Tesco Mobile - £580 Data charges - Help!

star375

If your normal data usage in the previous months was consistently lower and if you honestly feel you may have made an innocent mistake, I would suggest you take up their offer and pay them the 50% charges but tell them clearly that you do not agree to this and that you are disputing it. Not paying will affect your credit history and may result in CCJ etc.

This is what happened to me only last week. I had been with Tesco on their 'pay monthly' tariff for over 18 months but have changed it to a new 12 month contract for 'sim only' deal last month . This package gives me 500 mins, 5000 texts and 500mb of data usage. Now bear in mind that I was advised by Tesco sales rep at the time of buying SIM only deal that 500MB should be more than enough as I had only used less than 300MB of data each month during the previous 18 months. Regarding my handset, I kept using the same iphone I had from Tesco and just changed the sim.

Last week I connected my iphone to itunes via my PC just to update my iphone software. I realised after around 90 minutes that it is still backing up and hadn't even started the updates. (I had only done these updates once previously and that was over 12 months ago) so wasn't kind of aware as to how long this may take or how big these file can be. After around 90 minutes I disconnected without updating as I had to go somewhere.

In the same evening (around 5-6 hours later) I received a text message from Tesco "You've spent more than your current Pay Monthly tariff allows & your service was suspended on 01-NOV-11. Please call Customer Care on 4455". When I contacted them I was told that because I had over used my data allowance, they had suspended my account until the balance was paid up. I was told I had over £380 balance on my account. I could not believe it as I had no clue as to where else could I have used my data except for when I was trying to update my iphone with itunes. I told him that the only thing I can think of is the iphone update I was trying to do but that was only for around 90 minutes. He told me that sometimes the update files are massive hence it could have used a lot of data. I wasn't able to talk to billing and the person I was talking to told me that he will now get back to me the following day with and update after speaking with billing department. :mad:

The following day I was informed that they have agreed to waive half of the charges so I only have to pay 50% because they have looked at my previous billing history and they agreed that it was an innocent mistake. He clearly told me that as soon as I have paid the 50% (around £190) I will be able to use my phone again and that this is the best they will do for me.

After a long discussing when I realised I am not getting anywhere, I told him that I will pay this just to get my phone running but will dispute this and will go as far as I could to get this money back. I asked him to take the payment over the phone but he said I will have to dial 4444 from my hand set and top up the phone for the amount of £190.

Upon dialing 4444 and entering all my card details etc via the phone key pad when I reached to the stage where I had to enter the amount I wished to pay, I heard the message "Please enter the amount you wish to pay , remember you can pay a maximum of £30". Had to put the phone down :mad:

I called customer services again and after explaining everything again and this time I was told "you may have to purchase top up vouchers from a shop for the value of £190 and top up your balance that way". I was so annoyed at this stage but asked to be put through to a manager.

When the manager came online explained everything to her again from start and told her how unhappy I was about the whole issue. Told her I will pay the reduced amount of £190 just so I can use my phone and will most definitely contest this at all levels. She told me to leave it with her and that she will call me back within the next couple of hours to see if she can do anything further on this.

She called me later to tell me that they have decided to waive £370 off my bill so there is only a nominal amount left which will appear on my next bill so I don't have to make any payments now and that my phone should be up and running within the next hours or so. Result at last (she was the only person who tried to sort it out rather than reading an already written script....so :T)

I just feel if this could have been done on the first day when I called, it would have saved me a lot of hassle and stress over the following 48 hours. Nonetheless, victory at last :j

prettypaula

watchdog would go mental about this.

Tesco should stick to groceries.

and all you people going mad at the OP "you used it you pay"

if you had ANY clue just how little network capacity data takes up and the fact it actually costs the network near enough zero for you to use the internet, you would all be outraged.

stick to a network who offer TRUE unlimited data what you are looking for is NO RUN RATES.

disgusting behaviour by tesco.

grumbler

prettypaula wrote: »

if you had ANY clue just how little network capacity data takes up and the fact it actually costs the network near enough zero for you to use the internet, you would all be outraged.

Have you ever heard about the concept "total costs" = "fixed costs" + "variable costs" ?

Low variable costs don't necessarily result in low total costs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_cost
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_cost

I am pretty sure that on many cheap tariffs networks make money only from out-of-allowance minutes/texts/Mb

FreshPrincess

star375 wrote: »

This is what happened to me only last week. I had been with Tesco on their 'pay monthly' tariff for over 18 months but have changed it to a new 12 month contract for 'sim only' deal last month . This package gives me 500 mins, 5000 texts and 500mb of data usage. Now bear in mind that I was advised by Tesco sales rep at the time of buying SIM only deal that 500MB should be more than enough as I had only used less than 300MB of data each month during the previous 18 months. Regarding my handset, I kept using the same iphone I had from Tesco and just changed the sim.

Last week I connected my iphone to itunes via my PC just to update my iphone software. I realised after around 90 minutes that it is still backing up and hadn't even started the updates. (I had only done these updates once previously and that was over 12 months ago) so wasn't kind of aware as to how long this may take or how big these file can be. After around 90 minutes I disconnected without updating as I had to go somewhere.

