Help! Stepsons mobile bill > £4500

shockedandstunned_2 · 23 August 2012 at 9:32PM

I also wondered how they could charge £175 for a 50MB bundle, but then without the bundle charge £6000. It might be that they make a loss on the bundles, but it helps retain customers.

GuysDad, I originally raised this on another forum and they suggested Moneysavingexpert may be able to help, being particularly knowledgable about financial matters. Although I am not a regular (and so have managed to miss the other threads about it) I thought it would be worthwhile posting. And it was! It was excellent advice to see if they could retrospectively apply the data roaming package. (I didn't even know such a thing existed) for which I am very greatful. Orange seemed fairly receptive to the idea and are going to call me back tomorrow to confirm whether it is ok to do that. I am the step mother by the way, so my step son was on holiday with his mother, who is my husbands ex-wife. Not that it makes any difference but perhaps accounts for the fact that no-one managed to take proper responsibility for step son's internet usage.

For any others reading, Orange take a particularly hands off view compared to some other providers. There is new legislation that means a cap is applied to usage (not sure whether this is just data usage or all usage) within the EU which is applicable to all mobile phone companies. Some (o2 for example) also voluntarily add a cap for other international destinations. So they text you on arrival to confirm charges in the particular country you are in, and then also notify that a cap on charges will be applied. You may or may not think this is a good thing! I believe Ofcom are also investigating making it mandatory for all providers to do this.

I also completely agree with paying it off asap. The sooner we can move on the better.

Thanks again

macman · 23 August 2012 at 9:46PM

Turkey is not in the EU, so the data cap would not have applied in this case anyway.

shockedandstunned_2 · 23 August 2012 at 9:49PM

Yes I know! I was just saying for anyone else travelling abroad who may be interested, as it's relatively new legislation.

So all providers are capped in the EU. And also some other providers (but not Orange) also cap outside of the EU as a matter of course, without being requested by the user.

patman99 · 23 August 2012 at 10:12PM

£8000/Gb is a huge profit for Orange. Their costs will likely to be no more than £300 for the Data charges.
If I were you, I would try a FOI request asking how much the true cost per/Gb really is on a per-country basis.

This info could become useful in beating down the bill.

yangptangkipperbang · 23 August 2012 at 10:22PM

patman99 wrote: »

If I were you, I would try a FOI request asking how much the true cost per/Gb really is on a per-country basis.

This info could become useful in beating down the bill.

FOI doesn't apply to a company like Orange - it only applies to "public authorities".

MillicentBystander · 23 August 2012 at 10:25PM

patman99 wrote: »

£8000/Gb is a huge profit for Orange. Their costs will likely to be no more than £300 for the Data charges.
If I were you, I would try a FOI request asking how much the true cost per/Gb really is on a per-country basis.

This info could become useful in beating down the bill.

Isn't it only Govt. bodies who are legally obligated to respond to FOI requests? But I do agree with you, the charges are absolutely and utterly ridiculous compared to the (likely) cost. Orange are not imo a particularly customer-friendly company.

Silk · 23 August 2012 at 10:59PM

shockedandstunned wrote: »

For any others reading, Orange take a particularly hands off view compared to some other providers. There is new legislation that means a cap is applied to usage (not sure whether this is just data usage or all usage) within the EU which is applicable to all mobile phone companies. Some (o2 for example) also voluntarily add a cap for other international destinations. So they text you on arrival to confirm charges in the particular country you are in, and then also notify that a cap on charges will be applied. You may or may not think this is a good thing! I believe Ofcom are also investigating making it mandatory for all providers to do this.

The new legislation came into force on July 1st this year

The cap does apply to the EU whichc sadly in your case does not apply with Turkey not being in the EU as pointed out earlier

What does apply though as from July 1st is that they have to notify you on arrival or whilt travelling what charges you are going to have applied in that country ....this is for any country even those outside the EU.
Assuming that your stepson arrived after the 1st July he should have had an alert. If the operator is unable to send an alert because of the network provider then they have to send an SMS.

It may be worth checking with your Stepson whether he was given this imformation via his handset or not ???

shockedandstunned_2 · 23 August 2012 at 11:12PM

Silk, I'm sure he would have been. It's £8 per MB unfortunately I doubt he has any concept of what a MB actually is.

Also been checking his facebook etc and he didn't update while he was away so I am inclined to think that most of the charges were apps running because he wasn't using the internet as usual. Unfortunately I think if you have apps for twitter or facebook etc they are set to check for updates every couple of minutes to your phone is continually downloading throughout the day.

grumbler · 23 August 2012 at 11:36PM

patman99 wrote: »

£8000/Gb is a huge profit for Orange. Their costs will likely to be no more than £300 for the Data charges.
If I were you, I would try a FOI request asking how much the true cost per/Gb really is on a per-country basis.

This info could become useful in beating down the bill.

Without any request it's obvious that the true cost cannot be more then £175*2=£350/Gb. As you compare this figure to £8000/Gb, it will not make much difference if it is £100 of £200 actually.

shockedandstunned wrote: »

Also been checking his facebook etc and he didn't update while he was away so I am inclined to think that most of the charges were apps running because he wasn't using the internet as usual. Unfortunately I think if you have apps for twitter or facebook etc they are set to check for updates every couple of minutes to your phone is continually downloading throughout the day.

Apps will never use 650Gb just for simple checking, but, say, several videos from youtube can easily do this.

gjchester · 24 August 2012 at 7:23AM

wantmemoney wrote: »

what is your real problem with customers being allowed to request a spending cap.

First No I don't work for a network to save you the time of typing it..

I've no problem with a cap, but even if there was one as overseas use is not reported in real time thats not a huge help here.

I do have a problem with people who use a phone all day and night without thinking what thery are running up or who will pay the bill and then complain that it's not their fault they didn't know. When you get a phone you get Terms and condidions to read (or at least skim through), many people don't.

It's a 30 second job to check your networks web site, or call them and ask roaming costs, and most networks send a courtesy test when you roam onto them to say the costs, but people do not read them.

Overseas roaming rate bill shocks are not new, and have been pretty well publicised, be it for calls a few years ago or now data. With few exceptions most people know it's expensive to use a mobile abroad but as soon as they get out the UK common sense seems to leave them, is it holiday happiness or drink related I don't know.

At the end of the day the networks exist to make a profit, and yes they have no interest in a CAP. However they don't have "secret" charges, everything is upfront and available. The user needs to see the cost and decide to use the service or not, either by moving to a PAYG or capped contract, or not using the phone, but either way they have to make that decision, not ignore any terms and conditions they don't like and hope they go away.

In this case the poster has my sympathies but as is often the case giving an unrestricted contract to a child has issues, it occurs time and time again on here. You would not give them a bank card with your PIN so why give them an unrestricted contract?

Help! Stepsons mobile bill > £4500

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