Unexpected bill

Dazjameswalsh

I am with tesco mobile and use their online service to track how many minutes and calls I use a month. Their service says that 'information may be delayed up to 5 hours so may not reflect recent calls'.

I checked on the morning of the 21st November at around 8.30am to see how many texts I had left (it should have been up to date as I hadn't texted in the last 5 hours) and I was informed I had 160 minutes left. It turns out I had already gone over my contract by this point, even though it said I had 160 minutes left.

If I had known that I has gone over, I would have stopped texting but carried in thinking I had 160 left - do I have to pay this unexpected bill as it the companies fault that this has happened?

smartphone

I assume you meant to say it showed you had 160 texts left? I'm sure there is something in the Ts & Cs to cover Tesco in this case, and ultimately a lot of phones have usage meters, although not always for texts. First point of call would be customer service to see if they are willing to offer a good will gesture. I would also have a look at alternative deals with unlimited texts if you are a heavy texter so you don't have the worry in the future. Hope this helps.

thatsean

Come on..... you're old enough to get a contract surely you don't need an answer?

OK then. Yes - you have to pay.

You used the service. If that's an issue then as above, move to a 3000sms plan with Tesco, or get a capped deal.

Guys_Dad

thatsean wrote: »

Come on..... you're old enough to get a contract surely you don't need an answer?

OK then. Yes - you have to pay.

You used the service. If that's an issue then as above, move to a 3000sms plan with Tesco, or get a capped deal.

Whilst I agree with you 80%, with networks moving away from paper billing, they encourage you to use their web services.

Now that puts an obligation for the information to be accurate, within their published tolerances or, if they have an I T problem, to notify users of that.

If not, why have the service?

But, in my view, I think the OP may have made a mistake. By his own admission, he says he was told on the site that he had 160 minutes left. I suspect that he confused his minutes left with his texts left. Regrettably, Tesco would not be liable if someone misreads their information and doesn't know the difference between texts and minutes.

Fifer

Guys_Dad wrote: »

Whilst I agree with you 80%, with networks moving away from paper billing, they encourage you to use their web services.

Now that puts an obligation for the information to be accurate, within their published tolerances or, if they have an I T problem, to notify users of that.

If not, why have the service?

I'm not sure I follow your point. Paper billing would give you no indication of texts or minutes left as the bill telling you how many you'd used wouldn't arrive until the billed period had ended.

Guys_Dad

Fifer wrote: »

I'm not sure I follow your point. Paper billing would give you no indication of texts or minutes left as the bill telling you how many you'd used wouldn't arrive until the billed period had ended.

I agree that paper billing would not solve this problem. However, mobile networks talk up their paperless system by shouting about the benefits of on-line billing and your on-line account, so you don't need paper bills.

So people create their account and look at what is on offer. They then come to rely on the information present. ( This applies to any service on-line account such as Banks, Insurance etc.)

But I still suspect OP has confused minutes left with texts used.

robbies_gal

was it minutes or texts-and when they say 5hours behind i dont think they mean from the last text u sent

Dazjameswalsh

Sorry, I meant that it said I had 160 texts left.