Tesco Mobile billing dates con!

apollyon_2

I have recently purchased a new phone from Tesco mobile, on what appears to be a very good contract, £20 a month, Unlimited Data(well 1gb) 250 mins and Unlimited Texts. My first bill has just been emailed to me. While the facts of the contract are all correct, I have been charged
"£20 Monthly Subscription for period 6/8/10 - 22/8/10"
then
"£20 Monthly Subscription for period 23/8/10 - 22/9/10"

Now my maths isn't great but 6/8 - 22/8 is not a month?

I rang Tesco and was told that this is how they operate and it is due to the billing date I picked in store, (which I actually just told them I didn't mind and they could pick whichever was easiest) and that Tesco mobile did not have a policy of charging pro-rata and that i had been given my full allocation to use in that period!

I stated that surely it was not legal to charge a "monthly subscription" for a 17 day period especially with no warning of this risk, which was met with my favourite quote

"That is what Tesco do, so of course it IS LEGAL"

Has anyone else encountered this problem?

4743hudsonj

What you describe sounds normal, i know others would charge you that way, dont sweat it, as long as you get that little bit extra back at the end no harms done?

apollyon_2

Thats the problem, It's not the usual upfront payment that all mobile phone companys do, its the fact that they are charging a full £20 for just the 17 day period, there will be no 13 days at the end of the 12 month contract it's just apparently my missfortune that the first month is short, I would have had no problem with just stupid billing dates and periods just the fact that the charge is full and the period is not!

4743hudsonj

oh right, the problem i think you will have here is technically theyre supplying you with what you are contracted for ie X minutes, X sms' and X data. I bet the contract isnt worded as a month of their services, and any reference to a month is just referring to the normal billing period. If that makes sense?

Doesnt make it right though....

Id see if you can cancel your contract then take it out again at a better point? Or just escalate your complaint.

apollyon_2

Well, have just come off 2nd call with Tesco, who have not backed down on there policy being legit, but have offered a "Goodwill" gesture of £10 off my next bill, which actually more than covers the pro-rata difference, so has cost them more! but obviously will continue to charge it to anyone not willing to make a fuss!

spike87

All my contracts always get billed like that. It just comes off at the end, so the last month you won't pay the full £20. Infact I'm on exactly the same contract as you.

apollyon_2

Having spoken to Tesco they have given me the £10 refund because they admit it WON'T come off at the other end!

They are relying on people expecting that, it was only the suptle wording that alerted me, I`m well aware that you usually have weird billing periods that work themselves out at the end of the contract, but I suggest if you are on this one you take a closer look!

iinvestor

billing periods on phones always confuse me.

this is a real rip-off, in the future i will always start my contracts at the start of every month.

Its the same with CAR tax they charge you for whole months only.