Help with bill of £2,300

imagine123

robt wrote: »

That is a hell of a lot of data for 3 weeks and he was almost certainly using the phone as a modem, which is more than likely banned in his contract.

That amount of data is NOT normal usage, and I would suggest that your son knew was he was doing downloading much.

However, I really do think that you could get the network to write it off. In general, don't networks block your phone automatically if they notice an unusual usage pattern or if you spend over £x (as in £150-200, not £2000!).

Son, who is computer literate assures me he had no idea and states he expected to receive notification when his limit was reached, but as previously stated he heard nothing until the phone was blocked. When I initially contacted Vodafone they advised that they do not limit spend automatically but will if the customer requests it??? As someone has stated this would appear to be a large amount to in effect "lend" to someone who would not have a lot of credit history to check up on.

EdCov

Stacey21's post is really interesting because it tells you what you are up against. It would be interesting to know what job Stacey21 does.

I think the most interesting line is "How are Vodafone supposed to know someone can't afford the phone bill?" Simple, they are supposed to do credit checks, and not to get someone into debt that could be dangerous.

I agree with Stacey21 that credit check questions are a road to pursue. I would be very interested in the credit check, your son could ask about doing a Freedom of Information check and ask what information would be available regarding the credit check. Freedom of Information checks are not free, but they are very useful in gathering information for legal action and organisations do not like them at all. Therefore sometimes you can find out a certain amount without having to do the check. Ask how much it would cost and what information would be available and explain your reasoning, i.e. you think the lending is irresponsible.

The aim of being polite to staff is that you make a connection with them, where they realise that they are not just doing a job, but that they are a person talking to a real person. A real person who could be put into serious hardship by a £2300 bill.

Many call centre staff will just take what they are told and will not question it. They may not know about laws that protect the consumer and will be told that anyone who runs up a large bill just needs to get on and pay it. If you can get it to the more specialised staff, who will be more aware of the other issues, then you should have more luck.

Many staff will not understand all the issues, but I would hope you would be able to get past them and on to other staff who may understand it better. Perhaps even some who have children who do silly things at times and can connect.

The problem is that the law does offer some protection to you, but it is trying to get that to work for you without expensive legal action. The thing to remember is that Vodafone want the legal action about as much as you do.

On this I would try to contact Martin directly, they have had an involvement with fighting unfair bank charges and may be able to help with fighting charges that are unfair for internet usage. As stated these charges bear no relation whatsoever to cost.

Another person to write to is your MP, some can be quite helpful in these areas. Vodafone will not like MPs getting involved because the law could be changed to provide more specific protection, and the charges are extortionate.

Another way of resolving it that may be far less confrontational, ask if you can change package. State you made a mistake and signed up to the wrong package and you want to change from the beginning.

Ask if you can be put on the mobile broadband package. Unfortunately this will commit you to paying for the life of the contract. So you are committing to an extra £30 a month for 18 months (if it is an 18 month contract) this would equal £540 but payable over 18 months and to receive a data service of up to 3gb. However the bill would just be the standard line rental plus £30. I think they also do a £9.99 a day package which may work out for the three weeks as less but does not give you the data usage that your son obviously wants!

On an 18 month contract you get a free data card which may even make life easier.


This would be effectively upgrading your contract which should be allowed.

thesaint

EdCov wrote: »

your son could ask about doing a Freedom of Information check and ask what information would be available regarding the credit check. Freedom of Information checks are not free, but they are very useful in gathering information for legal action and organisations do not like them at all.

The Freedom of Information act does not apply to mobile companies.

Pagan98

The Freedom of Information act does not apply to mobile companies.

Correct, but the Data Protection Act does and your son is entitled to see the information held on him upon request and payment of the statutory fee of £10. I suggest you visit the Consumer Action Group (www.consumeractiongroup.com) for example Subject Access Request letters.

espresso

More information is needed regarding the contract and exactly what your son did but according to this page

"You’ll automatically go on our daily rate of up to £1 per day, unless you tell us otherwise."

The invoice should detail the amount of data used and how the charges have been calculated and he should know if this is correct.

More information about mobile internet charges here.

thesaint

Pagan98 wrote: »

Correct, but the Data Protection Act does and your son is entitled to see the information held on him upon request and payment of the statutory fee of £10. I suggest you visit the Consumer Action Group (www.consumeractiongroup.com) for example Subject Access Request letters.

I do not believe that the £10 is a statutory fee, but the maximum that can be charged.

Pagan98

Okay, £10 is the statutory maximum fee.

imagine123

Hi All,

Just a quick update.... Have had a response re my email to CEO and am presently in negotiations with a very nice chap... reasonably hopeful that we will be able to come to a mutually agreeable conclusion... :-)

Old_Gold

Please keep us updated. I am sure we are all interested to know how he could have incurred such a high bill so quickly.

stacey21_2

Edcov, I work part time for o2 at the moment amongst also being a teacher...

As I said in my post, any mobile company are not babysitters so cannot keep an eye on everyones account, yes, there are times when customers accounts are barred after £50 of usage, after £200 of usage, after £500 of usage. As I said in the post, I would encourage the OP to go along the route of what credit score came back from her son to allow the bill to be so high. As mentioned, he must have had a high score to be classed as 'low risk' and so the debt prevention department would have had no need to look at his account. Although I do work in this 'industry' and feel for the customers who run up high phone bills, at the end of the day, a service has been used that needs to be paid for? I said earlier also that I'm sure Vodafone are the only ones who have an automated service for contracts that you can phone and see what your balance is - they could simply argue back that the customer had 'no due care and attention' to the bill he was running up, surely part of the agreement we take out with any credit providers?

As I also mentioned previously, most mobile companies do have some sort of leeway when it comes to GPRS charges, i.e if its a first time 'offence' where the customer did not genuinely know the charges being run up we would come to an agreement. However, they may reply stating that as your son is 'computer literate' as you put it, he would surely know that using it as a modem uses far more data than standard browsing on the phone..

Do keep us updated, I don't mean to sound harsh - just giving an 'insiders' point of view..!