Money Moral Dilemma: Should I tell my network it's been undercharging me?

Former_MSE_Nick

This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks...

I'm currently chasing my mobile network for refunds of erroneous charges on my bill, but looking back at previous bills I can see it's actually been undercharging me on line rental for the past six months. Should I 'fess up, or keep quiet and take the saving in place of the money I'm owed?

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phillipesmith

This is a no brainier, you should inform the supplier and get the billing corrected. Remember Karma? It will cost you 10 fold

indesisiv

At least make sure that you are saving the difference that you are being undercharged so that you can pay it back when they do notice.

mobilejunkie

Stop chasing them and forget about it. Keep the difference aside just in case they eventually notice and try to recover it - but that's most unlikely. Networks nowadays don't do their customers any favours - why should you do their work for them? I would also add that it sounds like you have little idea of how to work out your bills, since you can't seem to make up your mind whether they owe you or you owe them.

BlaEm

It's probably more likely that your plan changed rather than them undercharging you. If it were me I would probably call them to follow up again on the erroneous charges, and also mention that your line rental has changed and have they moved you on to a different plan?
If you're close to the end of your contract you can probably bargain with them not to recover any under charge and to pay you back your erroneous charges by threatening to leave.

tgroom57

Depends on what company you're dealing with - some of them struggle with the simplest billing adjustments. I'd keep quiet, but check my account online. Could be you're getting less call allowance.

Unless you've had your handset a while and are on the 'Refresh' thing, so your monthly charge would drop when you paid off the handset.

crmism

It's highly unlikely that your provider had its sums wrong when fixing the cost of your line rental, and it's more than probable that you were given a special deal the last time you negotiated and, like so many, simply misunderstood what was on offer.

It is also unlikely that the provider will make any connection between line rental and charges, so go ahead and query them.

minicooper272

I find a lot of phone companies will do an introductory charge, where you get a discount for the first 6 months to 12 months of a contract. It might be this is all that has happened here.

Your phone contract includes a small proportion towards the cost of the handset (so like finance you pay for your phone, maybe around £20 a month). When your contract comes to an end, you’ve paid off the phone, but typically the phone companies would continue to charge you full price and keep the extra £20 for themselves. Recently a few network providers have started to automatically adjust your bill at the end of your contract to stop charging for the phone you’ve paid off. So if you have also passed the end of the contract, this could explain the change.

I would still call them to chase the erroneous charges – you don’t have to point out the change in your bill, you only have to query the charges. If they notice they have been making a mistake when billing you, then they can correct it, however I would try to argue against any back-charges. If it’s not your mistake, you genuinely haven’t noticed until now, and it would leave you in financial hardship, then suggest they waive it as a gesture of goodwill as taking out their mistakes on you will be a good reason to take your business elsewhere.

Kernow666

my network provider undercharges me every month I am on a £20 a month plan and they charge me £15

Swipe

Do you really think your provider would go out of its way to correct things if it was overcharging you without you informing them?

Cisco001

So if the mobile phone network eventually find out they made a mistake. How many years could they back billing?

e.g. if it is energy company, they are only allow to back bill for 12 months if it is energy company fault. I wonder if there are rules for mobile phone/ boardband & TV package, etc