£1196 bill for mobile Arrggggh Heeeelp

sweetstudent

I have to agree, it may sound harsh but why should people blame orange for the bill of the individual concerned. She is 18, a legal adult therefore responsible for her own actions or inactions as she did not even research call costs.

When i went to Paris for a few days i researched call rates and i did not even use my mobile, only left it on so i could contact my partner if we were seperated.

I am sick of this culture we people blame other people for there mistakes, we have to hold ourselves responsible.

MRC_2

Lol, always makes me laugh when people try and pass the blame on to their network for the users mistakes.

Grin and bear it, shouldn't have assumed anything.

stamford

MRC wrote: »

Lol, always makes me laugh when people try and pass the blame on to their network for the users mistakes.

Grin and bear it, shouldn't have assumed anything.

:T A fool and their money are soon parted

ultrak3wl

It's completely true that the tariff is there in advance, she signed up for it, etc. But there is something just so basically wrong about such a huge bill.

Where else in normal life can you generate a debt that by most peoples' standards is insanely out of proportion to the service provided? The only other example that springs to mind is being charged £50 for a glass of fake champagne in a "gentlemen's club." They too can point at their price list and say well you drank it now pay up.

Fairwinds

I can't understand why she would be happy to pay £200 on a phone bill at 18.

If I even suspected it would be that high the mobile wouldn't be getting used unless in emergency

Jon_01

Billing while roaming isn't logged in real time.
The roaming network send the info over in billing files to the home network. The lag can be up to 48 hours depending on the overseas network.
Orange won't have flagged this up unless all the calls were made in a block in a 24 hour period as this is what happens when a phone it lost/stolen.

Dickieburd

I suppose a cheaper alternative is to take an unlocked mobile with you abroad (leaving your contract sim at home) and in this instance buy a PAYG sim for a local South Africa network and top it up and get charged for calling the UK. When the credit runs out you top it up. Return to UK and no big bill waiting for you.

Rev

ultrak3wl wrote: »

It's completely true that the tariff is there in advance, she signed up for it, etc. But there is something just so basically wrong about such a huge bill.

Where else in normal life can you generate a debt that by most peoples' standards is insanely out of proportion to the service provided? The only other example that springs to mind is being charged £50 for a glass of fake champagne in a "gentlemen's club." They too can point at their price list and say well you drank it now pay up.

And they'd be right, you knew the price, you can't have the drink and complain later that they should take some responsibility. But you wouldn't go into the club and order that drink without looking at the price list, not when you know they charge a lot more than 'normal' clubs.

So why would you go abroad, use the phone and not check charges, when you know they will charge you a lot more than the normal service they give you at home?


There are plenty of places you can generate hugely out of proportion bills, it all depends on what the person generating the bill considers 'hugely out of proportion'. Someone could go to a high class restaurant and find it perfectly acceptable to receive a bill for a few hundred pound or more, whereas some one else would think it was hugely expensive given how much the base ingredients cost. You can argue a lot of services that way.


Yes, when put into context the bill is hugely out of proportion, but the fact remains, you sign the contract, if you don't check the charges, or if you check them and use the phone anyway, it's nobodies fault but your own when you receive that insanely large bill.

jdan9

It's not like the prices are not freely available. It is widely known that mobile calls from abroad are very expensive, but the rates are easily inspected on the company's website. There is no excuse for not looking, it's not like you have to write off to them to get the rates.

Leopard

Excuse me, but...

The real questions here should be was she 18 when she signed the contract with Orange and was she 18 when she made the calls...?[

If not, the "contract" is unenforceable by Orange. :cool: