My husband and myself have been on an extended holiday. We were overseas for seven weeks on a cruise.
We both took our iPhones (mine iPhone 5c, husband's 5s), but made sure data roaming was switched off before we left. Apart from one text that I sent in Singapore, neither of us sent any texts, didn't receive or make any phone calls and didn't turn on data roaming in order to use the internet. We kept in touch with people by email and Twitter, but used the ship's wifi network for this.
We are therefore suprised that we have both received bills for overseas roaming from O2. There are 40p charges for texts while we were on the ship and one for a day when we were in Fiji. There are also £4.99 O2 travel charges on some of the days we were in New Zealand and USA, although I also had a £4.99 charge on one day I was in Australia.
We have both been affected by this, and the pattern of charges is different. My charges amounted to £14.40 and my husband's charges were £37.33
Obviously, we both contacted O2, fully explaining the situation, and asking for a refund and also asked how this could have happened.
We've both had confirmation that the fees have been refunded, but the complaints have not been upheld as the charges are 'correct and valid'. They completely ignored our request for an explanation of how this could have happened.
We're obviously pleased that the fees have been refunded, but it's like a complete brick wall trying to get an explanation from O2. Their position is that the fees are correct because the SIM says so, and no matter how many times we seek more information as to how we could have been charged for something we didnt use, we are completely blanked. We even asked for both of our complaints to be escalated to a senior member of staff for review. However, this request has been refused. The complaint handlers say they are the highest port of call within O2, and there's no one to escalate the complaint to, as managers are not customer facing and just manage colleagues.
One part of me wants to give this up as they are going to credit our accounts with the disputed charges. This will also be better for my blood pressure.
But on the other hand, its become a matter of principle to get a full explanation of how this situation could have happened. The current stance from the O2 Complaint Review Service agents is 'if you arent happy, go to the Ombudsman'. Trouble is, there's no real evidence that we didn't use the services we have been billed for, its just our word against O2.
So my questions to the community are as follows
Has anybody any idea how we could have been charged for O2 Travel (bearing in mind data roaming was always turned off) and texts we didnt send?
Is there anything I can do to get O2 to look at this and do a meaningful investigation?
Any thoughts would be read with interest!
