3 Mobile Roaming

toberemembered

Hi I am posting on behalf of my sister. She negotiated a contract with 3 where the monthly cost was £15 and there was a credit limit of £15 so that once the inclusive minutes and texts had run out no extra charges could be run up. This was because she kept running up large bills. If she wanted she could 'top up' the phone as with pay as you go to get extra credit to use. It was a verbal agreement and no written contract was recieved.

The phone was taken abroad on an interrailing trip and worked as normal for a number of days. It then stopped allowing calls to be made or recieved. My sister believed this to be a result of the included minutes and texts having run out and the above restriction being in place. Two days later in Spain her bag including money, cards and passport was stolen. As the phone was believed to be useless it was the last thing on her mind and she did not ring the mobile company for over a week. She was more concerned with getting home and the phone was an old one so she didnt believe it had any value.

Here comes the probem, the people who stole her phone managed to get it working and for a period of 5 days it was in almost constant use running up a massive bill of £3700 phoning numbers in Morrocco. It took 3 mobile 5 days to notice the excessive usage and block the number.

She had no idea that the £15pcm could be exceeded and this bill comes as a huge shock. We have sent one letter to 3 and they have responded stating that in the terms and conditions agreed in the contract the limit would not be enforced in foreign countries. This information was not made available when the verbal agreement was made.

Because she didnt contact the phone company when she lost the phone neither the ombudsman or the regulator think that 3 are under any obligation to reduce the bill or drop it and could not help.

Despite this we believe them to be in breach of contract as they did not enforce the cap we agreed on the account and were very slow to react to the huge charges being rung up. In addition they said they were investigationg fraudulent use of the account when we first contacted them and would be in touch but the next thing we recieved was just a bill for the full sum, not even a covering letter.

I am posting on here in the hope that someone may know what to do next, we are thinking the only option will be to pay the bill painful though that is.

Thanks

sporedude

So she didnt phone to report the phone as stolen? And waited for them to block it?

LeeSouthEast

There are no 'inclusive' minutes on foreign calls, each minute is chargeable. Three cannot be held to blame for this as they may not get notified of charges by the foreign networks for up to 7 days.

toberemembered

She didnt notify them unfortunately. She was too worried about getting a temporary passport, having no money etc.

Where I know 3 are in the wrong is they didnt enforce the cap on the credit limit. How is it possible to spend £3700 when theres a £15 limit on the account?

Jon_01

As above I'm afraid. You are liable for the calls until you tell the network

3 won't have known about the usage. When your roaming your usage is sent to your home network once every 24 to 48 hours only. Its impossible to police or cap your acc while your outside the UK.

I think if the ombudsman and regulator say 3 aren't in the wrong you've got no where left to go.