mobile phone bill :-(

wakefield123

ouch - I've gone over my minutes and have been charged 35p a minute by Orange to ring giffgaff for most of the month - bill £80 instead of £25.
is there anything I can do with orange to reduce this?

Herongull

Not sure I understand the question? You went over your allowance and were charged accordingly, so why would they reduce it?

Just be glad your phone wasn't lost or stolen - your bill would have been £hundreds if not £thousands.

It sounds as if your contract doesn't suit your needs - why not go elsewhere?

19lottie82

I'm afraid not.... you signed a contract agreeing to the T&C's and then went over your allowance.

To prevent it happening in future either increase the minutes in your bundle or, if the giffgaff calls are going to be a regular thing, get a free sim and stick it in an unlocked phone.....GG to GG calls are FREE!

NFH

It should be mandatory for telecommunications companies to charge for any usage over the allowance of a bundle at the pro-rata rate of the bundle. These punitive charges are designed only to catch out those who cannot precisely predict their usage in advance and it is an unfair commercial practice.

Herongull

NFH wrote: »

It should be mandatory for telecommunications companies to charge for any usage over the allowance of a bundle at the pro-rata rate of the bundle. These punitive charges are designed only to catch out those who cannot precisely predict their usage in advance and it is an unfair commercial practice.

But the whole point of a bundle is that you are paying for a job lot of minutes, texts and data whether or not you use them up. Therefore they give you a big discount cf the ad hoc charges for non-bundle usage.

If all usage was at bundle prices, then no one would buy a bundle or else they would buy a small bundle and then go over.

But I agree the huge difference in rates is a trap for the unwary, and the companies need to make sure people are aware of it.

grumbler

Herongull wrote: »

If all usage was at bundle prices, then no one would buy a bundle or else they would buy a small bundle and then go over.

Because the minute price would be smaller for bigger bundles?

The only problem I see is that any bundle normally includes a mixture of minutes, texts and data that makes it difficult to calculate extra charges 'pro rata'.

GRM

NFH wrote: »

It should be mandatory for telecommunications companies to charge for any usage over the allowance of a bundle at the pro-rata rate of the bundle. These punitive charges are designed only to catch out those who cannot precisely predict their usage in advance and it is an unfair commercial practice.

Blimey, someone who wants Talk15 to return.

NFH

Why should we all have to buy bundles? Why can't we all pay something like Three's 3-2-1 prices on a postpaid contract basis? This is exactly how the networks charge large corporate customers who don't tolerate the bundle rip-off. This fair and transparent system of charging should be available to everyone.

cookie365

NFH wrote: »

It should be mandatory for telecommunications companies to charge for any usage over the allowance of a bundle at the pro-rata rate of the bundle. These punitive charges are designed only to catch out those who cannot precisely predict their usage in advance and it is an unfair commercial practice.

Which would mean there would be no bundles at all, so all prices would go up to match pay as you go rates.

Wouldn't it be better to have a system where you get x this, y that, z the other in your bundle, plus clear information about the price of excess usage, so you can take responsibility for your own actions? You know, like it is at the moment?

cookie365

NFH wrote: »

Why should we all have to buy bundles? Why can't we all pay something like Three's 3-2-1 prices on a postpaid contract basis? This is exactly how the networks charge large corporate customers who don't tolerate the bundle rip-off. This fair and transparent system of charging should be available to everyone.

Nobody has to buy bundles. You can buy a bundle if you want, you can buy pay as you go if you want.

Why should we all have to buy pay as you go?

NFH

cookie365 wrote: »

Nobody has to buy bundles. You can buy a bundle if you want, you can buy pay as you go if you want.

Why should we all have to buy pay as you go?

If you buy a bundle, you either pay for partial allowance that you don't use or you pay a punitive rate for going over the allowance. This is neither fair nor reasonable. Except for bundles allowing unlimited usage, it would be fairer and simpler to charge everyone just for what they actually use.

We don't have to buy energy in bundles, so why do we have to buy mobile phone usage in bundles? If you don't buy a bundle for mobile phone usage, you have to pay an unreasonable price that is many times the usual market price. I don't understand why everyone is so accepting of bundles for mobile phone usage when they wouldn't accept it for energy.