Tesco trying to charge me £400, help!

chromeman

Hi all,

Wondering if anyone can help. Tesco have put a block on my SIM as I have apparently gone 100mb over the "limit" (I was under the impression it was 'Unlimited' but no...it's capped at 500mb...false advertising anyone?!) and now they say I have to pay over £400 to unlock my SIM again.

Is there any way I can avoid paying this ridiculous charge?!

I'm on the £15 a month, SIM free contract...

Thanks for any help.

Rob.

robt_2

If it is the first time it has happened it is worth phoning them up again and telling them you were under the impression that it was unlimited. Tell them now that you are aware of it, it won't happen again. If they say no, then offer to pay half.

jb66

Ask them for a PAC code and move to another network

parallax_20

I thought Tesco's had always been 500MB "unlimited" data. But £4 per MB is quite pricey by todays standards. I don't have any useful advice for not paying, other than to claim ignorance and pleading with them for a reduction. Like yourself there are too many people duped into thinking they have "Unlimited" of something and never read the small print. In many cases the limit is 500MB or 1GB wherever you go and you should try to monitor your usage on a regular basis. You've probably discovered you're not the first person to be surprised by such charges for going over. There are many posts like yours and I'm surprise this topic still arises quite regularly, I would have thought more people would have been wised up over this false use of the word "Unlimited".

robt_2

jb66 wrote: »

Ask them for a PAC code and move to another network

That won't make the amount of money owed vanish, it will just be given to a debt collector instead of dealing with Tesco.

jb66

chromeman wrote: »

Hi all,

Wondering if anyone can help. Tesco have put a block on my SIM as I have apparently gone 100mb over the "limit" (I was under the impression it was 'Unlimited' but no...it's capped at 500mb...false advertising anyone?!) and now they say I have to pay over £400 to unlock my SIM again.

Is there any way I can avoid paying this ridiculous charge?!

I'm on the £15 a month, SIM free contract...

Thanks for any help.

Rob.

thats too steap for 100mb, did you use it abroad

Guys_Dad

robt wrote: »

That won't make the amount of money owed vanish, it will just be given to a debt collector instead of dealing with Tesco.

Quite right - you need to reach agreement with Tesco.

On their side, they have a "fair use policy" on their web site, not in small print and you have just learned an unwelcome lesson - READ T & C BEFORE AGREEING TO ANYTHING.

Not that I am supporting any network who uses the word "UNLIMITED" and then applies a limit. But they all seem to do that, although it doesn't make it right.

Follow the advice to see if they will take a smaller amount or wipe of the debt, but remember that you are in a weak position and BE NICE and you might win.

Good luck and don't make the same sort of mistake again with any contract.

fozmcfc

Do the T&C's state how much per MB it costs, if you go over 500MB?

chromeman

Hi All,

Thanks for your help on this, I appreciate the advice. Looks like it was my fault for not looking at the T&C's in the first place, as you say, an expensive lesson!
I do begrudge paying it because of the fact that it's advertised as UNLIMITED and then in tiny writing somewhere, it tells you the truth. Sigh.

I will have to call them and try and come to an arrangement of some kind.

Found that they charge £4 per mb over gprs..pretty damn steep!

Thanks again all!

Rob.

Heres_the_deal

chromeman wrote: »

Hi All,

Thanks for your help on this, I appreciate the advice. Looks like it was my fault for not looking at the T&C's in the first place, as you say, an expensive lesson!
I do begrudge paying it because of the fact that it's advertised as UNLIMITED and then in tiny writing somewhere, it tells you the truth. Sigh.

I will have to call them and try and come to an arrangement of some kind.

Found that they charge £4 per mb over gprs..pretty damn steep!

Thanks again all!

Rob.

Do yourself a favour and ring Tesco CS, they told me it was a soft cap and you would be warned with a SMS text and if you continued to go over the cap you would be charged ( and yes I recorded the call ).

You could do the same

fozmcfc

Yeah £400 is very steep to allow you to go over, you could question them about not warning you when you were at least £100 over (even that is a lot). Also ask them how they can justify the £4 a MB charge and possibly indicate you are thinking/willing to take the matter further to highlight the charge and the fact they didn't even drop you a message about usage. It might make them think about offering a gesture at least.

Whilst it is your error, I still think some sort of gesture of goodwill should come into play. I personally would look to do everything to make sure I don't give Tesco's my business on anything, until you would have spent £400 with them. That way at least in your mind they have lost £400's worth of business from you.