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Tesco mobile warning - don't pay for unused line rental when you join/switch contract
shirehorse78
Posts: 8 Forumite
in Mobiles
Hi,
In general I'm happy with Tesco mobile but I'm posting about this because this is the second time I've been overcharged, so after giving Tesco the benefit of the doubt the first time I thought it best to warn people about my experience.
Back in April I bought a SIM only deal from TM, £15/m, and received a new SIM in the post a few days later. I knew I was being charged a payment on the day (£15), but when I checked by first bill it looked like I was charged £15 on the day I phoned up (expected) plus another £15 payment a few days later. When I phoned TM they explained this was in fact what happened: one payment was taken over the phone and covered a two week period until my contract started (when my SIM was activated I believe).
I wasn't happy about being charged for a service I didn't use so I complained and was credited £15 back towards my next bill (very easily) which seemed fair.
As this was a rolling one-month contract I recently called up to switch to a better, cheaper contract (no-brainer when I saw it, although 12month contract), which was £12.50/m. This was two days before the end of my billing period and I was told the new contract would be active from the start of the next billing period.
Again, I made a payment of one month's line rental over the phone (and being cautious) asked a) was this for my first month's line rental? and b) would I get back pro-rata unused line rental on my old contract? (which was being cancelled as I would move my old number to the new SIM). The answers were yes and yes.
Next bill arrives, and as I had almost expected I had been charged £12.50 for two days service (the two days from when I called to the end of my current billing period) AND £12.50 from the start of my next billing period as one month's line rental in advance plus my old line rental of £15. The last charge was ok, as I expected some of it to be refunded when I ported my number between the SIMs. But I was peeved they charged me a whole month's line rental for two days service - before I had received my new SIM!
Cue another phone call, and the short of it is that I stated what I had been told before and got back £12.50 for the two days service (which of course I could not use) but had to push a bit more to get the pro-rata refund for the cancelled contract. Eventually I did get this, and received back £10 for the remaining ~20days of the month I would not be using the old SIM.
In short - it pays to be careful with Tesco and make sure you do not get charged an entire month's line rental when you join and/or when you switch contracts with them. It doesn't feel like they do the fair thing and automatically manage the switch between contracts and calculate the right payments (even though one person told me this is exactly what would happen).
Given how easily I managed to get refunds I wondered if this is a common issue, and if they just give in quickly because it is so obviously unfair to be charged this way?
In general I'm happy with Tesco mobile but I'm posting about this because this is the second time I've been overcharged, so after giving Tesco the benefit of the doubt the first time I thought it best to warn people about my experience.
Back in April I bought a SIM only deal from TM, £15/m, and received a new SIM in the post a few days later. I knew I was being charged a payment on the day (£15), but when I checked by first bill it looked like I was charged £15 on the day I phoned up (expected) plus another £15 payment a few days later. When I phoned TM they explained this was in fact what happened: one payment was taken over the phone and covered a two week period until my contract started (when my SIM was activated I believe).
I wasn't happy about being charged for a service I didn't use so I complained and was credited £15 back towards my next bill (very easily) which seemed fair.
As this was a rolling one-month contract I recently called up to switch to a better, cheaper contract (no-brainer when I saw it, although 12month contract), which was £12.50/m. This was two days before the end of my billing period and I was told the new contract would be active from the start of the next billing period.
Again, I made a payment of one month's line rental over the phone (and being cautious) asked a) was this for my first month's line rental? and b) would I get back pro-rata unused line rental on my old contract? (which was being cancelled as I would move my old number to the new SIM). The answers were yes and yes.
Next bill arrives, and as I had almost expected I had been charged £12.50 for two days service (the two days from when I called to the end of my current billing period) AND £12.50 from the start of my next billing period as one month's line rental in advance plus my old line rental of £15. The last charge was ok, as I expected some of it to be refunded when I ported my number between the SIMs. But I was peeved they charged me a whole month's line rental for two days service - before I had received my new SIM!
Cue another phone call, and the short of it is that I stated what I had been told before and got back £12.50 for the two days service (which of course I could not use) but had to push a bit more to get the pro-rata refund for the cancelled contract. Eventually I did get this, and received back £10 for the remaining ~20days of the month I would not be using the old SIM.
In short - it pays to be careful with Tesco and make sure you do not get charged an entire month's line rental when you join and/or when you switch contracts with them. It doesn't feel like they do the fair thing and automatically manage the switch between contracts and calculate the right payments (even though one person told me this is exactly what would happen).
Given how easily I managed to get refunds I wondered if this is a common issue, and if they just give in quickly because it is so obviously unfair to be charged this way?
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Comments
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Wow that was a bit longer than I thought - hope someone reads it!0
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It's not unusual to be charged a month renatal in advance on taking out a contract, was that all you had been charged?
Similarly when you port your number you normally have to pay in leiu of the 30 day notice you have, was that the case too? As youported the number you probably were moving to another provider.
It's also very rare you get anything back whilst your waiting for a port to happen, you could have still used the phone even though it had a different number.0 -
I'm glad you brought this up OP because I bought a tesco SIM yesterday. The guy said that I needed to pay £12.50 up front and then my next payment would then come out on the 1st Febuary. I'm porting my number over from O2 which will apparantly go through tomorrow.
I'm going to watch my account on 1st January to see if any money comes out then, because in theory I should only be paying for 1 1/2 weeks service with tesco. Which I'm happy to do because I've used it but I don't want to pay for a whole month if I haven't used a whole month.
I know I'll get a bill from O2 for the month I've used so far which I'm happy with but I don't want to pay tesco for a whole month when i've only used 1 1/2 weeks with them.
Does that make sense?!
*sigh* Its very early!! lol0 -
iamashoppingaddict wrote: »I'm glad you brought this up OP because I bought a tesco SIM yesterday. The guy said that I needed to pay £12.50 up front and then my next payment would then come out on the 1st Febuary. I'm porting my number over from O2 which will apparantly go through tomorrow.
Join Vodafone and your first bill is usually twice the monthly amount as you have to pay a month in advance. Difference is Tesco get you to pay it on taking the sim out, rather than in the first bill.0 -
Oh so I pay extra when/if I leave?
I see............0 -
I may have misunderstood the OP, but it seems to be downgrading from £15 to £12.50, not terminating/porting....Similarly when you port your number you normally have to pay in leiu of the 30 day notice you have, was that the case too? As youported the number you probably were moving to another provider....
If you leave you pay for the next 30 days after giving the notice even if you leave earlier.iamashoppingaddict wrote: »Oh so I pay extra when/if I leave?0 -
iamashoppingaddict wrote: »Oh so I pay extra when/if I leave?
I see............
Not normlly, thats used as the last months rental or leaving fee.0
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