HELP!!!!! Stolen phone call charges

Rockingit

My girlfriend had her phone lost/stolen and reported it as such when she realised.

But O2 are wanting to charge her £700 for the difference in call charges between when she registered it as missing.

This is scandalous.......help!!!

wantmemoney

have you got the phone bill that shows the calls
the numbers called
times called
and durations of the calls

g33za

how long was it before she realised she had lost it? Seems like it must have been more than 24 hours. Generally speaking most companies will make you pay as its your responsibility and if you have mobile insurance that sometimes covers it... but even then I think it needs to be reported lost/stolen within 24 hours.

Rockingit

Basically, yes to all of the above. She reported it within 19 hrs of the loss and has a full itemisation which even shows that some calls continued for about 2hrs after she reported it. They are all overseas calls, mostly Hungary and Romania.

The handset insurance stipulates a 24hr window of 'NOTICING THE LOSS' which actually leaves that open to interpretation, and the general T's & C's also make reference to 'unauthorised' calls which also leaves open the issue of on who's authority.

But the main point here is SURELY there must be credit traps within their accounting systems for their own credit control, so how on earth did they not trap an account which for the last 18mths has spent about £30 per month suddenly accrueing £700 of overseas calls in basically 12 hours???

What is making the situation worse for her is that the only point of reference with O2 is their Indian call centre, and she is Mexican, so despite very good english the difficulties in accents etc just make the communication near impossible, especially when trying to get stroppy!!

Quentin

If she has insurance, then won't they pay out for the charges incurred after the theft?

nickmack

Rockingit wrote: »

But the main point here is SURELY there must be credit traps within their accounting systems for their own credit control, so how on earth did they not trap an account which for the last 18mths has spent about £30 per month suddenly accrueing £700 of overseas calls in basically 12 hours???

Yes, there are monitors in place and they do sometimes pick up strange call patterns. Unfortunately, they don't always work and there is no requirement for the network to start blocking calls, even if you get to a pre-defined credit limit. Basically, don't rely on them.

Check your mobile insurance policy to see how unauthorised calls are covered.

If you don't have a policy, you need to try and show you took reasonable steps to report the loss ASAP. Did you also report this to the Police?

If the account is also in good standing with the network, you may be able to persuade them to cover some or all of the unauthorised calls.

yeslek

they shouldnt be able to charge you for calls after you reported the phone was stolen cos its up to o2 to then cut the line.

you may have to pay for any calls made up until the point you reported but again (as already mentioned) check your insurance

wantmemoney

Rockingit wrote:

But the main point here is SURELY there must be credit traps within their accounting systems for their own credit control, so how on earth did they not trap an account which for the last 18mths has spent about £30 per month suddenly accrueing £700 of overseas calls in basically 12 hours???

There is. It's called Artificially Inflated Traffic

http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/commerce/servlet/gben-server-PageServer?ARTICLE=MAIN.UK.INTERNET.HELPINFO.ORDERONLINE.NETWORKTERMS.O2
"AIT" means Artificially Inflated Traffic and occurs where the flow of calls to any particular revenue share service is, as a result of any activity on or behalf of the party operating that revenue share service,
disproportionate to the flow of calls which would be expected from good faith commercial practice and usage of the Network;

The problem is they only use it to protect themselves from "revenue share" fraud.
Now if o2 has previously received complaints claiming other stolen mobile phones have been used to dial the same numbers that have appeared on your bill that would be interesting. If a network operator knows or even has a suspicion that a number is being used fraudulently they are infringing the Proceeds of Crime Act if they continue billing that number.

Can you post the numbers the crooks dialled?

gsmmad

You are liable for every penny so u have to pay it off an apply for it via the insurance but dont pay it till the insurance confirm they will pay

Tell the insurance company u had your phone lost/stolen u dont know u couldnt find it reported it to the network provider and then now you find out that they have made a lot of calls via it being in other peoples hands and you would like to make a claim ....


Also even if the network block it until the phone call is phsically ended it will carry on best bet on that is to prove it on the bill which you will be able to and then the network will have to let you off some of it ...but do not worry if u have insurance just make sure you tell them u dont know how it got stolen

DO NOT SAY something like aaa i was at home there was a group of friends and they left i checked for my phone i couldnt find it and also i left the phone on the table where everyone could take it but but but i trust them a lot they wouldnt have ...

patwa_2

Do you have a police report? I read the T&Cs once and it did say that a police case number would need to be obtained.

H.

gsmmad

of course ...