O2 Phone Stolen and £600 unauthorised call charges

Mrs_Arcanum

Another good reason never to be on a contract.

chanz4

Even if you had insurance they wouldnt pay, as you have been negligent. Have you even reported it to the police?

lizae123

... O2 refused to waive the charges. It was obvious that it was a theft (I had never made an international call from my mobile), it was at 4am and O2 allowed the international calls to run to £260.

If this was my credit card, it wouldn't have worked if someone tried to spend a lot/use it abroad - their fraud people would have me call them to verify it. It's unfortunate O2 don't do the same thing.

I'm at a loss what to do - I don't want my credit rating to be affected, but equally I can't really afford £260 in one hit.

O2 is a huge company and one which offers international call deals which work out a lot cheaper than what I am being charged for now. If they offered me half I'd draw a line under it, but so far they've only offered me £30. I've been a customer for over 6 years now.

Think I'm going to write a letter then if I get nowhere I'm going to sign up with someone else.

Guys_Dad

lizae123 wrote: »

...
If this was my credit card, it wouldn't have worked if someone tried to spend a lot/use it abroad - their fraud people would have me call them to verify it. It's unfortunate O2 don't do the same thing.

Find me a mobile company that would do that !!!

lizae123 wrote: »

Think I'm going to write a letter then if I get nowhere I'm going to sign up with someone else.

.................who would do exactly the same as O2.

NFH

lizae123 wrote: »

If this was my credit card, it wouldn't have worked if someone tried to spend a lot/use it abroad

If this was your credit card (as opposed to your SIM card), would you have chosen an easy-to-guess PIN or no PIN at all? What was your approach to the PIN on your SIM card?

zagfles

lizae123 wrote: »

... O2 refused to waive the charges. It was obvious that it was a theft (I had never made an international call from my mobile), it was at 4am and O2 allowed the international calls to run to £260.

If this was my credit card, it wouldn't have worked if someone tried to spend a lot/use it abroad - their fraud people would have me call them to verify it. It's unfortunate O2 don't do the same thing.

The difference is of course that if a credit card is used fraudulently the retailer or bank have to take the loss, not the customer. Mobile operators are under no obligation to do the same.

wantmemoney

Avoid traffic to Sierra Leone 7 from same CLI
March 24,2009
Dear partners

due to complains from Sierra Leone 7 traffic we ask you to not send too many minutes to the same SL number from the same CLI.
As always if possible the best way is to hide CLI or at least to spread the calls over a large amount of numbers.

If you need more numbers please do not hesitate to ask.

Traffic from ITALY to EAST TIMOR and SAO TOME is forbidden
March 24,2009
Dear partners
please DO NOT send traffic from ITALY to EAST TIMOR and SAO TOME
Carrier got some complains from Italian mobile operators and is now investigating.
For everybody's safety we kindly ask you to not send ITALIAN traffic to such terminations till further advice from our staff.

Thanks for understanding

Sierra Leone (ALL) delay of payment
April 15,2009
Dear partners

We just got informed from carrier that all Sierra Leone payments will be delayed of about one week / two weeks therefore we will be have to adapt ourselves to this delay accordingly.

We will give you more news about payments release asap.

You are free to keep sending traffic to Sierra Leone but you will have to accept this payment delay
Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for understanding.

Clarifications on payouts
April 19,2009
Dear partner

we would like to inform, or just remind you, that our payments are done only after traffic confirmation from the carrier statistics since their payout to us is based on them.

Our reports, as statistics or active calls, are purely indicative, since many factors can affect our realtime reports.

Nonetheless, we think that it's very important for you to see how traffic is going: see CLIs, time of call, volumes and so on.


Finally, the chargebacks claimed by the carreir have also to be reversed back to you since we are obliged by contract to pay back the carrier in case of fraud traffic.

Chargebacks claimed by the carrier have to be proved, then we will supply the same proof to you as well.

Any comment is welcome.

We wish you a long and prosperous cooperation with us.

SCAM ALERT : SAO TOME + EAST TIMOR Beware!
April 24,2009
DEAR PARTNERS

Sao Tome Carrier is doing huge chargebacks without showing proof.

They are retroactive since november 2008!

We removed ALL Sao Tome numbers from our pool and we strongly recommend you to not use any Sao Tome / East Timor from other sources for your own safety.

Sierra Leone payments update - 50% PAID TODAY!
April 28,2009
Dear Partners

We are paying today 50% of all the withheld Sierra Leone payments till April 22.

We will inform you when the remaining part will be paid as soon as we get informations from the carrier.

Sierra Leone payment 50% April due in the next couple of days
June 3,2009
Dear partners

today or tomorrow we will received the missing 50% of Sierra Leone payment from carrier for April period.

As soon as the money touch our account we will remit your due to you

the above are a sample of typical news bulletins from a well known legitimate international premium rate number supplier.

So are the UK Networks or the carriers really out of pocket if the the 'customer' refuses to pay these obviously fraudulent bills.

of course some of you will dismiss it all and continue to propagate the same old wives tales about 'real time' billing and side with the Networks/carriers and blame the victims.

Money_Grabber13579

zagfles wrote: »

The difference is of course that if a credit card is used fraudulently the retailer or bank have to take the loss, not the customer. Mobile operators are under no obligation to do the same.

This is rubbish, as the customer will still be liable for any charges if the card is stolen and the customer does not report it.

The only time when a bank would have to cough up for expenses before the fraud was reported is if the customer still has the card and they have taken reasonable precautions to protect themselves. This would be equivalent to a mobile phone bill having been run up, while the phone remained in the customers pocket.

iamsporticus

Sorry to hear of your situation but what security did you have set up on your phone?

I have a SIM lock which I have to input every time the phone is powered up plus a screen lock I have to input from standby

Any thought son the above strategy welcome

zagfles

Money_Grabber13579 wrote: »

This is rubbish, as the customer will still be liable for any charges if the card is stolen and the customer does not report it.

The only time when a bank would have to cough up for expenses before the fraud was reported is if the customer still has the card and they have taken reasonable precautions to protect themselves. This would be equivalent to a mobile phone bill having been run up, while the phone remained in the customers pocket.

Absolute bullsh*t. Try reading any credit card T&Cs. Then try reading the Consumer Credit Act. Even if the customer is grossly negligent, eg writing the PIN number on the credit card, they are only liable for £50.