HELP! £850 data usage/internet mobile phone bill

sika_life

Hi,

Can anybody offer me any advice?

I have 2 contract mobile phones in my name with O2. One is an i-phone with free data usage, the other is used by my wife, has no data usage plan and is coming to the end of an 18 month contract.

My wife used internet on her phone to watch a few videos for about an hour and a half on youtube thinking it was free or at least not so expensive as she's used to watching stuff on my i-phone. Next thing we know her phone is blocked. After talking to O2 they blocked it as the bill exceeded the £300 call limit but because the data information takes a while to come through this took a couple of days. The actual cost of that small internet session is £850 inc VAT! Obviously an extortionate amount of money!

I was told the only thing I can do is write a letter to the "High Level Complaints" dept.

Does anyone have any experience of getting their bill reduced, especially if contracts are coming up for renewal and is way off the normal bill payed?

Or any advice at all?

Thanks in advance.

Buzby

As the error was not theirs, but wholly consumer incurred the charges are without fraud or theft considerations to complicate the issue, the ball is really in their court. It is not uncommon for networks to offer a one-off reduction (prossibly as high as 50%) as a gesture of goodwill, I would also explain to them that it was an easy mistake to make as your wife thought the data usages were mirrored on each contract. This is a better move than you (who agreed to the contracts) feigning ignorance.

I'd take this approach rather than promise to extend or renegotiate your contract - I have yet to hear of this being used successfully as a negotiating ploy, as the connection deals are always calculated on sign-up offers, not previous indiscretions!

sika_life

Many thanks Buzby!

GreyPilgrim

Next time she fancies a movie, point her towards:

http://www.blockbuster.co.uk/

Works out a lot cheaper...

DrScotsman

This same thread appears on these forums about once a month.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1066185
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1496139
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1624479
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=709579
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=20460287

I could go on.

GreyPilgrim

DrScotsman wrote: »

This same thread appears on these forums about once a month.

I was thinking the same thing...

mcmanlyn

sika_life wrote: »

My wife used internet on her phone to watch a few videos for about an hour and a half on youtube...The actual cost of that small internet session is £850 inc VAT!

You think that an hour and a half on YT is a small session???

When I tried to watch YT on my mobile it actually warned me that it's a data hungry application and to only use if you had a good/unlimited data package! Which is surprisingly helpful & responsible of a network...(Orange btw)

You will probably get it reduced some if you complain enough - as most people seem to.

sporedude

Same here, O2 warned me that YT was data hungry, Dont see why it should be reduced to be honest.

sika_life

Totally agree that was our mistake (as some of you are keen to point out).

That wasn't really the point of the post. I don't think anyone here really believes £850 for some streaming video is a fair price or can justify it, no matter how you slice it!

Just a pragmatic post wanting to see if anyone had actually got any money knocked off this kind of thing before.