Phone was stolen, now o2 say I have to pay the bill!!!

Collabora

grumbler wrote: »

I thought it was abroad too, but after re-reading the OP I found no indication that the 'holiday' was abroad. The same could have easily happened in UK as often phones get stolen by organised criminals only to make calls to pre-set premium rate numbers.

I assumed abroad as the excursions part of it. but makes no difference OP waited 2 days before reporting the phone stolen and expects the provider to wipe the bill for the time it was stolen to the time reported.

Rev

As much as it seems to disgruntled you the fact remains it's not up to O2 to keep an eye on your usage and determine wether it's normal or not. Imagine how many people they'd have to employ to have someone sat 24/7 monitoring people's usage to be sure it was never out of the ordinary? Why would you expect a company to do this? And what if the usage was out of the ordinary? Are you expecting them to cut you off? Possibly in the middle of an emergency? At which point people will be making posts here about how they were without phones in the middle of an emergency and why are they being treated like idiots? If the phone was stolen do O2 think they wouldn't call and report it? Or are you wanting them to employ yet more people to give users a quick call and check everything is okay? Imagine the cost of their contracts with all those wages to pay.

So as much as you are angry at O2 the fact is its your fault for not reporting the phone stolen and any calls and charges made between the time it was stolen and the time you reported it are your responsibility. Not o2's. And it's not o2's fault that you didn't persist on contacting them for two days and gave the thief chance to run up a big bill.

Collabora

maybe the OP thought the thief only stole the phone to place in their pockets and never make a call

matelodave

Insurance?, Police? what were you thinking of if you weren't insured and didn't report it?

simax

Pin lock the phone AND SIM card. 100% protection.

giraffe69

you didn't pin protect the simcard (only the phone itself) so that it could be used in another phone, you didn't report it for two days because you had booked excursions. You haven't got a police report (or have you). It sounds as if you expect someone else to pick up the tab because your bill is normally less than £40. I can't see that as being reasonable however in your position I would still seek to get 02 to give me at least a gesture as a longstanding customer.

Collabora

giraffe69 wrote: »

I would still seek to get 02 to give me at least a gesture as a longstanding customer.

They could try this and if they reported the theft at the time to the police and have a police report, this was help then get some sort of goodwill gesture, but if they did not report to police and have no police report then i dont think a goodwill gesture would be given as they waited 2 days before doing anything

mrochester

tridentchain wrote: »

Even if I managed to call the next day I would have been in debt as they started using it straight away.


How is that fair ? the network companies surely have a responsibility to look after their customers especially when I have been a customer with them for years and this is the first time I have had a bill over £40.

It sounds like you didn't have the phone locked with a security code which has meant it was possible for the thieves to unlock it and start using it right anyway. Unfortunately, that counts as your negligence and means you are responsible for the bill until the point at which you report the device lost or stolen.

spannerzone

You've got to lock the SIM, not the just the phone.... a stolen phone may be worth a few £££'s to thieves but the ability to remove your sim, stick it in another phone and dial their own premium rate numbers is far more profitable......I don't think everyone understands that they're probably only interested in getting a contract SIM that they can keep dialling their own numbers.

It is a pain having to enter the SIM pin number on my phone when I power up each morning but it's much less painful than having a large bill if it got stolen.

Dr._Shoe

If you dial 999 it unlocks your phone and then you can use it without even having to know your pin.