Pay Monthly and Pay & Go

[lucial]

My husband recently travelled to Brasil to visit his family .

We are both iphone customers and received his bill of £ 1600,00
pounds i am devastated as i never in my life thought that a telephone bill could amount to this .We have agreed on £ 150,00 payment per month for 4 months and then a review will be held . His credit rating will be affected for 6 years.
There goes our plans to buy a flat here .

Before he left we visited the o2 shop and they told him not to turn his roaming on , so i often called him my bill is £66.00 this month , the sales assistant told us that because we were paying £ 45 per month on contract we had different rates that seemed quite okay !

Is there any body that ever received a bill like this I am really dissapointed and am seriosly considering changing networks .

[perksie Level 60: Scholar]

It's all too easy to run up huge bills when abroad.

More info here:

http://www.o2international.co.uk/callin ... s/its.aspx

Good luck.

[SLB]

What is the actual charges for? I'm guessing GRPS?

If so and it's the first bill you have thats so high they can sometimes send off for bill shock to get it credited back.

Also what was the exact advice the CSA in store gave you?

You might be able to put a complaint in but depends of a few more details.

[markkcurtis]

If the bill is for internet usage and you had data roaming off - then DO NOT AGREE TO PAY FOR ANYTHING.

I'm shouting as you absolutely are not obliged to pay this money if this is the case. There are numerous discussions on this board where the iphone is downloading data abroad despite data roaming being off. Also on the Apple forums it's the same.

I am abroad at the moment and I have data roaming off, yet the iphone randomly tries to download data - sometimes succeeding. Also when I send or receive and MMS it registers the data as chargeable.

It's not on and O2 and Apple need to get this sorted for everyone especially people like you with shock bills.

[jonsie Level 61: Brainiac]

My husband recently travelled to Brasil to visit his family .
Before he left we visited the o2 shop and they told him not to turn his roaming on , so i often called him my bill is £66.00 this month.

I can understand the shock receiving such a large bill.
When you say you often called him....how often?
Receiving calls in Brazil would cost 141p/minute and if he called you back it would cost 199p/minute unless he had the international traveller service bolt-on.
Ask o2 for a complete breakdown of the charges and if there is anything on there with regards to data usage maybe you can challenge those charges?

[markle]

If the bill is for internet usage and you had data roaming off - then DO NOT AGREE TO PAY FOR ANYTHING.

A word of warning, if you just cancel your Direct Debit or don't pay your bill, then the OP will trash their credit record.

Personally - I'd find out what the charges are for. If they're for voice calls, then I don't think you have much of a case to dispute the charges. If they're for data when you had data turned off, then you might have more of a chance... but then how would you prove that you had data off? Dispute it with O2 if you want, they may agree to an arrangement with you. However if O2 don't budge, you will need to find a way to pay your bill. If you have no savings, you may have to put it on a credit card or take out a bank loan to pay (and therefore allowing you to spread the cost over several months) - go for whichever option has the better APR.

But - if you don't pay your bill without agreement from O2, you will risk damaging your credit history.

I'm not an expert in this area though - I'd really suggest posting on moneysavingexpert.com or similar for advice.

[jonsie Level 61: Brainiac]

If the bill is for internet usage and you had data roaming off - then DO NOT AGREE TO PAY FOR ANYTHING.

A word of warning, if you just cancel your Direct Debit or don't pay your bill, then the OP will trash their credit record.[/quote

I couldn't agree more Mark! It needs sorting now lucial so get a breakdown of your charges and if there is anything you disagree with, then speak to customer service.You can also check your recent charges on MY O2 and will be able to see if its for data charges or calls.

[thurnscoelad]

Hi i dont know if you still are looking for an outcome in thie matter you have got, But i did have a similar case like yours and the only reason that I recieved a phone bill of the amount of £1,025.00 was die to O2 been incompliant company who did not offer me any debt assistance advise which by the duty of care act they are supposed to bar your account, offer you relevant products and services such as 21202 - balance checker, and most inportantly call you if your account goes into serious arrears.

My advised to your dear is to email complaintreviewservice@o2.com with whats happened and what you did not recieve as a customer.

Good Luck hun xx

[canwefixit]

Luke, if you aren't responsible enough to take care of a contract phone you should maybe consider pay and go. It tells you online about 21202 their balance checking service and customer services have promoted it to me several times when I have called. You can also keep up to date with your bills, allowance and recent charges online. Oh you can also check this for free (within the uk) on your handset http://wap.o2.co.uk/myo2account or text myo2 to 2020 and they'll send you a link. If you have an iphone you can download the myo2 app for free to also keep on top of your billing and, finally, you call always call customer services and ask.

Sorry if I sound harsh here Luke but I really do think people who say that o2 don't do enough to keep you up to date with allowance and recent charges are usually trying to shift the blame from them going over their allowance and talking rubbish. If you have your own contract then you must be over 18 so shouldn't need somebody to hold your hand. Take some responsibility.

Can't pay your bill? If you tell o2 they'll allow you to spread it over two months or if it's very high they have a debt assist team you can speak to who will negotiate a payment plan for you. So they're fulfilling their obligations there.

Block your account? Yes they do in fact do this, very often. However by the time the billing system updates the customer may have already ran up a large bill. This tends not to happen too much in the UK as it usually updates within 12 hours but it can take days for billing info to reach o2 if you're on a foreign network.

o2 are actually, from what I've experienced, really good when it comes to running up a big bill from data roaming. They will review your account, educate you about how data roaming charges work and how to turn off data roaming (on an iphone) and often credit back the charges as a one off goodwill gesture, I know several people who have had this.