MSE News: O2 charges holidaymaker 100 times more than promised for US roaming calls

MSE_Luke
MSE_Luke Posts: 295 MSE Staff
First Anniversary
in Mobiles
A MoneySaver has won an apology, refund and compensation from mobile phone firm O2...
Read the full story:
'O2 charges holidaymaker 100 times more than promised for US roaming calls'
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Comments

  • RedDwarf82
    RedDwarf82 Posts: 178 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post Combo Breaker
    I am so freaking exhausted of having to argue these things with all kind of companies.
    This was a genuine mistake
    Sure, the text message was a genuine mistake. We all make mistakes. But the fact this needed to reach the Ombudsman is mind-blowing.
  • aj23_2
    aj23_2 Posts: 1,155 Forumite
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    o2 charged me for data usage in Albania even though I had my phone on Flight Mode and only used Wi-Fi because it's not in their EU zone. I asked them to show me what I had done and used, and they couldn't, so I said refund me and they did.
  • boatman
    boatman Posts: 4,699 Forumite
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    He must have known it wasn't 0.99p, just trying it on.

    Kind of have some sympathy with O2, but what they should have done was refunded him, said thank you for pointing it out and quietly changed it to the correct £0.99 or 99p, not the clearly wrong price of less than 1p.
  • Ian011
    Ian011 Posts: 2,432 Forumite
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    "Calls ... cost ... 0.99p a minute to UK landlines" ... so under 1 penny per minute to make a call ... Actual cost: 99p per minute.

    "Receiving a call will cost 0.99p per minute" ... so under 1 penny per minute to receive a call ... Actual cost: 99p per minute.

    "Texts back to the Uk cost 0.49p per message" ... so under half a penny per message ... Actual cost: 49p per message.

    So, it turns out that of the five prices in the text message three of them were incorrect.
  • Li0nhead
    Li0nhead Posts: 16,922 Forumite
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    boatman wrote: »
    He must have known it wasn't 0.99p, just trying it on.

    Kind of have some sympathy with O2, but what they should have done was refunded him, said thank you for pointing it out and quietly changed it to the correct £0.99 or 99p, not the clearly wrong price of less than 1p.

    If you get a legitimate message from a company with an offer to you and you choose to use that service you expect it at that price.
    Hi there! We’ve had to remove your signature. It was so good we removed it because we cannot think of one so good as you had and need to protect others from seeing such a great signature.
  • boatman
    boatman Posts: 4,699 Forumite
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    Li0nhead wrote: »
    If you get a legitimate message from a company with an offer to you and you choose to use that service you expect it at that price.
    Oh no, I've deleted that PPI message, I knew I should have claimed the £10,000.
  • boatman
    boatman Posts: 4,699 Forumite
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    edited 12 December 2017 at 7:54PM
    Ian011 wrote: »
    "Calls ... cost ... 0.99p a minute to UK landlines" ... so under 1 penny per minute to make a call ... Actual cost: 99p per minute.

    "Receiving a call will cost 0.99p per minute" ... so under 1 penny per minute to receive a call ... Actual cost: 99p per minute.

    "Texts back to the Uk cost 0.49p per message" ... so under half a penny per message ... Actual cost: 49p per message.

    So, it turns out that of the five prices in the text message three of them were incorrect.
    They most definitely got it wrong, as Lionhead says, on the whole you would expect to be able to trust a text from O2.
    But I can't help feeling that the customer probably knew it was wrong but took it further only to prove a point, there are probably a hundred different things that the mobile companies do that I would love to see challenged, but I'm not sure this is one of them.
  • phillw
    phillw Posts: 5,593 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    edited 12 December 2017 at 8:08PM
    Li0nhead wrote: »
    If you get a legitimate message from a company with an offer to you and you choose to use that service you expect it at that price.

    It all comes down to whether he knew it was a mistake.

    I don't see why I should subsidise someone when they milk a company when they spot a mistake.

    o2 charge 5p/minute within the uk on pay as you go, 0.99p/minute is an obvious mistake.
  • mobilejunkie
    mobilejunkie Posts: 8,460 Forumite
    edited 12 December 2017 at 9:00PM
    I'd milk it. Companies do plenty of things to trick their customers so where an offer is in writing and provable they should be liable to honour it. Not my problem what other customers do - I already cost them a fortune since I make a profit on all my contracts and those who choose not to and often pay large sums for what they get have the same choices I do.

    It's quite amazing that a good news story of a customer who was mislead, in writing, complained and successsfully took it the the Ombudsman (who usually protect the networks rather than the consumer in my experience), wins in full then becomes the villain on here with MSE users. It says far more about them than the victim.
  • boatman
    boatman Posts: 4,699 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    mobilejunkie wrote: »
    I'd milk it.
    Do you really want to stoop to their level...?

    They definitely deserve it, of that there is no doubt.
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