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Help please! UK phone stolen whilst backpacking - huge bill.
Gabriellelaura
Posts: 1 Newbie
in Mobiles
Hello everyone!
I had a horrible shock this week. After checking my online banking, i saw my monthly bill from Vodafone had peaked at over 400 pounds. I have been backpacking for the past 9 months and so have kept my English phone purely for 'emergencies'. It was hidden in a safe (or so i thought) pocket in the side of my backpack and i hadn't been allowing myself to use it due to the charges i knew i would rack up. I have been using a cheap phone with local sims instead. I've been away a long time and had been using only my other phone, therefore i stupidly put my other one to the back of my mind and as I havnt had anything else taken from me at all I had no reason to suspect anything suspicious.
The second I saw this bill, I realised it was of course gone. I phoned vodafone immediately and blocked the card... in rather a state of panic after being told that there is another 1,200 pounds worth of useage yet to be billed. I have read up a great deal about this since and I know that all companies state you are liable for charges up until the point the phone is reported stolen.
What I don't understand is how Vodafone, after me not going over my base charge for well over a year now (and no useage whatsoever in the past 7 months or so) can process a bill of well over 400 pounds and then proceed to log charges to the tune of 1,200 without any action taken to inform me of 'suspicious useage'. My email address is linked to my account and so they would have had a way to 'warn' me. I am well aware that I should have kept a closer eye on this and am so so angry at myself for not... however, i just don't understand how Vodafone could just sit back and watch this useage mount up.... how can that be good customer service?
I'm just wondering if I have any case at all with which to fight this? I am extremely close to being broke as it is, and really can't afford a 1,700 pound bill. Any advice would really be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Gabby
I had a horrible shock this week. After checking my online banking, i saw my monthly bill from Vodafone had peaked at over 400 pounds. I have been backpacking for the past 9 months and so have kept my English phone purely for 'emergencies'. It was hidden in a safe (or so i thought) pocket in the side of my backpack and i hadn't been allowing myself to use it due to the charges i knew i would rack up. I have been using a cheap phone with local sims instead. I've been away a long time and had been using only my other phone, therefore i stupidly put my other one to the back of my mind and as I havnt had anything else taken from me at all I had no reason to suspect anything suspicious.
The second I saw this bill, I realised it was of course gone. I phoned vodafone immediately and blocked the card... in rather a state of panic after being told that there is another 1,200 pounds worth of useage yet to be billed. I have read up a great deal about this since and I know that all companies state you are liable for charges up until the point the phone is reported stolen.
What I don't understand is how Vodafone, after me not going over my base charge for well over a year now (and no useage whatsoever in the past 7 months or so) can process a bill of well over 400 pounds and then proceed to log charges to the tune of 1,200 without any action taken to inform me of 'suspicious useage'. My email address is linked to my account and so they would have had a way to 'warn' me. I am well aware that I should have kept a closer eye on this and am so so angry at myself for not... however, i just don't understand how Vodafone could just sit back and watch this useage mount up.... how can that be good customer service?
I'm just wondering if I have any case at all with which to fight this? I am extremely close to being broke as it is, and really can't afford a 1,700 pound bill. Any advice would really be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Gabby
0
Comments
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Sadly no you don't, sorry.
Just hope thenetwork provider can come to some arrangement.0 -
I hate to say this, but you don't have any case I'm afraid.
That's what the PIN code exists for - to protect your sim card from being misused.
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Sorry I can't help with the problem itself but maybe if you call Vodaphone you could come to some sort of arrangement over payment, even if its some sort of interest free payment system though admittedly could take years to pay back.0
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You need to think of your mobile phone SIM card in the same way as you do your bank or credit cards. If you dont set a PIN on a bank card someone will clean your account out if you loose the card, same applies to a SIM except in this case you'll know who will empty your bank account, your mobile phone provider.IT Consultant in the utilities industry specialising in the retail electricity market.
4 Credit Card and 1 Loan PPI claims settled for £26k, 1 rejected (Opus).0 -
Voda won't budge unfortunately, they are in the business to make money and they offer insurance to protect against things like this.
I hope you get it cleared up, PAY AS YOU GO emergency phone next maybe?CPW Retail
Previously
3 Retail, DSGi Business, O2 Retentions, The Link Retail
Any posts are not the views or stands of my company.0 -
Really?...and they offer insurance to protect against things like this.
The "Cover Me" insurance that I see on their website covers the phone, not the unauthorised usage. And even for the phone there are many stipulations that would make it impossible to claim anything in this case. The most obvious reservation is 30 days limit for traveling abroad.
Other insurances do cover the unauthorised usage, but subject to the lost/theft claim being accepted (see above...)0 -
The answer is PAYG,0
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Bob_the_Saver wrote: »The answer is PAYG,
It may be an answer Bob, but not to the OP's question which related to their current situation. And given that Tedrick had already posted that advice, unless you are hoping for a M.A. in STBO, your post ain't bringing much to the table, is it?0 -
Check with your current account provider - As mine has a cover for the phone and Usage in the event of it being stolen.
I do pay a fiver a month for the the additions though - Just a thought......0
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