(I originally posted this in the advice section, but was todl you guys may have more input, so this a a repost)


So, have I been stupid or are they profiteering. Im seriously angry about this, although it is fundementally my fault.

Excuse the I said... he said... but the guy was kind of annoying. Also quite a long post, but it was quite a lengthy and eventually heated debate I had with the guy.

I have been a long term O2 customer (about 4 years of contracts) and recently borrowed an Iphone for a week from a friend who went away. Now I knew I didnt have data download priveleges in my contract, but I figured that over a week, just checking email and messing about on low bandwidth sites shouldnt cost an arm and a leg, and I didnt want to upgrade without knowing whether I would be using the internet long term.

So 1 week of usage, 800 quid!!!


I called them up thining it was outrageous, especially as I believed that for not much money (maybe 20quid) you could get unlimited internet. Apparantly true, and its only 7.50 a month!

So the guy I speak to obviously cant do anything, so I get through to the disconnections dept, as in my experience they are the ones with the freedom to sort out problems that arent by the book.

I start by telling him my charges are outrageous, and I would liek to upgrade to a higher plan and backdate it a month. He tells me you need a special sim card to use teh iphone because its always connected to the net. He also implies that had I not tried to cheat teh system I would have known about this. I politely informed him that I am due an upgrade and wanted to try it out, and that an unlimited data plan is only 10 pounds more than my current monthly payment, so its not like Im trying to decieve them or save loads of cash.

He tells me that Iphones are locked to normal sim cards which is why I had the high charges and why they always tell everyone who upgrades to wait for their new sim. Again I tell him the phone is clearly not locked as I have a 900 pound bill (more than a years worth of contract charges)! Apparantly its to stop people getting the benifits of an iphone without paying for the contract. Again I tell him that he would give me a free Iphone if I sign up to a contract only a tenner more than my current one, so its not like Im trying to circumnavigate the rules.

I ask why I wasnt notified that my bill was high before it reached epic proportions - i tells me that they have thousand sof customers and they cant monitor usage. I mention computer systems, he goes silent, before infoming me that I can set up a limit for the future and they will tell me if and when i exceed it. So I say, so you can monitor charges you just choose not to. Incidentally my phone has been blocked now, so you do block phones too without my say so, its just that what O2 term as excessive and what I do are galaxies apart. Again no real answer, apart from , well you used the phone. You should know that it would cost money. If Im not sure of something I would check on it before putting a sim card into an Iphone.

I tell him Ive swapped my sim in and out of countless phones without your permission or advice, how the f%$& am I supposed to know that the Iphone is different.

Anyway long story short I am in the process of cancelling my contract and switching compnaies. He even had teh gall to suggest that as an existing customer he could give me a better deal with O2, when I told him it was the principle, and I would never use O2 again, he wanted to know what principle, it was me who ran up the bill.

Anyway, what to do now. Anything? Does customer loyalty count for little these days? I ahve a feekling that some of the charges are from Apple, but I dont get it.

Im writing to O2 directly. I should have asked for his supervisopr. In fact I might call up again and argue with one of the other guys too, even though its probably fruitless.

The internet isnt always on when you have an iphone. You don't need a special iphone sim either.

Id love to know how you could accumulate all those charges in one week!!

Im afraid to say it and youre not going to want to hear it, but use a phone for data without a data tariff and this is what happens.
Fixing the situation is at their discretion and really depends on how you speak to them. Bein smart and trying to suggest the backdating etc probably wasnt the best way to go about it, tho i struggle to think of a way that would be.

As for the charges, apple will only have charged you for stuff you bought from the app store. Everything else is is the data charges...

If you had upgraded your tariff and bought the iphone, you would have had 7 days to return the handset and 28 days to cancel the contract, thus achieving the same thing.

I feel for you with a 800 quid bill.. but as you said at the start of your post "it is fundementally my fault"

Pornhub.

Aren't they meant to charge you only a certain amount each day for data calls? Im sure thats how it is on all other tariffs.

At least that would have been worth it.

Thats what I just found out from the O2 store. I might give them a call back to find out what they were talking about.

Very strange.

Apparently O2 charge £3 per MB.

£266mb in a week, that's not just email and low bandwidth websites he was using then

I use about 350mb in a month and visit some websites with large graphics on

Yes I appreciate that which is why I hold my hands up, but still I really feel that if I have been paying them between 25-40 quid a month for years, to not tell me that I have suddenly run up an 800 pound bill when all it would take to avoid charges was a quick phone call and an extra tenner a month is scandelous. Its profiteering. All it takes is a bit of customer service. And its bad business. Who knows how long I would have kept my O2 phone. Now I'll never use them again.


Thats what I thought. I think he was trying to give excuses as to why they couldbnt refund it, but apparantly he talked a lot of crap from what Ive seen.


Lets pretend that thats not true.


Quite.

anyway, who's got watchdogs phone number?

Yes you are quite right. Some stupid Itunes downloads may have padded the total, without thinking.

Ive never had an internet phone, only 3g, so I wasnt really used to counting MBs.

