Disgraceful charges!!!

[Anonymous]

This is the letter I have written to O2 this morning after being charged £125 for 30 minute call, they then blamed 118 118, saying the charge is solely theirs. I called 118 118 who kindly refunded there side but O2 would not budge a inch and stated rather unhelpfully that adverting is advertising and I should pay more attention!!!
To whom it may concern,

I am writing in regards to a serious issue that I have encountered regarding your company. I made a call to 118 118 using my mobile (5pm 30.1.15), this call was in regards to helping a friend of mine find accommodation through the gateway service for homeless people.
The call lasted 30 minutes, of course i expected to have a charge higher than normal but to my horror I was charged £125 for this single call.
I called your customer service team and was informed the charge had nothing to do with O2 and the charge was solely from 118 118. I then called 118 118 and they explained there is a charge which they rescinded, but they only charge £2.57 per minute, therefore they charged me £79.35.
I then contacted your customer service team yet again and spoke to Philomena, she said she was unaware of what proportion O2 charged, but was not willing to refund the difference.
My phone is blocked, this in a time where I am on benefits and looking for work is paramount to daylight robbery, your team has being incredible inflexible and have chosen to hide behind set costs and stating it is all in the advertising, so basically like it or lump. The cost for this one call is debilitating to say the least and i even offered to pay the sum over a period of time, this just just get my phone up and running so I can make calls and receive call in regards to work.
I would ask this is dealt with with immediate effect. I have worked for software companies and even sold social media technology, I am fully aware of how companies such as yourselves realise the damage of this kind of case can bring.
I am happy to make a partial realistic payment but can find no way in this world that your charge and subsequent actions can be justified.

My case reference is:****

Kind regards,

Jeremy Travis

[Anonymous]

A reasonable set of requests that one would hope O2 Customer Services answer.

[Anonymous]

I note that that OP hasn't answered about whether he had been asked by 118 118 to put the call through.

He does however state that people shouldn't comment when they don't know the full facts.

Well I am sorry @Anonymous but one of the difficulties in helping people on a forum like this is when people asking a question fail to provide the full story. So we do have to read between the lines somewhat.

Whether you were helping someone as you state or not is not o2's responsibility. You have made a chargeable call and been charged for it.

Now whether o2 could have a social conscience and consider a good will gesture is another matter. But this forum is full of posts from people who have been charged for something (correctly) and then making veiled comments about shouting from the rooftops about how wronged they have been to get their way.

Based on the information you have provided I think you have done well to get 118 to agree a refund. Hopefully you will get the cheque. I don't know if o2 will offer to assist but if they don't then I don't see what else you can do. Sorry

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your response, I understand what you are saying at take your point on board.

I just think to charge like this is disgraceful, and I cant see how it is justified? To simply say I you accepted making the call, doesnt really get the base of this entire argument, how can these charges be justified and how can they bar my phone when my bill date hasnt even become overdue?

Also why keep allowing outgoing calls but stop incoming, where is the sense in that?

[Anonymous]

Totally agree about the cost of these calls. That's why I never use them. Always use my data connection. The cost of any of the directory enquiries (especially on a mobile) is extortionate, borderline rip off.

The call barring will have been the result of a credit limit. Once you reach that the phone use is restricted actually to avoid a high bill and is intended to help you, the customer. That said, once the customer has made contact then depending on the conversation the bar should be lifted. The issue here though that you are now asking to spread the bill. That tells o2 you don't have the money so they would, like any other business, restrict the risk.

Like you I don't get why they are restricting inbound calls. I suspect that is an error on o2's part.

I would recommend you pay the £46, advise you are awaiting a refund from 118 which is due in 28 days and see if they will Un bar your phone.

Then I would suggest you email complaintreviewservice@o2.com and see if they can assist (you may have already done so) but remember at best you "might" get a goodwill gesture but o2 don't on the face of it currently have any case to answer sadly.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Thank you for your suggestions.

I will call them and try to get the bar lifted on inbound calls.

