Vodafone: £700 bill for two calls - can anything be done?

Asterisk

A relative misunderstood ‘unlimited free minutes’ and made two phone calls to the USA one day. He has now been slapped with a £700 bill. Is there anything we can do? He's a long-standing customer and the call was uncharacteristic. Yes, it was stupid, but he is on low income and honestly didn’t realise. Any advice on mitigating this would be appreciated.

Sharon87

How long were the calls? They must have been quite long. I've called US numbers in the past - short calls but they cost me a couple of quid.

I don't think there's much to be done to be honest. You could phone the phone company to see if they can waive any charges, but it's in the terms that 'unlimited free minutes' are for UK calls only, so it could be a case of 'tough luck'.

Asterisk

One was 20 min and one was 3 h. I would have expected Vodafone to have flagged it after the first one and sent a text, but apparently not.

BoGoF

Why on earth would they flag a 20 minute call to another country.

I would have expected your relative to check their online/app billing to check.

dialdfordave

Asterisk wrote: »

One was 20 min and one was 3 h. I would have expected Vodafone to have flagged it after the first one and sent a text, but apparently not.

I was going to say that the calls must have been longer than that to reach a value of £700, however I've just checked and I see that without opting in to a bundle for lower prices, a call to the US costs £3 per minute!

That is absolutely horrendous, for something that costs them wholesale much less than a penny.

[Deleted User]

Asterisk wrote: »

One was 20 min and one was 3 h. I would have expected Vodafone to have flagged it after the first one and sent a text, but apparently not.

You're entirely dependant on their customer goodwill. Try a postal letter.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/bills-and-utilities/phone/vodafone-make-customer-services-listen-complaint/

Asterisk

Phone companies are supposed to flag unusual behaviour on an account precisely so that there are no unpleasant surprises when it comes to the bill. Instead they blocked that SIM, and when he went into the store to find out why his phone wasn't working, they upgraded his handset and sold him another contract with a different phone number! He then couldn't get into his old account to try and find out what was going on. It's taken hours on the chat line to try and get his old number reinstated and to sort it all out.

[Deleted User]

Asterisk wrote: »

Phone companies are supposed to flag unusual behaviour on an account precisely so that there are no unpleasant surprises when it comes to the bill. Instead they blocked that SIM, and when he went into the store to find out why his phone wasn't working, they upgraded his handset and sold him another contract with a different phone number! He then couldn't get into his old account to try and find out what was going on. It's taken hours on the chat line to try and get his old number reinstated and to sort it all out.

No, HE upgraded his handset and bought a new contract. Unless you're claiming they forced him at gunpoint in which case you need the police.

Why would someone who knows they owe £700 to a company do that, especially if they're allegedly on a low income?