Stupid really, but I naivly assumed that since its only about a tenner a month for unlimited, it cant be that much to pay for data by the MB.

Hopefully I wont have top chalk this up to one of lifes lessons.

Gutted for you mate
I think i would try another CS operative and just go over the same story that you wanted to try the Iphone as you were thinking of upgrading to it.Tell them you thought data charges were a £1 a day maximum like other networks and you want an iphone contract but not with this £800 bill hanging over you.
Ive also ditched 02 after they screwed me on both a PAYG iphone sim and on the horrendous access broadband

I agree with this. But do it with manners, no call handler will be receptive if you go in all guns blazing.

I think I will. Especially as it seems the guy I spoke to either didnt know his stuff, or flat out lied to me.

I know they are well within their rights to hold me to the charges, but my contract is up, and as I told the guy, Im well within my rights to give Orange or 3 a call.

Yes thats true, especially as Im asking them to do me a "favour".

Its always hard to keep reminding yourself that even if a company has screwed you over its almost never anything to do with teh guy on the phone.

The guy I spoke to, I'll make an exception for. He really was trying to insinuate that I got what I deserved for trying to cheat them out of a new contract, despite the fact that I am about to get a new one and they have been sending me "free upgrade" letters since Febuary.

I posted this in your other thread in GD.. but here it is again:

I have an iPhone on contract with O2..

I pay £35 a month and that includes all 3G internet, reasonably 'unlimited'.

Apple don't sell iPhones contracts without data included.. AFAIK

Was this an iPhone with a pay as you go sim..?

I presume you do mean you were using it in the UK?

Did it have a sim card in it that was meant for another (maybe GPRS?) phone?

I'm a little confused by your predicament O.P

Yes, it can be classed as an internet phone but it still accesses via 3G... iTunes downloads would really rack it up and I guess it would be easy to get carried away with other stuff, too!

Ouch... we all know about assumptions! Seems like it might have to be chalked up as a life lesson, unfortunately... Think we've all been through similar, though!

I'd hate to have that kind of bill, but as the OP says, it's fundamentally their fault. Yes, maybe 02 could have informed them, but by the same token the OP could have looked at their website either before using the phone or while he was using it, or simply rung them to ascertain the charges. Instead, he assumed that the charges wouldn't be very much. Hopefully, 02 will see it was a mistake rather than an attempt to defraud them & will come to a compromise about the costs, but if they don't he won't have much of an argument. The bill is still going to need paying whether he stays with them or not, & unless he can settle the matter very quickly it could affect his ability to go to another provider. A new provider will probably do a credit check & this bill to 02 will show up if 02 decide to put the debt on his credit file because he hasn't come to an agreement about payment with them or hasn't paid it for more than a month.

The costs are stroke-inducingly high, but they're charging for a service that was used at the advertised rates - the OP just didn't see them & didn't take the time to clarify what they'd be. Caveat emptor - let the buyer beware.

Think the OP put his own 02 contract sim in the iphone.

You mention that O2 should have monitored the account, but you were able to do so yourself so quite unfair to put the onus on them. You could have checked your current balance and usage on your MyO2 section, or have downloaded the free O2 app for the iPhone, both of which would have shown you how much you were owing accurately.

Are the charges ridiculous? Absolutely, I'm not going to defend the whole £3 per Mb. Billing are the only people that can help you here, escalate as far as you can and beg for mercy as legally they are coming from a strong point.

Yep, thats it. A friends pay as you go, that they didnt take abroad with them for a week. And my 25 quid a month O2 sim card.

Prehaps, but didnt know abut or use either of these features. My bill is always 25 quid or prehaps up to 40 if I use it a lot, so this kind of blindsided me.

I still believe that if someone has consistantly had a bill under 40 quid a month, its strange to let them run up a bill of 800. Especially when you could upgrade them to a more suitable contract. Didnt Vodaphone used to do this where they suggest the best plan for you each month based on your usage.. I may have teh details wrong.

Anyway, imho, horrible customer service.

Whats the timelimit on reporting a stolen phone? For all they knew my phone could have been stolen, so sod 'em. My bank calls me if my spending habits change to look for fraud, so why not? Im joking... maybe.

Why didn't you ring 02 & ask them if it was OK to use your sim in another person's phone? No wonder they thought you were up to no good - why should they do you the favour of warning you about rising costs when you didn't have the courtesy to ask them in advance if it was OK to do what you did? Did your friend know you were going to use their phone in this way?


Your responsibility for the calls run up might only stop after you've reported the phone stolen. I say "might" because if it turns out for instance that you let someone else look after your phone but didn't expect them to use it, you'll still have to pay the bill & sort out any recompense with the person who used the phone separately.

I reckon the iPhone had data roaming enabled

OP: Ignorance is no excuse, I'm afraid. When you take an agreement out, you AGREE to the charges stated, hence the term AGREEMENT. Throwing your toys out of the pram because you couldn't be bothered to check the rates smacks of arrogance, and then suddenly it's O2's fault. Expensive mistake. You won't do it again though.