I have emailed the complaint review service, the [roblem with this is it says it will take 7 days for a response, this obviously isnt ideal given the situation.

I see what you say that they dont have a case to answer, but I still disagree with the level of charges, these can not be justified, and the lack of compasion to cusotmers is quite shocking and not what I would expect or what I have encountered anywhere before. 

I will hope they have a change of heart and see that financially cripling someone for a genuine mistake is not good business sense and is viewed poorly by the general public.

thanks again for your help and advice

[MI5]

They don't have to justify the charges.
They advertise the costs and it's up to the individual to choose to use the service or not.
It really is quite simple really.

[Anonymous]

Hi @Anonymous 

  Like somebody mentioned you have to read between the lines and there's a reason for all my questions before. Again, I'm doing this one step by step to look a bit more logical.

  My perception: You rang 118118, they offered to transfer the call, you accepted.First thing to point out, everybody knows calls to 118 numbers are extortion,fact! When you get transferred you are technically still ringing the 118 number so you keep paying the same,also fact.But do they point that out?No! Also fact! And this is the reason why so many people fall for it.So, although done in a sneaky way, the charges are correct, so there's no error on your bill.But unlike some people think customer services do understand these kinds of situations and although obviously they wouldn't raise the 125.00 on your bill they would more than likely try and help you out. So we have 125.00 initially, 118 refunded 79.00, that leaves 46.00 to pay. It is customer services procedure, if this is the first time something like this has happened to you they can as a Good will gesture offer up to half the charges back. It may need a manager to do it but it is possible, but like I said before as a gwg, they don't have to.

   As for the bar you are describing it's a high usage bar, meaning it is added when the usage is considerably high compared to previous bills and it's added not just for O2's sake but mainly for the customer's protection, in case there is unauthorized use or the customer is not aware how much he is spending.They will add the bars and either ask for a full payment if the bill has been produced already,like yours, or a deposit/advancement if the amount is still unbilled.

   Unfortunately these bars cannot be removed as gwg by anybody without a full payment...not even a team leader. If they are, they will be back on in 2h but for incoming and outgoing also.So I'm sorry to see you in this situation but even if complaints picks up the email they will not go around this procedure and they will offer the same I've just mentioned. So the options at the moment are to pay to get the bars lifted or wait until the bill is due and then ask for a payment plan...Sorry to say this,but I though you would prefer to know the facts. Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Pretty much what I said then? 😆😆

[Anonymous]

may I just say this please

O2 is a business not a charity

btw I am a charitable person ..... = ..... I support such as the Brooke, Samaritans, Dogs Trust, PDSA, Wildlife SOS

I was a civil servant as an assistant collector of taxes, & used to go out on call into taxpayer's homes & places of work

there was some system then called 'a hardship case' where in extreme cases the outstanding tax would be written off by the Collector in Charge

& also another system called 'an arrangement to pay' whereas the taxpayer completed an income & expenditure form & paid the rest over to the Inland Revenue on a weekly/monthly basis

I don't know what happens ar HMRC these days except there do seem to make many mistakes, which are today made public

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

may I just say this please

O2 is a business not a charity

---

Time and time again members come on here commenting that for all the £ millions o2 have that they should not be charged for something that was a legitimate billing. 

Not long after I got my first smartphone (with Voda) I accidentally sent a text message to a group of 20 friends. That would have been fine. But one was an email address instead of a mobile number.  £5 later (20 x 25p as it was then) I felt a bit of a numpty. I spoke to Voda and to be fair got a very helpful advisor (remember them?) who talked me through several aspects of my phone and how to avoid such charges in future. She also have me a £2.50 credit as a goodwill gesture as the other 19 were legitimate texts. When I did it again by accident a few months later, my cost. I accepted that. 

So in this case the OP has £79 coming back. As rosadosc has said, a 50% goodwill gesture on the remaining £46 "might" be possible. The OP if they can get that would be well advised to accept and learn. 

This issue was not created by o2. It was created by 118 118 and their business. Are o2's charge element too high? I think so yes. But that is their charge. So if you don't think the charge is reasonable, don't buy the service.