Tesco Mobile Problems

rbulph

I've been with tesco mobile for some years now and they have been OK, although I've always felt that their website was ridiculous - you have to log in to two different sites - mytescomobile.com and topup.tescomobile.com to understand what's happening on your account.

But now I've had a row with them. A few months ago the payment card which I had registered with them for making topups expired. They didn't notify me that it had expired but notified me when they failed to take auto-topups on it. I then went and registered a new card with them. They failed to tell me that this would cancel the automatic monthly purchase of a "bundle" of 500MB on my account which was set up to take place every month. So they then started charging me 10p/MB for data, TEN times the rate if I'm within the "bundle" amount.

This whole thing seems like a scam to me. If it wasn't a scam they would simply charge 1p/MB as in the bundle for however much you used and there would be no problems. And if it wasn't a scam they wouldn't cancel the bundles when your payment card expires. That would be so simple to do. It's supposed to be pay as you go, after all.

Anyway I intend to complain to Ofcom and have asked tesco for a PAC code. Who do you recommend I transfer to?

mobilejunkie

|You can't complain to anyone until you've made a formal complaint to Tesco and given them (up to) eight weeks to resolve it or issue a deadlock letter. Then you take it to the Ombudsman (not Ofcom).

rbulph

mobilejunkie wrote: »

|You can't complain to anyone until you've made a formal complaint to Tesco and given them (up to) eight weeks to resolve it or issue a deadlock letter. Then you take it to the Ombudsman (not Ofcom).

Thanks, yes so I see from Ofcom's website.

rbulph

Actually why do mobile phone providers have this charging structure? Where you have to pay for a "bundle" up front. If they genuinely are "pay as you go" why can't they simply charge a (reasonable) price per MB and charge your card every time your balance drops below a certain level?

ballyblack

I agree, its not really PAYGO with all that bundle confusion.

mac.d

rbulph wrote: »

Actually why do mobile phone providers have this charging structure? Where you have to pay for a "bundle" up front. If they genuinely are "pay as you go" why can't they simply charge a (reasonable) price per MB and charge your card every time your balance drops below a certain level?

That's exactly what PAYG is? Just because they offer packs & bundles doesn't meant you have to buy them, they are optional extras to your PAYG credit. You can just top up your credit by whatever amount you want, and at least in some cases, set it to auto renew when your credit drops to a certain level.

rbulph

mac.d wrote: »

That's exactly what PAYG is? Just because they offer packs & bundles doesn't meant you have to buy them, they are optional extras to your PAYG credit. You can just top up your credit by whatever amount you want, and at least in some cases, set it to auto renew when your credit drops to a certain level.

It's not what the words "pay as you go" imply to me. Tesco may call it PAYG but that suggests you simply pay for what you use, like electricity. Instead with this bundles nonsense they are saying you should pay for a set amount before you go then when you have used that up you pay as you go at a rate ten times higher, something completely uneconomical on normal usage rates. If this is appropriate for mobile phone providers why isn't it appropriate for electricity suppliers? I'm sure they'd enjoy a charging structure like this, especially if they can put people on a rate ten times higher whenever their credit card expires.

Anyway I see that three offer a genuine PAYG deal at a rate per MB the same as tesco in their bundle. It seems eminently reasonable and I'll go with that, unless someone can explain to me why I shouldn't.

Frozen_up_north

rbulph wrote: »

I see that three offer a genuine PAYG deal at a rate per MB the same as tesco in their bundle. It seems eminently reasonable and I'll go with that, unless someone can explain to me why I shouldn't.

I use a Three PAYG SIM in a remote alarm, their PAYG prices are what you see, 3p per min, 2p per SMS text and 1p per MB. I also have two SIM only contracts.

You can convert a top up to a 30 day bundle as well. They do "feel at home" in the EU, USA, Australia, etc. (needs a 30 day bundle to use FAH).

Beware their coverage will be different to Tesco/O2, so check with a Three SIM before moving your number to them. You need a 3G phone too, most are... I find coverage is pretty good, but it depends on your regular haunts.

mac.d

If you want to compare it to electricity, it'd be like instead of putting £10 credit on your electric key and then using it up at the advertised tariff of say 14p per kwh, you could decide to convert that £10 to a bundle and get 100Kwh for 30 days. You're getting it slightly cheaper but it expires after 30 days. Once you've used up that bundle of kwh's, you'll get charged at the standard 14p rate, unless you buy another bundle.

So yes, mobile phone companies do offer true PAYG, but unlike electric companies, they also offer value bundles with their PAYG accounts.

Three's 3-2-1 PAYG sim is one of the best value, but you can buy bundles from them too and pay even less than the standard PAYG rate, which is what you were doing with Tesco.

As long as your phone is 3G enabled, and their coverage is ok in your area, then Three are definitely worth a try.

Check out Ken's Tech Tips for a comparison of all the PAYG prices:

http://kenstechtips.com/index.php/compare-pay-as-you-go-networks

d123

Frozen_up_north wrote: »

I use a Three PAYG SIM in a remote alarm, their PAYG prices are what you see, 3p per min, 2p per SMS text and 1p per MB. I also have two SIM only contracts.

Three also offer add-on bundles that will bring the unit price down cheaper than the 3-2-1 rates.

rbulph

d123 wrote: »

Three also offer add-on bundles that will bring the unit price down cheaper than the 3-2-1 rates.

Yeah maybe, if the bundle happens to be close to the amount you actually use.

Anyway I've now discovered that my phone has been locked to the tesco/O2 network automatically, even though I bought the phone outright and not from tesco. Pretty angry about that and I don't see the justification for it. So I have to wait for another code, this time from the manufacturer, and enter it somewhere. Tesco should have told me this when I asked for the PAC code. More aggro.