BT mobile contract hidden extra costs

nixblags

Just moved a mobile contract from EE to BT. Now discovered that if you use up your data/mins/texts allowance BT does not stop use but carries on charging you up to a maximum set on the account. The default setting for me was £40 but I have seen on BT community forums this can be set at other higher levels - one mother got billed an extra £100! Way more than the monthly contract price. I have now set mine to the minimum amount which is £5. BT say they cant set it to zero, As its my daughter who uses this phone, it is likely she will regularly use her data allowance and go over, as she did with the EE contract. On EE they send a text when you've nearly used your data allowance and then again when it is used, and her data would just stop. Not a problem as she would wait til it renewed next month, use WiFi at home or out or use her own money to buy a one-off top up. Now with BT I face an additional monthly cost of anything up to £5 (and most likely it will be £5 as she will just use all the data til it stops). BT do send a text to say the data allowance is used, but this arrives after it has run out and once you have already incurred additional charges. I can purchase a data add on, but this is at least £4 and is on a rolling rather than one-off basis, so effectively paying an additional £4 every month on top of the contract price. None of this was clear at the time to taking out the contract, BT describe their contracts as having "total control on what you spend". Only it isn't. Effectively I have a contract that is £5 more than I agreed to. The BT solution offered is that you should install their app on your phone which will monitor your usage. However this is useless as you have to check the app, (more data being used....!!) The app doesn't warn you automatically. No chance my daughter will keep checking. BT say its their policy not to do a zero spend "just in case you need extra minutes". This is laughable, as they could just send a warning, as EE do, offering a chance to top up. Their top ups are also an extra rolling monthly charge (you can cancel at any time - how many people will remember to do that??) and not a one off cost. I am currently escalating my complaint to BT about this. I don't expect BT to do anything, except perhaps lets me cancel the contract and return to EE without penalty.

forgotmyname

Plenty of apps out there to count your data and warn you before you go over, some even disable the data when the limit is reached.

I think your issue is closer to home than with BT. Why does she keep going over the limit? If you allow it then it will keep happening. I explained to my daughter any charges over the basic and she pays.

Not once did she exceed the minutes/texts or data limit. And she was only on 500MB.

boatman

Not sure what phone you have. But you can set limits on the phone.