rip off charges for exceeding text limit on my son's phone whose contract I pay

cazzanorm

I am in dispute with Vodaphone over being charged a whopping £345 for my son's phone after he exceeded his text limit. Neither he nor I had any idea that he had done this (he is 14) until both our phones were suspended. When I phoned to find out why I was told that I had to pay £119 immediately and a further estimated £180 for texts sent over a three week period amounting to some 2000 texts. When I asked why I hadn't been alterted I was told they don't do this. I have now been charged a total of £345 (taken out of my account which has a direct debit set up to pay £15 per month for my phone and £12 for his).

I have written two letters to Vodaphone but have not yet received a reply.

Does anyone know what I can do to retrieve this money as I cannot afford it and feel strongly that my situation has been ruthlessly exploited by this huge company?

HappyMJ

Biggest mistake in the world taking out a contract in your name for someone else. He must have known he had sent some 2000 text messages. I would certainly remember that. Giffgaff has unlimited texts for £5 a month and very good rates if you want minutes. You exceeded the limit and were charged that's it. The texts I think from memory are 12p each so that's £240 just for texting. Get him a PAYG phone and forget the contract. There is no contract that vodafone has that is £12 a month and is reasonable.

Outpost

Sounds like they're just charging you for all the texts your son has used to be honest...

bengalknights

What tariff did you get him? for the same amount you could get unlimited texts which would avoid this problem.

JJ_Egan

I really must try this trick instead of paying as it seems to be the norm judged by the huge volume of i got a big bill i don't want to pay posts .

jje

mobilejunkie

Sounds like quite clearly it is your SON who has "exploited the situation"! You agreed to a certain package, HE knowingly exceeded it and now you expect the network to lose out (and therefore charge the rest of us more) for their generosity.

If you don't want to pay for what you get, don't ask for it in the first place. I also wonder if he's piled up a bill for using data rather than texts; that would easily account for such a large amount.

Buy him a car and feel aggrieved when he rights it off? Buy a car in the full knowledge of the potential consequencies. A mobile phone is a blank cheque - give it to someone else and you have to trust them.

The REAL point here is not the money (and I am NO fan of Vodafone!) but the damage it will cause to your (and his) credit record. THAT will have FAR worse effects for years and should be the primary concern - or what you can afford now will seem a minor problem in comparison in the future.

Guys_Dad

"

Does anyone know what I can do to retrieve this money as I cannot afford it and feel strongly that my situation has been ruthlessly exploited by this huge company?

"

Before you get even more worked up, are you aware of any UK network that would have notified you for going over the monthly bundle on a standard contract?

Did you ask in advance just what safety nets were in force to prevent large overspends?

Did you read anything about this in their t&c?

You gave your lad the equivalent of a bank card that had access to a bank account with a limitless overdraft and are now (a) complaining because he did not exercise any constraint and (b) trying to blame the network.

So, given that they are 100% in the right here, your only hope would be to write to them asking for a goodwill gesture, accepting that the fault lies fairly and squarely at your son's door, and yours for giving him the contract that permitted this.

mobilejunkie

I doubt writing will do any good whatsoever; Vodafone has one fo the worst customer services of any organisation and ignores letters as it does phone calls. The only possibility is to contact their web relations team - by finding the relevant thread (Vodafone Complaints) and sending an email via their website with the appropriate code. In this instance, however, I would forgive them if they held their ground.

Guys_Dad

mobilejunkie wrote: »

I doubt writing will do any good whatsoever; Vodafone has one fo the worst customer services of any organisation and ignores letters as it does phone calls. The only possibility is to contact their web relations team - by finding the relevant thread (Vodafone Complaints) and sending an email via their website with the appropriate code. In this instance, however, I would forgive them if they held their ground.

Yes, a better solution, but certainly not along the " my situation has been ruthlessly exploited by this huge company?" theme. Take on board the advice that it was a home-grown problem and anything they choose to do to help is a bonus.

ruggedtoast

I went to Pizza Express the other day. I had a starter, a main course and a pudding, and I was appalled when they gave me a bill at the end for every one of them.

And done even get me started on how much they charge for a Peroni.

T_T_2

I've just checked through Vodafone's T&Cs and I can't see any part where Vodafone admits that teaching your children about accountability is their responsibility so it looks like you will just have to pay what is legally owed and learn from it.

If it were me my first act would be to take the phone away.