£1196 bill for mobile Arrggggh Heeeelp

diamonds

iwanttosave wrote: »

Very true. Any changes can only be done while it is live on the home network.

crap, i have activated many AU sims while in the UK

robt_2

I think we can forget the whole been a good customer for four years. As she is only 18 she will not have had a contract in her name for four years and PAYG counds for jacks**t.

but surely orange should bear some of the responsibily for the size of this bill

100% no!

My only advice is that she MUST ring Orange and ask what her options are. Once she fails to make contact it is more and more unlikely that they will be willing to accept installments etc.

JaRocks28

Surely she can check her minutes/bill whilst in SA?. I can online (if internet access) or through text message - but seriously how many phone calls and how long was she on the phone for??!!
Its a lot of money, as the other posters said contact orange - see what they can do for her. Good Luck!

iwanttosave_2

diamonds wrote: »

crap, i have activated many AU sims while in the UK

Erm, good for you?

OP, I'd see if Orange have some sort of debt assistance team also ask if they have a bill shock process. 9 times out of 10 they will say tough but the worst they can say is no but see if maybe they will meet her halfway with the costs and plead ignorance, if not then they can arrange some sort of payment plan, not sure what term they will allow it over x amount of months. Over my network (not Orange) they ask for 6 months which would be under £200 a month, still a big amount but at least its not the whole lot in one go.

mess0804

Out of curiosity when I saw the huge amount I looked on Orange website to see how much does the roaming cost: £1.50 a minue from South Africa to UK!
http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?pagename=PersonalIR&c=OUKPage&cid=1123171273258&mid=1123171272053&extarg4=1123171272053&extarg1=PAYM&extarg2=1126544428406&extarg3=&x=25&y=5

This meanss almost 800 minutes !!! !!!!!! is someone thinking when they stay 800 minutes on the phone from abroad? At 18 she should know enough math to know that 800 minutes will cost a fortune!

1984ReturnsForReal_2

mrsmoneypenny9 wrote: »

Hi, can anyone give me some advice, my sons girlfriend has returned from holiday in south africa two weeks ago, she has now been sent an bill for £1196 for using her mobile in SA mainly on phonecalls to my son, she is besides herself as she was expecting it to be around £200.

She has been a customer of Orange for 4 years now, and the most her bill has ever been in that time is £75.

Surely Orange should have had some sort of credit limit on her account or should have realised that there was excessive use on the phone, I know she should not have used the phone abroad but surely orange should bear some of the responsibily for the size of this bill and letting it get so high, they at the very least should have sent her a text or something saying the the bill was at £x amount and was she aware of it.

She is at sixth form college, how on earth is she expected to pay it.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks

17 years old & been with them for years?

Can you agree a contract at 13 years old?

Rev

Where did she get the idea it would be around £200?

Surely if she'd drawn this conclusion she knew it would be considerably more than usual bills so logic and common sense would have made her call and check with Orange?

I feel for her, I really do, but she made the calls, she can't expect orange to foot the bill for that. Like most have suggested, contact orange and see if she can pay it off, I've read a few threads on here where the bill has been reduced as a good will gesture to loyal customers.

I hope she gets something sorted.

jdan9

mrsmoneypenny9 wrote: »

no I doubt she checked the rates, she is only 18 and they just dont do the sensible thing, she new it would be high but as i have said she expected it to be around £200

I'm 18 and I'd never make mobile phone calls from abroad without checking how much they cost. And I'd avoid making calls once I knew just how extortionate the charges would be. Age is no excuse.

If she's 18, and old enough to get a contract, she should be old enough to realise it will cost her a lot to use her mobile, as somebody posted on here, 800 mins is a lot of international mins in two weeks - if she thought she'd get a bill for about £200 that must have meant she expected to pay about 25p per minute, which is possibly cheaper than what she'd pay in the UK!

If you can't trust yourself with a contract, get a PAYG phone - most networks will give you a free PAYG SIM these days. No way you can spend more than you mean to that way. Even better, use Skype next time, free if the recipient also has Skype, or something stupid like 1.7p/m to a UK landline from anywhere in the world. Just pay a small charge to use an internet cafe!

Dickieburd

Could it also be possible that she did not make all the calls but was maybe receiving calls from her boyfriend and friends in the UK and was getting billed for receiving calls as I believe they do abroad?

macman

Yes, but it still adds up to an hour a day on the phone (if a 14 day trip) or 2 hours a day if a 7 day trip. That's 1,800 minutes a month! That would cost you a fair bit in the UK, let alone with roaming charges on top.
How she thought it would be only £200 beats me.