Incorrect Top Up

[Butter_Crunch]

I’m sure I won’t be the last person to do this. I topped up my partners phone & inadvertently typed 1 of the digits wrong. As I’d never done this before, phoned O2 & they said there was nothing that could be done. Found it a little odd that they can give credit but not take it away. I then decided to phone the number I’d topped up. I explained why I was calling & they agreed to reciprocate the mistake & top up my partners phone. They even sent a text msg to me saying they would get this sorted. 3 days later & nothing. I’ve txt them & my calls are just going to voicemail. 

it’s only £10 but it’s frustrating that the law is such an ass, in that it actually protects the thief. I can’t get any details off O2 about the person who has knowingly stole something that doesn’t belong to them. I can’t publish their number asking if anybody know’s who it belongs to, as that’s illegal. 

I’ve since spoken to O2 again & as a goodwill gesture they’ve credited my partners phone with the £10. It’s still very frustrating that the law actually protects the thief. 

[Cleoriff]

I'm not sure the person you topped up by mistake can be called a thief @Butter_Crunch? A thief is someone who knowingly steals something from someone else.

You have no idea of their financial circumstances and maybe they couldn't afford to reciprocate the offer? Bottom line, it was your error and I've never known O2 refund money when a top up mistake has been made.

I'm pleased they decided to top your partners phone up with the goodwill gesture, so in actual fact you have lost nothing?

[Butter_Crunch]

Hi - The person is aware that they’ve received something that I paid for & would like back. Due to them now refusing to give it back, I consider that theft.  When I spoke to them on the phone, I did check that they were financially OK to reciprocate the top-up & they said it wasn’t a problem.

O2 have the details of the person receiving the top-up off my bank card. I guess it’s too much hassle for them to contact the person on my behalf to get the £10 credit removed from their account.

It was only 3 days later, after not receiving the top-up off said person & them not taking my calls, did I phone O2 up again. It was then that O2 credited my partners phone.

The point I’m trying to make is, how can you make any attempt to get your money back if you haven’t got any details, other than their phone number.  If I transferred some money into the wrong bank account in error, it’s not yours to keep. Why should my top-up be any different?

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@Cleoriff wrote:

I'm not sure the person you topped up by mistake can be called a thief @Butter_Crunch? A thief is someone who knowingly steals something from someone else.

You have no idea of their financial circumstances and maybe they couldn't afford to reciprocate the offer? Bottom line, it was your error and I've never known O2 refund money when a top up mistake has been made.

I'm pleased they decided to top your partners phone up with the goodwill gesture, so in actual fact you have lost nothing?

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[Bambino]

@Butter_Crunch The Data Protection Act protects you as well as the person you mistakenly sent the top-up to. I'm sure you wouldn't want O2 giving your information to anyone who asked for it. It's frustrating I'm sure, but as @Cleoriff said, you've lost nothing, so there's no point in getting in a huff about it.

[Butter_Crunch]

Hi - I didn’t ask for the persons details due to data protection. I can’t understand why O2 couldn’t contact the account holder & re-claim the credit & put it with the rightful owner. They could see that it was my bank card that made the transaction.

Being a morally good person, I’m more annoyed that somebody would keep something that doesn’t belong to them. Are they really that desperate for £10. I was lucky I got the credit in the end. It just goads me they’re getting away with it, because O2 are letting them get away with it.

[Bambino]

@Butter_Crunch I understand what you're saying. Unfortunately, there are some very selfish, petty people in the world who lack any kind of morality, and there's little if anything anyone can do to change that.

As it was by your own admission your error, O2 just couldn't go in and take the money from the recipient's account and give it back to you. There must be some legal reason why that couldn't be done.

[Butter_Crunch]

@Bambino  - Sadly, I’m a bit of a Victor Meldrew when it comes to principles. For some people, £10 could be the difference in eating & not eating. Thankfully for me, that’s not the case. He said he would pay it back. I wonder why they changed their mind? Maybe he realised he could get away it, who know’s. Hopefully I won’t make the same stupid mistake again.

No idea why O2 can’t reclaim the credit back, I paid for it & I’ve never topped that number up before. The bank card is the only one used to top my phone up & on occasions, my partners. Their phone number isn’t registered to my partner or this address. Maybe it’s too much like hard work for O2 to investigate & get the money back…

[pgn]

And maybe the person who said they would top up the phone you were meaning to top up could not because O2's own systems can get in the way when a card is used to top up a "new" number - you were just unfortunate that your payment, in error, went through to a "new" number in the first instance. 

I can also see O2's point in not taking the 10 pounds off the wrongly topped-up number and putting it on yours, it opens up all sorts of possibilities for abuse if that could be done on the back of a web chat or call to CS ("customer not present", to mention one!).

I always copy the number from my phone's address-book and paste it into that fiddly box on the O2 Web top-up form in any case, just to be sure, to be sure.

Interesting conundrum, @Butter_Crunch.

[Butter_Crunch]

@pgn- I didn’t expect O2 just to refund/credit the account straightaway. Where money is involved, I would expect due diligence on their part. If that took a few days, it wouldn’t have been a problem. I can’t recall ever having an issue topping my partners phone up the 1st time. I don’t even logon on to my O2 account when topping up. I just do a web top up.  The other person has my number & isn’t responding to my texts & calls are just going to voicemail. They’ve had 3 days to let me know if there was a problem…

Even though O2 did refund eventually, I just think it was far to easy for O2 to go ‘it’s your mistake, so it’s not my problem’. It’s not like it was them who lost any money.

[pgn]

Ever has it been thus, @Butter_Crunch:

https://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Other-Devices/Online-Web-Top-Up-Wrong-Number/m-p/68886/highlight/true#...

They advise you to sign in to your MyO2 to initiate a top-up - but top-up can be done without that, the onus is on the person to check all details before confirming payment, I guess.

It is, as they say, what it is.