ripped off by cph/02 for internet browsing

mikeouk

robt wrote: »

My 'point' is that you cant possibly state that it is a rip off if they haven't ripped you off, and therefore you should check your contract. There is no harm in doing that, right?

To be quite honest if you can't even be bothered to read the contract then I don't see why people should want to help you. How can the charges be excessive if you don't even know what they are because you cant be bothered to check?

Instead of wanting help, you appear to want to talk to people who have had exactly the same happen to them no doubt so that you can club together and say it is a ripoff without actually finding out why it has happened.

my definition of a rip off is something that costs more than its true value or something you unknowingly get charged a high price for, in my opinion,these charges are a rip off, that may not be your opinion and if it isnt thats fine, but i dont want to know that thanks.
I wanted advice on whether these charges are normal and if not ,how would i go about getting them refunded.
Im not interested in your personal opinions and advice on what I should/shouldnt have done, hindsight is a wonderful thing.

sabretoothtigger

Mobile boss admits phone charges 'rip off'



Kevin Russell, chief executive of mobile phone service Three, tells Working Lunch the prices of phone calls are a rip off. Watch the whole interview here.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8026969.stm

redux

mikeouk wrote: »

my definition of a rip off is something that costs more than its true value or something you unknowingly get charged a high price for, in my opinion,these charges are a rip off, that may not be your opinion and if it isnt thats fine, but i dont want to know that thanks.
I wanted advice on whether these charges are normal and if not ,how would i go about getting them refunded.
Im not interested in your personal opinions and advice on what I should/shouldnt have done, hindsight is a wonderful thing.

The charges are published on the website, and the use was apparently not involuntary nor as a result of deceit.

If you apparently want to use a service without checking its price, then create invented excuses not to pay, the responses here aren't that surprising.

You've been told how to save money in future, and if that isn't good enough advice, it's difficult to understand what you are actually driving at.

mikeouk

redux wrote: »

The charges are published on the website, and the use was apparently not involuntary nor as a result of deceit.

If you apparently want to use a service without checking its price, then create invented excuses not to pay, the responses here aren't that surprising.

You've been told how to save money in future, and if that isn't good enough advice, it's difficult to understand what you are actually driving at.

ok, i wish i hadnt even posted. why is it some people feel the need to dissect what ive said in my original post and turn it round into a criticism. I just wanted to know if it was normal to be charged that much, and i also think if it is normal,,,then,,,in my opinion,,its a rip off.
Thats it,,,all i wanted to know,,,i didnt want to be told i should have read the contract etc etc,,,its not relevant to me now,,,understand?????
No need to reply thanks.

stugib

mikeouk wrote: »

Shes been connecting to the net via her phone, but the longest she has been on is 2 minutes 29 seconds and for this they charged be £5.71, there was even one time it shows she was connected for zero seconds and they charged 12p for that. To give you an idea how excessive these charges are, on the march bill i was charged £34.65 for a total of 14 minuets 33 seconds browsing :eek::eek:

Ok, just an idea, but it seems funny to me (I'm on Vodafone so maybe it's just O2 being quirky) that this is being shown as time online rather than size of data downloaded. If her phone is set up correctly it should be using GPRS and it wouldn't matter if she was connected for one second or one hour, she'd only be charged for what she downloaded. If it's on some old WAP connection or dial-up that was charged per time period, this could explain it, especially with the connection charge.

hieveryone

I've got a sneaking suspicion that it does say 'time', but not in the 'duration' sense, i.e the time when the handset downloaded the information. Some handsets can be connected during the day and only download the day's usage at midnight, so would show as 00:00:00 - this may be why the OP states that her daughter was on for 0 seconds but got charged.

stugib

hieveryone wrote: »

I've got a sneaking suspicion that it does say 'time', but not in the 'duration' sense, i.e the time when the handset downloaded the information. Some handsets can be connected during the day and only download the day's usage at midnight, so would show as 00:00:00 - this may be why the OP states that her daughter was on for 0 seconds but got charged.

Hmmm, not sure, sounds too much of a coincidence to me to connect at exactly 00:00:00!

Besides, the other examples are pretty consistent:
571p/149s = 3.83p/s
3465p/873s = 3.97p/s
0s = 0p (+12p connection)

Edit: That's £2.34 per minute!:eek: Can't remember any WAP rate being that expensive. I'd be asking O2 to check where it was connecting to. Has she been downloading any services that would've updated her connection profiles?

sabretoothtigger

mike it is a rip off, just dont use mobile internet till its cheaper. She can always phone you to check directions or whatever useful purpose it may have

martafdz

I would ask them for the unlimited internet add-on. I am with Orange in PAYG, if I want to connect to the internet I can either pay 1 pound per day (for unlimited browsing) whenever I want to use it, or 5 pounds per week (for the same). So I only pay the days I want to use it, and as this goes out from my PAYG credit, I am in control at all times. I know people with contract have an option (in Orange) to pay around 8 pounds for the whole month, I suppose other providers do it as well.

I am trying to find the cheapest way to connect with the phone, but I can't find anything for under 15 pounds a month, as this is what I am probably using (text and calls included), I use less than 20min in calls a month, about 30-40 texts a month, and the rest is internet... anyone knows if there's any package out there that gives you more internet and less minutes?

By the way, if your DD has used it to connect to Facebook or similar websites, ask your provider, they sometimes have packages where browsing the internet is not free, but certain websites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or MSN are free of charge.

Microstar_2

There are so many numpties who come on here with 'you should have read the contract' nonsense.
Is £3/MB a ripoff? Yes, of course it is! The consumer is being ripped-off when they are being charged an amount which is out of all proportion to the base-cost or value of the service that is being provided. The marginal cost to the mobile operator of carrying that 1MB of data is absolutely tiny, barely measurable. They are charging an amount of the order of £3100 per GB - just think about it!!
We are well into the 21st century now and its about time some of these loony-tune charges were knocked on the head, not to mention other dubious practises such the expiration of call credit after 30 days (Three network) which is little more than theft, and some of the insane overseas roaming charges.
In any case, a lot of mobile phone contracts and charges are written in such as way as to confound the consumer - this is often the case with 07 number where some are inclusive minutes and others can be 'international' rate (e.g. 'UK' 07 numbers in CI and IoM etc etc).
I know people can say if you don't like it then don't buy it, but realistically many people NEED mobile telephony and data as part of their lives and so have little option to go with one or other of these companies.