Debt from using international over-ride number

sarahtom

Hi

Just as a warning to you all... take care if you are using over-ride numbers to make international calls which allows the calls to be included in your free minutes. I used a company called Dialabroad with my O2 phone to call Turkey (to a landline) and checked it a few times and it was indeed coming up as an 0845 number and threfore free on my bill. However, there began to be problems getting through, which confsed me ..after calling the override number followed by the international number i was being returned back to the override number. I then called the internaitonalnumber again and I think in all the confusion I was pressign the green call buton on my phone after entering in the international number for the second time. Admittedly it says on the dialabroad website dont press the green call button after calling the number only press the hash key but it doesnt say what happens if you do..well what happens is you get charged full whack for the calls. Threfore over a two week period (I was alling for 50 mins per day to my partner, as I gt 50 free mins each day) I was charged £1500!!!! Given I am already in a lot of debt this has nearly sent me over the edge!! So take cae. As far as I can see there is nothing I can do and neither dialabroad or O2 were sympathetic or helpful and I have hd to put this debt on my cred card.:mad:

p1an0player

Oh dear, £1500 for 700 mins is a huge amount (£2.14 per minute).

Yet the O2 website shows it should cost 40p or 94p per minute to Turkey on a pay monthly contract.

So something isn't right.

BexTech

Yes, pressing the green button again places the first call on hold and dials out the 2nd number you typed in. So you will be billed for 2 calls by your mobile provider, one to the override number and one to the destination number.

What you must do is NOT press the green button again.

espresso

And read this thread.

sarahtom

Thanks for the thread- bad news that 02 look to change their conditions

well it may have been three weeks I was pressingthe green button for it was just a rough guess. anyway, that was a big lesson to learn but my own fault (easy done though if you dont understand how these things work).

zenmaster

Yes your own fault but a bit bl00dy harsh nonetheless.

I am surprised (and horrified) that that 02 did not contact you when your account reached even a fraction of that amount in such a short period. My Virgin phone has a limit of £100 before the alarm bells start ringing.

It might be worth complaining to O2. Probably won't get you anywhere but it may help prevent someone else from falling into the same trap.

rash.m2k

actually its o2's fault ring them up and sound real anoyed, they should hav detected this as soon as u went over abt £150 and since it was gradual that gave their system enough time 2 update the system and bar ur fone once u went over 150 or whatever ur credit limit was!

Kalfus1986

i agree, theres no way they should have let u rack up 1500

they should have a credit alert team whose notify you if do irregualar usage.

make a complaint and use the fact that THEY allowed u too rack that much up, as they actually did.

Also with the whole attempt to reduce britains debt if ur already in debt that this will been seen as unnessiary compared to ur other debts.

id advised to seek legal help with that ^^

rash.m2k

My credit limit was £150 and I got it changed to £10, and recently it hit the £10 limit and the blocked my phone - only incomming calls. Mind you their system is slow so it takes them at least 2/3 days to realise you've gone over.

MrRincewind

it all depends on how the billing has worked, if the company are waiting on a 3rd party to pass information on then there is a delay in recieving this information, there for the call limit guide ( this is all this is, it`s not a guarantee) will not take effect, I`m not a 100% sure how the billing works with this override number but there maybe a delay in recieving the call data,

Not quite sure how it`s the networks fault, the OP clearly states that they where aware that they should`nt have been pressing the green button yet continued to do so, I do feel some sympathy towards the poster getting this admittedly huge bill, but we are adults and we need to take responsibility for our own actions and not blame others, which seems to be a increasing pattern in modern life