1 and
#10).
Secondly, even if I did expect them to do it for free (i.e. without even an initial topup), that would not be unreasonable in comparison to some other providers who do do it for free.
Indeed, porting is always in and of itself free of charge across all UK mobile providers due to Ofcom rules. It's just that O2 want you to buy credit (that you cannot then use) in order to issue a 'free' PAC.
As I said twice before, I am willing to reimburse them a reasonable amount. But I nevertheless think that £10 is unreasonable and, worse, it is in fact explicitly a charge for a service that I do not need, do not want, and could not use if I did port out immediately after paying it.
Absolutely, yes! It's good customer service. I have had to do similar: I have freely handed over customer data (with permission, of course) to my competitors when customers have wanted to use someone else.
I do this happily because what you give away you tend to get back. People like it when you let them go without charging them. Do bear in mind that the mobile number porting process is now automated (it has to be automated due to the volume of ports, all free in and of themselves). I.e. It has virtual zero marginal cost.