Shock bill from 3 mobile

stulaunch

Hi, My son, who's monthly 3 mobile bill is always £13, has had a bill for last month of £170. He sometimes get's a warning of data usage and that must be capped as he's not able to connect once he's got to his limit. 
But in this instance, It's the cost of minutes outside allowance, that has incurred these extra costs
Now, I'm not asking advice advice how to not pay, his girlfriend was not very well at Uni away from home, and was concerned with the situation of Corona virus. But genuinely didn't realise his error. He never received any warning of his call allowance running out, or when he had gone over.
But I was wondering if there was any possibility of a mobile company, 3 in this instance, would give any reductions if asked?

[Deleted User]

Only 3 can tell him that, as it will be discretionary.  

Tell him to call them and ask nicely if there's anything they can do. 

Exemplar

Corona Virus has nothing to do with this.

stulaunch

Exemplar said:

Corona Virus has nothing to do with this.

Sorry, I didn't say that it had? Just that I'm sympathetic as to why HE made an error. 
I just wondered if anyone knew how sympathetic 3 mobile were to anyone that has had similar 

Frozen_up_north

All the current Three SIM only contracts have unlimited minutes, talk to Three nicely and ask to move onto one of those... they might also waive the outstanding amount, which seems like a huge bill.

This all assumes the bill is the result of calls to a UK mobile or landline.

Bogof_OAP

Can't you go into the Three account (there's an app) and see where the excessive usage occurred?  I suspect perhaps a call wasn't ended properly and racked up the costs overnight or something.

stulaunch

Frozen_up_north said:

All the current Three SIM only contracts have unlimited minutes, talk to Three nicely and ask to move onto one of those... they might also waive the outstanding amount, which seems like a huge bill.

This all assumes the bill is the result of calls to a UK mobile or landline.

I did want to do this. But it's not possible to discuss this atm, due to call centre restrictions. I will have to try at a later date.Bogof_OAP said:

Can't you go into the Three account (there's an app) and see where the excessive usage occurred?  I suspect perhaps a call wasn't ended properly and racked up the costs overnight or something.

No, it was genuine calls. They texted him to say his data was running out. But not sure why they don't do the same thing with voice calls.

pramsay13

Is the £13 a PAYG sim?
My son has a PAYG sim with 3 and the calls are 3p per minute so he would have to have been on for 5666 minutes, or 94 hours which seems crazy.
That said three are usually quite generous so call them or start a web chat and see what they say.

stulaunch

pramsay13 said:

Is the £13 a PAYG sim?
My son has a PAYG sim with 3 and the calls are 3p per minute so he would have to have been on for 5666 minutes, or 94 hours which seems crazy.
That said three are usually quite generous so call them or start a web chat and see what they say.

No, it's a sim only contract. 55p @ min out of allowance cost

sdduk

stulaunch said:

pramsay13 said:

Is the £13 a PAYG sim?
My son has a PAYG sim with 3 and the calls are 3p per minute so he would have to have been on for 5666 minutes, or 94 hours which seems crazy.
That said three are usually quite generous so call them or start a web chat and see what they say.

No, it's a sim only contract. 55p @ min out of allowance cost

Sounds like the number or numbers are out of his call allowance and calling a more expensive numbers like 50p/£1.50p a min.
just as a guess the amount but you get the drift of it that really can only be the explanation.
The best thing to do is try and ring Three and see if he can get a goodwill gesture from them.

20aday

Might be worth your son turning on Three's "Control Your Spend" to avoid any further shocks in the future?