£308 phone bill this month :(

zudecke

Hi guys,

I've apparently way exceeded my monthly allowance and managed to rack up a phone bill of £308 this month . Staggering and shameful, I know!

I asked O2 if they could set up a payment plan, but they said it would detriment my credit rating and to be paid in full by 6 months max. Not much of a plan lol!

I tried phoning and asking them to knock something off for goodwill as I've been with them for 7 years, but no luck!!

Anyone had a similar accident like this? Any bright ideas I can try to rescue myself with?

Thanks!

Exhortation

A bit of background info as to how you ran the bill up would be of help, if you don't mind supplying it.

zudecke

What sort of info exactly? I guess I made a lot of long !!! calls (though haven't checked as their usage download (.CSV) doesn't work).

But theoretically speaking, if this was my fault.. Do yuo guys have any experience with bargaining/pleading with them for some sort of discount?

Been with them for so many years and always pay my bills on time and am always able to get the best tariffs etc..

Exhortation

I was just wondering if you'd been abroad or anything. £308 is a hell of a lot of money to owe just for phone calls. I'm assuming that there must be a degree of data usage in there, too. If so, then going just 100mb over your allowance would easily account for a £300 bill with some companies.

The best place to start, I guess, would be to ask for a fully itemised bill so you can see where the money went.

zudecke

Thanks for your help, but no, the charges are solely for calls, nationally. Nothing international either and no SMS or MMS charges either...

I will ask for an itemised bill now, cheers!

robt_2

zudecke wrote: »

Hi guys,

I've apparently way exceeded my monthly allowance and managed to rack up a phone bill of £308 this month . Staggering and shameful, I know!

I asked O2 if they could set up a payment plan, but they said it would detriment my credit rating and to be paid in full by 6 months max. Not much of a plan lol!

I'm sorry but I think that £50 a month for six months is more than reasonable as a payment plan. They don't HAVE to do anything for you. What do you think would be reasonable? £5 a month for six years?!

zudecke

Yeah that would be ideal !

I was hoping they might be able to work in a goodwill gesture, given my previous bill amounts and time with the operator...

£308 is a huge sum and I think considering they have an unlimited calls plan for £60p/m, they should cap it off at a reasonable maximum!!

Besides, I'm not complaining.. In fact I quite like O2.. Just hoping they might take a generous stance to this...

So please sir, step down from your high horse.

robt_2

zudecke wrote: »

Yeah that would be ideal !

I was hoping they might be able to work in a goodwill gesture, given my previous bill amounts and time with the operator...

£308 is a huge sum and I think considering they have an unlimited calls plan for £60p/m, they should cap it off at a reasonable maximum!!

Besides, I'm not complaining.. In fact I quite like O2.. Just hoping they might take a generous stance to this...

So please sir, step down from your high horse.

There is no high horse. I gave an opinion that a payment plan of £50 a month for six months is very reasonable when they are not obliged to do anything, and the bill is not being disputed.

zudecke

Just sounded a bit condescending is all.

£50 is fair, but my problems with that is:

1. it is still detrimental to ones credit history
2. i am still paying £15 out of that for a "base" contract plan, even though I wouldn't be able to use data, voice (outgoing) or texts (outgoing).

Point 2. is a bit harsh IMO as there is no payment tariff for £15 that only supports incoming voice and texts.

My own fault though.

Oscar_The_Grouch

Errr..... I think now I shall comment.....

£15 tariff is, I believe, about 100 minutes. O2 charge 20p per minute over the allowance, so you will have been on the phone for in excess of 25 hours (1,540 minutes over your allowance). That really is stupid, but then you already know that.

The only suggestion I could make would be to get a 0% credit card before they muck up your credit rating for the next 5 years. Use the card to pay the bill and pay that off at £50 a month instead.

Guys_Dad

Oscar_The_Grouch wrote: »

Errr..... I think now I shall comment.....

£15 tariff is, I believe, about 100 minutes. O2 charge 20p per minute over the allowance, so you will have been on the phone for in excess of 25 hours (1,540 minutes over your allowance).

Could have been some overseas calls, Oscar, therefore not 25 hours.

OP - do check your bill asap in case of any mistakes then you can dispute it.