Mobile bill is a little high Dad!

Frugal_Fox

If she has been phoning Australia - then her phone company may not have known all the useage - until that network advised them accordingly, and by then it is often too late.

For example - Vodafone call prices to Australia (Zone 4)
.................... Preferred Network All Other Networks
Calling zones......... 4 195p 195p
Sending a text ........ 35p 35p (Plus the standard text cost)

So on this basis - just a 5 minute conversation would be £9.75, then theres texts on top and any other service she may have subscribed to.... You need to see the itemised bill to see exactly what has been going on.

regularsaver1

i once racked up an amount on my phone - the phone company called me to check all was ok

surely they should of here

cheets99

Did she think it was free to use, I cant believe she didnt even check her bill at the end of the month.

Ignorant.

iolanthe07

This just goes to show how much more sensible is 'pay as you go.'

Frugal_Fox

regularsaver1 wrote:

i once racked up an amount on my phone - the phone company called me to check all was ok

surely they should of here

Again - whilst the mobile phone companies do have departments that monitor phone useage - they can not monitor everyone.

If a user is using text services - these can sometimes cost £1 a text and often these messages are sent numerous times a day.

IF we are responsible enough to sign up for credit, we MUST be responsible enough to use it.

Equally - there are people who regularly run up this bill and its legitimate,and paid off monthly - where is the line drawn.

I appreciate the previous bills have been around £50 - but if the phone has been used internationally then the call charges are a lot more expensive, and quicker to run up.

The itemised bill needs to be seen first to establish what the calls have been spent on.

Debbiem

Did i read that right ?

8k phone bill in one month ???

Thats got to be a mistake....

Floss

climbgirl wrote:

If it turns out that it's not a billing error and the calls are legitimate I think it's a bit rich to blame the phone company for not acting quicker. The calls have happened in one billing period, they've only had a chance to flag them now. It's not possible to monitor every single mobile users call activity on a daily basis.

And it's not up to them to place limits on people's calling (they're trying to encourage us to spend more so they make more!), they won't put limits on unless you ask them to.

Mobile companies have very sohpisticated systems that can show abnormal useage....and I think you will find that everyone, even you, have a limit put on your calls by your mobile company - it is not something they tell you, but it flags up abnormal useage.

I have been with Vodafone for over 7 years, had a very good tariff of 200mins + 500 texts, yet during my mum's final illness last year when I was using my phone an awful lot more than normal, my account was blocked because I had gone over my credit allowance. The bills were for £150 & £175 as against the normal £30, all UK calls.

cryptokit

Afternoon,

You haven't said what network this is on, but I have looked up some prices.

Obviously these could vary with different tariffs and so on, but these were prices assuming standard pay monthly contracts, without any sort of special discount set up, etc.

o2 - 99p per minute
vodafone - 95p (I think. This one was fairly confusingly explained)
orange - 30p per minute
t-mobile - 70p minute

The other networks (Tesco, Virgin, etc.) are rebranded versions of the above and prices are likely to be similar.

Someone else earlier has correctly pointed out that this is a staggeringly high bill, so it is very much worth checking whats been going on. A pay as you go phone is also probably a wise move, although that hardly discourages future abuse, including misuse of credit cards, etc.

Have you considered giving her her marching orders? If she can't be trusted with a mobile phone, I am not sure things like gas and house security should be in her remit either. She could start stealing cards or anything if she is addicted to calling.

kevtrader

I'm on PAYG but this is by far the highest monthly bill I've seen!! If she has to have a phone put her onto a PAYG phone.

I am still taking in the amount and how on earth she managed to get to it!

rog2

I had a similar experience, a few years ago - My daughter was abroad and using the phone (my bill) as if she were in the UK. When I got the bill of £350.00 for one month, I rang the provider because it said on the bill Monthly maximum credit - £75.00, and asked why they had allowed it to go over the top. I could not pay it - they cut the service off, but continued to charge me line rental. I was pursued by DCA, whom I ignored. Even wrote to phone providers customer services manager - got nowhere and eventually paid off the bill! I know it wasn't as bad as your situation, but it could easily have been.
I wish I had found this site then - you will get some good advice, but start off by checking what the monthly call limit is set at and see if you can take it from there. Good luck.