teenage bolt-on hell

[Anonymous]

My teenage son lives with his Mum but i pay his monthly (contract) phone bill.  His data usage has gone sky-high as he has been buying bolt-ons without my consent.  I changed  my username, password & security question but he still has been able to buy bolt-ons.  I think he is doing this through the O2 app.  It seems that if you "forget" your log on details they will send you a pin number to access the account - is this correct?  If so, then I don't know how I can stop him from buying these bolt-ons, and i suppose he could even upgrade his phone etc.  Can anyone help please - I'm at my wits end.

[jonsie]

How long is left on the contract? If it's a Refresh you can pay off the device and cancel the contract then it will be up to his mum to take out an account and manage it. You could also try calling customer service to see if they can put a restriction on purchasing bolt ons but to be honest you need some strong words with your son and just tell him it has to stop or you will end the contract and he will have to go P&G.

[MI5]

I'd have cancelled it already if I were you - it will be cheaper in the long run.

[Cleoriff]

I agree with @MI5 and @jonsie ...this contract needs cancelling as soon as possible. My son (much older than yours) got into trouble twice with his bill. I bailed him out on those 2 occasions then put my foot down and said no more. He is now payg and will probably stay on that until he is better placed financially...

[PhoneDoc]

If you're the account holder, the only way you could definitely stop this is by making him pay for his own SIM.

If I were you, I would:

1. Tell him he'll lose the phone if there are any further unexpected bills. That is, if you feel he deserves another chance. If this fails:
2. Go into an O2 Store with your passport or drivers license. Ask them to swap his number on to a new SIM card. He'll lose service immediately and you'll be in possession of the number you're paying for. He wont be able to place a call on the account, never mind buy a bolt on after this is done.
3. Tell your son to take out his own contract or PAYG sim for the phone.

Alternatively, if you want the phone back, you can trade it in towards the cost of cancelling the contract early. If he refuses to return it, you can report it stolen to O2, who will then place a bar on the handset meaning it could be no longer be used with any SIM.

[Bambino]

If your son is doing this without your consent, it would seem perfectly reasonable for you to stop it. From what you've described, it appears that's the only way for you to prevent this burning a hole in your wallet. A reality check is in order. He needs to understand that he can't just do whatever he likes and you'll foot the bill no matter what, and he needs to begin to take responsibility for his actions.

[Anonymous]

I think the thing to bear in mind though is the OP may not want to take his sons phone away. My wifes two children from her first marriage live with us, and they have mobile phones so they can contact their Dad whenever they want without having to as. Its one of those your dad is still your dad and you can speak whenever you want without having to ask permission to use the phone. Also visa versa when the kids are with their dad they can ring home whenever they want. So canceling the phone might not be the ideal solution.

There is the option of pay as you go, but if his kids are anything like mine you sort of know that any credit that gets put on wont last the week, let alone the month. 

However if he is doing this all through the myO2 app, how about an app, there was an app called Abeona (seems to have disappeared now, but surely others are available), that I use on the kids phones that shows you what they download, and what apps they access. It also gives you the ability to block any apps that you think they shouldn't access. Now some might see it as intrusive, it does also show calls made and texts and websites looked at.

But I figure there has to be an alternative to taking away the privilege altogether.

[Cleoriff]

I know only too well the difficulties experienced when a family relationship breaks down. We never know the circumstances (nor do we need to) ..but the OP in this case is paying over the odds for the privilege of maintaining his son's phone bill. There is also the aspect that if you are old enough to have a mobile...then you 'should' be old enough to take responsibility for the cost. If any child of mine started hacking my passwords in order to add credit to a phone that I was paying for.... he would lose that privilege immediately. Or be given a payg sim.

[PhoneDoc]

This is very true @Cleoriff. Everyone's circumstances will be different. Fortunately there's a wide range of options in cases like these, ranging from a stern conversations, to the son providing his own DD details for bill payments, to removal of the sim, and finally to removal or barring of the handset

[Anonymous]

To be honest I just thgought that my idea of restricting access to the app wouldn't work anyway would it, if you can get on the app, you can get on the website and buy bolt ons that.

And I am not disagreeing  with everyone else who says a stern talking to etc, I am just operating on the assumption that a stern talking to has already happened and been ignored, I was just trying to provide another alternative. 

Although like I said just realised that it was a bad idea and wouldn't work anyway. 

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