MSE News: 'I was charged £11,000 for data on my dongle'

Ian011

Watching a couple of films costs more than buying a car?
What sort of insanity is this?

redux

Ian011 wrote: »

Watching a couple of films costs more than buying a car?
What sort of insanity is this?

Look at the numbers again.

200 GB, and a 2 hour HD film using 6 GB

So that's 66 hours, 30 to 50 films

OK, it's still wildly over the price of going to the cinema twice a day, but why would someone do it and be amazed at what they'd got through, after initially going over by watching only one?

Former_MSE_Faye

Ombudsman rules the bill should be cut by 75% after investigation finds Vodafone was partly to blame...

Read the full story:
'Vodafone ordered to reduce customer's £10,500 data bill'

Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply. If you aren’t sure how it all works, read our New to Forum? Intro Guide.

phillw

He downloaded 400gb over 3G?

(10500/6.50)*250

403846mb

plus the 2gb he paid £20 for.

It says "over several months". Did he not check his bank statement?

gavrc wrote: »

If I were to buy a 2GB contract, I expect to be allowed 2GB and no more. Allowing an 'overdraft' like this is deliberately in place to make money off less savvy customers.

While it is possible to get capped mobile tariffs, it's usual for mobile phone tariffs to not be capped. I don't understand how anyone could have escaped finding that out.

sultanabran

I spoke to Vodafone about getting a cap on my daughters mobile account (that I pay) as she had went over her data allowance. The person I spoke to said they would put a cap on, so I thought great. Until he explained a cap to them meant they would simply send a text message when you were close to exceeding your allowance!

It's in their interest to not have a cap as they know people go over it and the excess data charge probably net them a fortune!

silverwhistle

sultanabran wrote: »

Until he explained a cap to them meant they would simply send a text message when you were close to exceeding your allowance!

It's in their interest to not have a cap as they know people go over it and the excess data charge probably net them a fortune!

Exactly! The customer may have been a bit remiss or careless, but the companies act in their own interests on this and I can't believe all the apologists on here who think they acted in good faith.

It's basically inertia selling, and as sultanabran has pointed out, you can't actively protect yourself, you have to rely on the dodgy mechanism of the company you are buying from informing you, and not in a reliable way.

HornetSaver

Given the cost of the original bill, it might have been cost-effective to live in China for several months.

phillw

silverwhistle wrote: »

Exactly! The customer may have been a bit remiss or careless, but the companies act in their own interests on this and I can't believe all the apologists on here who think they acted in good faith.

Acting in your own interest is the reason this web site exists. It's a bit hypocritical to say that we can act in our own interest, but companies can't.

Some mobile companies offer capped tariffs and if that is something you want, then that is what you should buy. If you don't read the T&C and don't ask then you have to take some responsibility.

He doesn't want to take any responsibility and that makes it really difficult to have any sympathy for him.

Frozen_up_north

The problem with a data dongle is that a text message (if sent) will not appear on the screen of a laptop using the dongle. So a user will be unaware of the message.

I am with Three on a contract SIM only deal (mobile phone SIM with tethering). With Three you can set a zero overspend cap and in any case I think data just stops when you run out on Three.

As I can switch networks with 30 days notice, I have been looking at deals by Vodafone and EE as we go to Spain a lot and both have interesting SIM only contracts that include local calls from your included minutes, however neither network offers a spending cap! The staff in the stores don't think it's important, well it is to me and until OFCOM get a grip of these networks I'll stick with one that stops accidental overspend.

benjus

Personally, I think it's highly unreasonable that Vodafone charges £26 per GB when over the limit. If you pay for a large-ish allowance upfront you're more likely to pay £1 per GB or so. I'm not saying that Vodafone should be forced to charge £1/GB that as there would be little incentive for people to sign up for the higher allowance plans, but £26 is just daylight robbery. Even the £6.50/GB which the Ombudsman has effectively proposed is on the high side IMO.

Maybe the mobile phone companies should not be allowed to charge more than a certain multiple of their cheapest data rate.