Unknown data download through Talk Talk results in £440 bill

mlqs01

I was wondering if anyone has had an issue with unexplained data downloads since/during the cyber attack period on Talk Talk?

I have recently (05 Aug) had a 2GB+ data charge that took me over my allowance and has resulted in a ~£440 bill that I am currently disputing.

The downloads were for reoccurring amounts of 2.86MB worth of data.

Some additional facts about the Talk Talk service in this case:
* The e-mail update about usage getting close to the limit was late (~2 days) and was only received the day after the apparent download;
* I couldn't sign in to check my usage on the Talk Talk website on the day that the data download occurred due to the cyber attack;
* Had I been able to sign in then I would have upgraded my account online as Talk Talk suggest i.e. to get double data;
* The usage limit apparently doesn't do anything and resulted in a ~£440 bill for unknown data usage that sent me over my allowance whereas my usage limit is set to £15 to try and prevent exactly this sort of eventuality;

Somehow I apparently downloaded over 2GB worth of data but can't find any record of a download. The only thing I tried to sign in to was the Talk Talk My Account in order to check my usage! There was no video or anything similar involved.

All this happened on the day that the cyber attack was announced.

My initial appeal to their 'CEO' has been rejected but I am appealing again.

If anyone has experienced something similar recently then I would really like to know about this. Alternatively any advice would be very much appreciated!
Thanks!

mlqs01

I am just re-posting this reply I made to a post that I received on the Talk Talk community. I thought that it might be of use to other Talk Talk mobile customers.
The question I was asked was about a large mobile phone bill for an unexplained amount of data around the same time that this happend to me (early august 2015)...

Hi XXXX,
I haven't established what the download was although uploads also eat data. There have been incidences of Windows 10 upgrades eating data and their OneDrive now operating & uploading in the background. This would be an issue were a mobile tethered to a laptop for instance.

I have questioned the coincidence of the cyber attack but was told that Talk Talk doesn't have that information (apparently only we know).

I also asked about the true cost of the data to Talk Talk but of course no one will answer that. In reality the price charged per MB is in fact punitive.

I have read somewhere that the ~2.86MB data costs are the only way that Talk Talk can present constant large data usage but I don't know if there is more to it than that.

The small print with Talk Talk seems to cover them for usage limits that don't limit data usage as well as text & email alerts that arrive too late to alert you. It seems that as Talk Talk aren't the actual mobile provider then they have to wait to receive data usage information which doesn't happen continuously. I believe that usage limits normally limit usage where the mobile phone provider actually has its own network.

Had my bill been the same level as yours then I would have kept complaining to the 'CEO team'. They will no doubt offer you a 50% discount as a loyal customer. I had to take this as my bill was hundreds of pounds & so the risk was too great.

Be aware that if you accept the discount that you will have to confirm that you are 'happy with the resolution of the complaint'. Given that I incurred data charges on the day of the cyber attack trying to check my data usage on a Talk Talk My Account which was offline then it took me sometime to utter these words.

Ombudsman and Offcom would be worth a mention...

Lots of lessons learned from this. Hope it is of some use to you.

wongataa

Do your phone logs show the alleged usage? If not, then that is one way of trying to reverse the bill.

boliston

How on earth can such a small amount of data (2gb) cost so much - mobile data is normally no more than about £10 per GB even without a data bundle in place (when it is often much less)

Chino

boliston wrote: »

How on earth can such a small amount of data (2gb) cost so much

I suppose by TalkTalk charging 15p per MB for out-of-bundle data use:

http://mobile.talktalk.co.uk/call-charges.html

boliston

Chino wrote: »

I suppose by TalkTalk charging 15p per MB for out-of-bundle data use:

http://mobile.talktalk.co.uk/call-charges.html

Wow that is expensive for UK data! This is one of the main reasons I will always stick with payg as I use a lot of data (including roaming) but I like to know I can only ever "loose" the topup credit that I currently have (not normally more than £25 at most)

TalkTalk

HI mlqs01,

I see that your issue is already being investigated from the TalkTalk Community.

In terms of the usage its worth checking your phone to see if the usage monitor is recording the same data as that on your TT bill. Data records are checked twice before being applied to your bill. The reason the notification fo you approaching your limit may be delayed is becuase it can take upto 48 hours for us to recieve data records from our netowrk partner. It is for this reason we advise the limit is not a hard cap and can be exceeded. We do offer advice on how to manage your mobile usage in this help article

http://help2.talktalk.co.uk/all-about-mobile-data


Cheers

Mark
Online Community Department
TalkTalk