The new Classic PAYG 3.2.1 data costs don't seem right

[Smipx]

Hi all,

I am sorry to have to report that the 1p/Mb cost for the data portion of this tarrif is not as stated in the terms and conditions (at least not for me). 

The way I use my data is to

1. turn data on when needed

2. do whatever I need to do (e.g. send a quick email) 

3. turn data off

Each time I did this I was led to belive that my balance would be reduced by 1p/Mb with a minimum charge of 1p but was shocked to see my balance drop so rapidly as I don't use the phone all that much and I specifically joined o2 and took out this tarrif because of the 1p/Mb data charge with a 1p minimum charge.

I have done some extensive tests and can confirm that I am being charged 20p each time I enable and then disable the data on my phone - even if I only send 50Kb of data.  It seems that there is a minimum charge of 20p and not 1p as advertised.

It should be Classic 3.2.20 (for up to 20Mb) not 3.2.1 😞

I called o2 to ask why this was the case and they told me that it was "probably my phone using lots of data". I explained that I have data saver enabled and that I was monitoring closely the data use and that each time I tested I used maybe 50Kb or at the very worst case scenario 1Mb or less of data. Each time I checked my balance immediately prior to and immediately after turning on/off the data it is always a debit of 20p.

I was promised a call back on a specific date and they never bothered to call me back. I have been on the phone several times and also spent many hours on chat all to no avail.  I am at the point of completely giving up as I am not finding the customer service response up to scratch. I am so annoyed with o2 - I feel I have been conned and I feel they are guilty of false advertising. That is unless there is a fault on my account and the billing is all messed up in which case they should be able to check and fix the issue quickly without hours of call and frustration on my part.  

To prove the point I just reset my data monitor on the phone for mobile data and did the test above. Here are the results.

Balance before  £5.67

Data Turned on

Sent an email to myself (5Kb)

Data Turned off

Balance after   £5.47

The data counter for mobile data on the phone told me that the total data usage (mobile) since the counter was reset was 68.75Kb (ie. 0.067Mb) but still I was charged 20p.

Thanks

Paul

[Smipx]

Hold that thought. A very clever man in another place told me to reboot the phone and run the *#10# again. Low and behold the 20p was added back on to my balance but the 1p was not (for some reason) taken off.  Why on earth would it be removed and then after a reboot of the phone be added back on .  I thought the *#10# command was getting data from the o2 servers ?!?!?  

Anyway - no idea why the 1p was not taken off.  I will check again in the morning and see what the balance is then. 

Seems you cannot rely on the *#10# command ????

Go figure!!

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

The balance is always adjusted after the data session is complete so you will see it drop then increase again a short while afterwards.
It's how that tariff has always worked but initially it took £1 but this has now been changed to 20p

[Smipx]

I get that now 🙂

Its a real shame that the o2 support people (who I spent many hours on the phone/chat to could be bothered to tell me that little nugget of information though.  It has soured my perception of them as a company

10/10 support forums 

1/10 O2 official support people via official channels like chat and the good old fashioned phone

They should realise that good support means happy customers and more customer retention.

Cheers,

Paul

[MI5]

CS are just puppets these days unfortunately.
It's all outsourced and they don't know anything that is written on the scripts.

[Smipx]

Puppets or Muppets

one or the other - I don't blame the reps though - not really - they are just doing what they are told. I blame the management team.

They don't deserve the business to be honest. 

[MI5]

Fair point.....

[Smipx]

so..  Just checked this morning and the 1p for my data use did not get taken off the balance.  It was only around 50Kb of data so perhaps there is a minimum of someting like 250Kb before it start to count it as data. No idea but I'm a lot happier now than I was 24 hours ago.

Hope this all helps someone else.

Cheers

Paul