In the same evening (around 5-6 hours later) I received a text message from Tesco "You've spent more than your current Pay Monthly tariff allows & your service was suspended on 01-NOV-11. Please call Customer Care on 4455". When I contacted them I was told that because I had over used my data allowance, they had suspended my account until the balance was paid up. I was told I had over £380 balance on my account. I could not believe it as I had no clue as to where else could I have used my data except for when I was trying to update my iphone with itunes. I told him that the only thing I can think of is the iphone update I was trying to do but that was only for around 90 minutes. He told me that sometimes the update files are massive hence it could have used a lot of data. I wasn't able to talk to billing and the person I was talking to told me that he will now get back to me the following day with and update after speaking with billing department.

Hi Star, long time hawker of these boards but felt compelled (probably wrongly knowing me) to register to post to ask: Were you using tethering for your iPhone, using the internet that way? Cos otherwise unless I am very sorely mistaken, when you connect to iTunes to update software, it has nothing to do with your mobile tariff. You are connecting to the internet via your PC/laptop home broadband. Information from your phone is sent and received via broadband while connected to iTunes. In fact you can download the update in your own time and connect your phone to install at a later date (and you say you didn't even get that far anyway). You don't need the phone connected, and backing up your phone is an offline activity, which is as far as you got. So basically what I'm saying is I don't think iTunes is responsible for your massive data overload. I might be wrong, but I'm on Tesco £10 sim-only too and I've never had a problem with updates. Once again, it might be the time of night making me overlook something, but I just wanted to point it out.

moneybuster

Look with Tesco's i see this is very possible, they charged me £12.00 for 3 emails, took all the credit off the phone :mad: luckily it was a spare sim i had in my iPhone and only used it in a spare phone.


think about it £12.00 for 3 small MB e mails. your bill would soon add up.


on my current contract Virgin 2GB data, 800 anywhere/time/network mins, 3000 text, 3000 virgin mins, = £7.00 per month

star375

FreshPrincess wrote: »

Hi Star, long time hawker of these boards but felt compelled (probably wrongly knowing me) to register to post to ask: Were you using tethering for your iPhone, using the internet that way? Cos otherwise unless I am very sorely mistaken, when you connect to iTunes to update software, it has nothing to do with your mobile tariff. You are connecting to the internet via your PC/laptop home broadband. Information from your phone is sent and received via broadband while connected to iTunes. In fact you can download the update in your own time and connect your phone to install at a later date (and you say you didn't even get that far anyway). You don't need the phone connected, and backing up your phone is an offline activity, which is as far as you got. So basically what I'm saying is I don't think iTunes is responsible for your massive data overload. I might be wrong, but I'm on Tesco £10 sim-only too and I've never had a problem with updates. Once again, it might be the time of night making me overlook something, but I just wanted to point it out.

All I had done was to connect my iphone via the connection cable with my PC which has broadband, went on itunes and clicked on update, rest is a mystery.

geekmoose

Right

The first question

What device are you using with this tariff ?

If it is an iPhone then it is amazingly unlikely that you would be able to use this amount of data in such a short space of time, unless you were tethering it (or using mobile hotspot)

If it is an android device then it is possible that an app you have running is connecting to the network often or continuously - in which case it is possible that you've used the allowance up.

Monitoring usage
On the iPhone there is an option in general....usage which tells you how much data you have used. If you reset this at the start of each billing cycle then you should know what your usage is. You will not be able to get an app for the iPhone which tells you how much data you have used - the app will have no way of knowing.

On android i don't know if there is a built in way, but it may be possible to get an app which tells you.

Network responsibility
As data usage is 'invisible' thing, unlike calls and texts - you know when you are making a call, and you know when you have text, and that apps may use data even when you think they aren't, then networks should have a way of accurately telling you your usage. BT are the same - they advise installing software on your PC to tell you data usage, as opposed for BT being able to give you accurate information. This begs the question that if they are not able to give you accurate information, how are they able to bill you for it ?

Also in terms of data usage - how can you suddenly on a 30quid per month tariff have charge of!less than 3p per megabyte go up by 1333% ?!?! Under these terms each text over your limit would cost you £133 quid !

Admittedly you have the phone, but if the device was sold by the network, and the features on which it was sold to you 'check your e-mail, surf the web, receive instant messages' etc also exposed you to excess charges in terms of apps accessing the internet without your permission, then they need to accept some responsibility for this. Even if they had a charge of 'go over your reasonable usage and we will charge you a months contract per gigabyte'.

Let those without sin cast the first stone
Lastly i'm shocked by some of the comments in this thread along the lines of 'you used it then you should pay for it', while at the same time demonstrating a complete lack of technical knowledge themselves. Even for someone who is technically proficient, monitoring and tracking data usage on devices and over networks can often be something of a black art/complete bloody mystery. Problems with the networks themselves can often exacerbate the problem too causing an increase in data usage on the device. Also applications are software and software does contain bugs, and bugs in applications may cause data usage problems.

prettypaula

grumbler wrote: »

Have you ever heard about the concept "total costs" = "fixed costs" + "variable costs" ?

Low variable costs don't necessarily result in low total costs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_cost
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_cost

I am pretty sure that on many cheap tariffs networks make money only from out-of-allowance minutes/texts/Mb

actually networks make their money from connection fees paid by other networks (ie caller on o2 rings reciever on T-Mobile, T-mobile charge a connection fee to o2)

grumbler

Well, this statement definitely needs some figures to back it. T-mobile charge O2 for incoming call. O2 charge T-mobile similarly for calls from T-mobile to O2. I think the same applies to landlines.