Dispute With Tesco Mobile

theblue

In February I may have inadverdantly used some data in an airport resulting in a bill for around £260. I disputed this bill on the grounds that a safety buffer should have been on my account. TM claim I removed the safety buffer when I upgraded however I dispute this. In an email confirmation I received when I upgraded, there is no mention of the safety buffer at all. Having reached deadlock, I escalated the matter to the Ombudsman. During the course of my complaint, TM terminated my contract as the oustanding balance remained unpaid. I had offered to pay any bills other than that which was disputed however TM ignored this and the total they now claim I owe is in the region of £1600. The Ombudsman have ruled in favour of TM. They say that they cannot prove one way or another whether I removed the safety buffer while upgrading however they think it is more likely that I did. They have offered no rationale for this. I have stated that TM's actions in terminating the contract and billing me for the outstanding value while a bill is under dispute goes against the spirt of offering a resolution service and in fact undermines it. The Ombudsman accept this but have no powers to do anything about it.

TM claim their records show I removed the safety buffer. An online order confirmation appears to show this however this was never sent to me and the email confirmation does not mention it at all. There is a data cap which applies to roaming outside the EU. Even without the safety buffer, I do not believe I have ever opted out of this. Finally, TM's mobile states the following:

"If you’re not on a Capped contract or have removed your safety buffer
We’ll still protect you with a high-usage limit!to stop you running up unexpectedly high bills. This limit varies per tariff but could be!up to!4 times the cost of your monthly tariff. If you reach this high-usage limit you won’t be able to use your phone until you make a payment.
Also, there’s a limit on how much you can spend on data abroad – to help you avoid a scary bill when you get home. You can spend up to £40 on data, but!after that we’ll bar your device, so you don’t rack up any more charges. If this happens, you can call us on 4455 from your Tesco Mobile phone, or call our automated payment line free on 4488 and once you’ve made a payment you can use your phone again within 2 hours. If you’re on a tariff with a safety buffer!then you can protect what you spend by choosing a safety buffer that’s right for you.

If you’re happy to spend more than £40 on data when you’re away, call us on 4455 before you go."

TM did not apply any bar on my phone after the £40 limit. I think it is clear from the above that, even if TM's contention that I had removed the safety buffer is correct, the bill should still not have exceded £40. The Ombudsman did not consider this final piece of information as it was not available to me at the time.

I am looking for advice on how to proceed. My main concern here is removing adverse information from my credit file as soon as possible and obviously I have no intention of paying monies that I do not owe. From what I can gather I may need to take the matter to court but this would also cost me money I would rather not spend.

pmduk

Where was the Airport? TBH, your only recourse from here is court and to win at court you need evidence. Your confirmation of this contract has no mention of a buffer, so it would be argued by TM that you should not have relied upon it.

I assume from your reference to adverse credit entries that you didn't make any payments at all? Using that as a bargaining tool is always likely to bite you on the backside. Failure to make a payment is a record of fact and difficult to remove from your credit record.

theblue

Doha, Qatar. I'm sure TM will argue that however, as I said, I think the information on their website supercedes that anyway.

Yes, my only option was to pay the entire outstanding amount which I was not, and am not, prepared to do. I offered, in writing, to pay the agreed tariff until the Ombudsman had ruled on the disputed amount however TM terminated the contract and billed me for the remainder of the contract.

BoGoF

How did £260 turn into £1600?

theblue

£1600 would be the remaining payments on the handset and monthly tariff.

BoGoF

TBH it was foolish not to pay your ongoing monthly contractual payments. Sometimes 'principals' are not all they are made out to be.

pmduk

Nothing on a website will supersede your own contract. The only option I can see is court. The full extent of your usage overseas isn't usually known to your home network until it is billed by the overseas network. They get an advance notice, followed by full details which can take up to 3 months to arrive.

theblue

BoGoF wrote: »

TBH it was foolish not to pay your ongoing monthly contractual payments. Sometimes 'principals' are not all they are made out to be.

I'm not sure what way you think I should have got round that. TM added the £260 to my monthly bill. If I paid the monthly bill less that £260 they would still have terminated the contract. I wrote to them offering to continue paying until the disputed bill had been dealt with by the Ombudsman but they would not accept this.

pmduk wrote: »

Nothing on a website will supersede your own contract. The only option I can see is court. The full extent of your usage overseas isn't usually known to your home network until it is billed by the overseas network. They get an advance notice, followed by full details which can take up to 3 months to arrive.

There is nothing in the contract about overseas data usage.

eDicky

Did Tesco not communicate about the missed payment, asking for it etc..?

theblue

eDicky wrote: »

Did Tesco not communicate about the missed payment, asking for it etc..?

Yes, autmoatically generated letters about an outstanding balance were sent.

pmduk

theblue wrote: »

There is nothing in the contract about overseas data usage.

Your contract will state that you pay for what you use. That is the very essence of the contract.