T-Mobile Data "Fair Usage" Policy...... I'm a bit confused.

Korkyb

Hi all

I have 4 contracts with t-mobile - all are SIM only and cost between 5 and 8 pounds per month each.

2 of the contracts are a few years old and the other 2 were taken out since October last year.

I just checked my bill and was surprised to find that I was charged over £6 for 1mb of data over allowance on the contract used by my wife (one of the newer contracts).

I checked online and it says that her contract includes:

500 MB web surfing and e-mails
Your internet usage is subject to fair use policy (500MB)

I was under the impression that the t-mobile fair usage policy meant that if you went over the allowance that the service became restricted - not that you would incur a charge (and a huge charge at that).


I called t-mobile and they said that that account does not have the "fair usage" even though it says it on my online account.

They did confirm however that the 2 old accounts do have the old fair usage / service slowdown / no extra charges in place which is just as well as they are the kids mobiles.


Also found out that you can now put in place a credit limit on each account which can be set at the cost of the monthly charge effectively stopping you incurring any extra charges on your account. They didnt have that last time I checked a couple of years ago & useful to know!

ZhugeEX

As of feb 2013 you are charged £1 per day after you go over your allowance

Korkyb

ZhugeEX wrote: »

As of feb 2013 you are charged £1 per day after you go over your allowance

Yep it looks as if thats what has happened but still confused about the "Fair Usage" term on the account.

If its a 500mb limit then you are charged then thats fine but where does "fair usage" come into it??

I take it that theres no notification from them that you are going over your limit.....

ZhugeEX

Korkyb wrote: »

Yep it looks as if thats what has happened but still confused about the "Fair Usage" term on the account.

If its a 500mb limit then you are charged then thats fine but where does "fair usage" come into it??

I take it that theres no notification from them that you are going over your limit.....

So basically what happened is that before Febuary 2013, T-Mobile customers were sold an "Unlimited browsing" package which gave them 500mb for downloading/streaming and browsing. Once you exceeded 500mb you would be allowed to browse but streaming and downloading would be blocked.

On February 21st 2013 T-Mobile introduced their new "Unlimited browsing" option which once again gave you 500mb data as a fair use amount. Once you hit this fair use amount you would be charged £1 per day for any usage over this cap (Up to 1GB).

T-Mobile don't have to notify the user if they go over this cap but usually you may receive a text message about any additional charges being made.

T-Mobile no longer do "unlimited browsing" tariffs due to the ASA ruling that any plan with "Unlimited" in the title must not have a charge after a certain amount of data is used and must not have any suspension of services.

Also, T-Mobile don't cap accounts. Are you sure they applied a cap on your account because this isn't something their system can do?

Korkyb

Thanks for that clarification!

The Rep I spoke to was clear about the caps she was applying to each account (it was a UK based Rep so no communication issues).

Last time I asked t-mobile if they could do this they said no (about 2 years ago) so I was surprised that she said this was something she could do.

She said she could apply any amount of cap and suggested the option of making it the same as the normal monthly charge for each account thereby avoiding the risk of any excess charges at all.

If she is / was correct it makes t-mobile accounts much more attractive / safe if arranging for elderly / young people.

I will of course call and double check (tomorrow) :-)

ZhugeEX

Korkyb wrote: »

Thanks for that clarification!

I will of course call and double check (tomorrow) :-)

I too would do this.

This is the first time I've heard of T-Mobile capping an account at the base rate and not at an inflated amount over the base rate. Are you sure it wasn't X amount over the base price?

Only plans T-Mobile cap are the "You Fix" plans which are no longer sold. Three and Tesco Mobile are the only networks that apply zero credit limit's on their contract plans.

Korkyb

Yep

We discussed different levels that the cap could be set at and she said it could be any amount (as long as it was above the basic monthly charge).

It was actually the Rep who suggested the cap to avoid future charges. (I assumed that it wasnt something that could be done so hadn't asked).

It may be she was incorrect about the advice she was giving but she seemed to know what she was talking about.

I think it was actually the "retentions team" or whatever they are called nowadays she was in as I asked to be put through to someone who could cancel my accounts. (I do this if I find that the initial person I'm speaking to is hard work - usually find I then get through to someone who is allowed to make a decision!)

ZhugeEX

Korkyb wrote: »

Yep

We discussed different levels that the cap could be set at and she said it could be any amount (as long as it was above the basic monthly charge).

It may be she was incorrect about the advice she was giving but she seemed to know what she was talking about.

I think it was actually the "retentions team" or whatever they are called nowadays she was in as I asked to be put through to someone who could cancel my accounts. (I do this if I find that the initial person I'm speaking to is hard work - usually find I then get through to someone who is allowed to make a decision!)

Hmm, I'm still a bit sceptical as I know that T-Mobile simply don't do this.

Maybe I'm wrong but I'd certainly get it double checked.
And i'd also test it out as well by making a test call to a premium/international number. If the tariff really is capped then the call shouldn't connect. If the call connects then that means that it's not capped.

MataNui

The T-Mobile person was almost certainly telling lies. T-Mobile no longer sell capped services. I am sure they would be happy to tell you otherwise if it meant they could get some more cash out of you. NEVER take ANYTHING anyone from T-Mobile says as true. ALWAYS record your conversations with these people. If it was retentions then they were definitely telling lies. I hope you never agreed to anything with them.

Korkyb

MataNui wrote: »

The T-Mobile person was almost certainly telling lies. T-Mobile no longer sell capped services. I am sure they would be happy to tell you otherwise if it meant they could get some more cash out of you. NEVER take ANYTHING anyone from T-Mobile says as true. ALWAYS record your conversations with these people. If it was retentions then they were definitely telling lies. I hope you never agreed to anything with them.

No they got nothing from me - they actually refunded the £7 that I owed them for going over my data allowance.

I'll check that they have actually done that in case that was another lie they told me