02 unlimted browsing bolt on-dammmm

cjcooper

3 months back i signed up to 02 for the N95 8 GB and that came with a free bolt on for unlimted web browsing.
now i checked on the 02 bolt on web site and there was nothing stating it was for UK only.
this months mobile bill came in and im shocked beyond all belife as i now have a £400 bill to pay.
i spoke to 02 about this and they said it is in the terms and conditions. but their front web page does not state UK only unlike the minutes or texts.
i have sent them several mails on this but they will not budge. can anyone help?

mcmanlyn

Yeah the front page doesn't state anything about UK or non-UK use - but the Terms & Conditions do!!
It does help to read them when you sign up to things!

cjcooper

ok thanks matey

Leopard

The reason they won't budge on it is because it's not something they supply themselves - they've been billed for it by the network you used abroad.

cjcooper

Leopard wrote: »

The reason they won't budge on it is because it's not something they supply themselves - they've been billed for it by the network you used abroad.

which was 02 germany. no worries all thanks for your input

Leopard

I can well understand your annoyance (particularly since it was a fellow Telefonica subsidiary company). The front page should have made it clear.

You could try threatening to complain about it to Ofcom (or whatever) if they won't compromise on it (pay half?). The administrative cost to them, quite apart from any hassle/penalty/sanction they then got as a result of that, would probably cost them more than the £400.

The problem is that you'll be dealing with a jobsworth who can't and won't see it like that.

It's possible to argue that the degree to which the front page is disingenuous was at best carelessly misleading and at worst deliberately intended to mislead.

deano27_2

Ouch. Not good at all and I feel your frustration. Out of interest what rip off price did you get per Mb?

Did you get charged any multiple connections charges at the minimum rate as those are immoral charging and the operators are making a fortune. i.e. phones disconnecting/reconnecting etc and then being charged a minimum data charge regardless if the data used is negligible..

cjcooper

deano27 wrote: »

Ouch. Not good at all and I feel your frustration. Out of interest what rip off price did you get per Mb?

Did you get charged any multiple connections charges at the minimum rate as those are immoral charging and the operators are making a fortune. i.e. phones disconnecting/reconnecting etc and then being charged a minimum data charge regardless if the data used is negligible..

i think one of the figures quoted was £6 per MB. as for the rest i havent a clue as to what they are charging me.

i am replying again to 02 mycare (ha ha ha) to see how they respond to leapords advice of the off com threat.

mikegahan

Sadly, this sounds like a cynical exercise by O2. How many other customers have fallen into that trap? They had a moral obligation to point out clearly that the offer was not valid overseas. But although O2 Uk will be billed by their O2 "cousins" in germany, you can bet O2 Uk have added their own layer of profit to the transaction, thus they might reduce the charges to you
:money:

Leopard

I suffered a similar experience to this some years ago (using GPRS, in Spain, to get my laptop on to the Internet). Fortunately, the 'phone deployed was - with her consent! - my companion's office mobile and it was paid by them without more than a raised eyebrow. (They had, after all, asked her to keep in touch.)

In pursuing this further, you'll need to cover in advance any suggestion by O2 (or anyone else) that you could be being unscrupulous by having deliberately taken advantage of the fact that the front page was misleading to use your 'phone profligately abroad.

I've put that badly but I'm sure you'll grasp what i mean.

I'm just saying that anything you do argue should be expressed with that potential defence by them in mind. You have to make it clear that you were genuinely misled.

To that end, it could be wise to aver, for example, "I realise that there might be some who would deliberately apply this disingenuous wording to nefarious advantage but I was genuinely and very expensively misled by it. The sum of £400 is a seriously large sum of money to somebody in my circumstances and I cannot afford to pay it without causing considerable collateral hardship to my family. (etc.)".

At the very least you ought to be able to get them to agree to let you pay the £400 in, say, ten instalments of £40. (Which would be handy even if you can well afford it. :cool: )

Watch out for the dangers of any potential damage to your credit rating in whatever way you decide to resolve it, though.

It's always best to be firm but friendly and polite. It brings out the best in people (particularly if they're having a hard day) and stops it looking like blackmail (even if that's actually what it is!).

Good luck!

redux

mikegahan wrote: »

Sadly, this sounds like a cynical exercise by O2. How many other customers have fallen into that trap? They had a moral obligation to point out clearly that the offer was not valid overseas.

O2 has not tricked anyone into this use. Contracted minutes are not usable abroad, so there isn't any reason to assume that data would be.

The website describes both ordinary and roaming data add-ons, and the latter is on pages about using data and about int'l use,

e.g.

If you are planning a holiday or travelling on business, why not take advantage of our Data Roaming Bolt Ons? Depending on your planned data usage abroad, you can select from the following options:

• Data Abroad 10: £20 per month for 10MB of data
• Data Abroad 50: £50 per month for 50MB of data

No deceit there then

.