Help £200 phone bill!!

vickydon

Hi,

I have just received a phone bill for £200 and can't afford it. I was made redundant last month so didn't realize how much more i was using my phone because I don't have a work phone. I have 600 minutes on my phone bill so literally never needed to check before because I have never been even close to my max!

Vodafone have taken the £200 from the account and now I am overdrawn and incurring daily charges. When I rang customer service they said they couldn't do anything apart from spread the £200 over the month. If I need longer than that they will cut me off but I will still be liable to pay the final 6 months of my contract.

I cannot believe it. I have been a customer of Vodafone for over 4 years!! I have never ever been a problem customer and this was literally one error that I would never have made if I'd realized I was going over my inclusive minutes. When i bought the phone I asked for a £75 cap on it but when I talked to someone they said they don't do that anymore. It is so irresponsible that they allow you to rack up these monstrous bills and don't even give you a warning that you are going over your limit. They have to do this when you are abroad so why do they have to act any less responsibly here?? i really thought that as I'd been a good customer all this time that they would have been more sympathetic. Any ideas with what I should do?

A.Galloway

vickydon wrote: »

Hi,

I have just received a phone bill for £200 and can't afford it. I was made redundant last month so didn't realize how much more i was using my phone because I don't have a work phone. I have 600 minutes on my phone bill so literally never needed to check before because I have never been even close to my max!

Vodafone have taken the £200 from the account and now I am overdrawn and incurring daily charges. When I rang customer service they said they couldn't do anything apart from spread the £200 over the month. If I need longer than that they will cut me off but I will still be liable to pay the final 6 months of my contract.

I cannot believe it. I have been a customer of Vodafone for over 4 years!! I have never ever been a problem customer and this was literally one error that I would never have made if I'd realized I was going over my inclusive minutes. When i bought the phone I asked for a £75 cap on it but when I talked to someone they said they don't do that anymore. It is so irresponsible that they allow you to rack up these monstrous bills and don't even give you a warning that you are going over your limit. They have to do this when you are abroad so why do they have to act any less responsibly here?? i really thought that as I'd been a good customer all this time that they would have been more sympathetic. Any ideas with what I should do?

I'm of the opinion that YOU were the irresponsible one for running up such a large bill you cannot afford to pay!

You used the service, therefore you pay! Simple

A.G

Rusty!

You used it, you pay for it. Only blame here lies squarely at your door.

tescobabe69

What sort of phone is it? Could you sell it to pay the bill?

Techhead_2

If the money has been taken then the bill must have been produced a couple of weeks ago. Do you not check your bill?

If you have been made redundant then you really need to scrutinize every bill and closely monitor all expenditure. The forums on MSE are a good place to start.

vickydon

Thanks to those who have made constructive comments/suggestions . I live in a shared house - my mobile bill has always been £35-40 for the past 4 years and I don't get statements... I will definitely be keeping an eye in future!!
The phone is worth about £40 and if I sold it I wouldn't have a phone and I don't think prospective employers would hire someone without a phone number.
The point is that I can't afford to pay it and going into debt with exorbitant rates of interest is just a downhill spiral i'm trying to avoid. Interesting that people on here are so unsympathetic if someone makes a mistake.. I hope they never find out the meaning of empathy the hard way!

Herongull

£35-£40 is a huge amount to pay each month, especially as you seem to be on a sim-only tariff or one with a very cheap phone?

Are you out of contract? If so why not port out to something a fraction of this cost? You can get a massive amount of minutes, unlimited internet and texts for less than £20.

For example Virgin sim only gives you 1,200 minutes, unlimited texts and 1Gb for £12.

Or cut down on your usage. You can get 100 minutes, 100 texts and 300mb free each month with Ovivo. After 5 months, the savings would be enough for you to pay off the £200 bill.

tescobabe69

vickydon wrote: »

Thanks to those who have made constructive comments/suggestions . I live in a shared house - my mobile bill has always been £35-40 for the past 4 years and I don't get statements... I will definitely be keeping an eye in future!!
The phone is worth about £40 and if I sold it I wouldn't have a phone and I don't think prospective employers would hire someone without a phone number.
The point is that I can't afford to pay it and going into debt with exorbitant rates of interest is just a downhill spiral i'm trying to avoid. Interesting that people on here are so unsympathetic if someone makes a mistake.. I hope they never find out the meaning of empathy the hard way!

But if it had been a decent phone you could have sold it (thats why I asked), anyhoo you need to get out of that contract PDQ because you cannot afford it.
Look on the bright side, if this relatively small amount shocks you into a more responsible financial attitude it will be money well spent.

grumbler

vickydon wrote: »

Thanks to those who have made constructive comments/suggestions . I live in a shared house - my mobile bill has always been £35-40 for the past 4 years and I don't get statements... I will definitely be keeping an eye in future!!
The phone is worth about £40 and if I sold it I wouldn't have a phone and I don't think prospective employers would hire someone without a phone number.
The point is that I can't afford to pay it and going into debt with exorbitant rates of interest is just a downhill spiral i'm trying to avoid. Interesting that people on here are so unsympathetic if someone makes a mistake.. I hope they never find out the meaning of empathy the hard way!

I don't have any constructive suggestions for what already happened, but I do have a comment for the future.

£35-£40 p.m. for mobile calls and without any savings for emergencies?! You cannot afford spending that much on mobile airtime. Not to mention the fact that for £12 you can have 1200 minutes (instead of 600) with unlimited texts and 1Gb.

Guys_Dad

If they have taken the £200, isn't it a bit late? Or have I missed the point?

If they won't agree a goodwill reduction, then you are stuck with the contract and the £200.

You need to use the net or an app to keep check on your use, but good luck with the job hunting.

dealer_wins

Sympathy for your job loss, but how is your phone bill in any way Vodafones fault.

You know what your limit is a month, are able to check it live either online or via your phone.

Lets assume your gas and electric are also more since you have been at home every day, will they be at fault for charging for the higher usage?