Charged for data even though on O2 Travel

[Anonymous]

Need some advice and reassurance that I am not going mad.

The end of May me and my wife went on a cruise to the Norwegian fjords. We have O2 Travel so didn't worry about data. We also received a text confirming we have O2 Travel when our phone first connected in Norway.

When we arrived back my wife noticed that on her bill she had been charged for O2 travel, and £40 for data. I spoke to Customer Services and they agreed it wasn't right and logged an investigation, I should get a call back within 5 days. We didn't receive a call back so I contacted them again and they apologised and said the investigation had come back, and that they will put the credit back on my wife's account. Great.

At this point I realised that the same thing had happened on my bill, charged for O2 Travel and £40 for the data. They agreed it looked wrong and put an investigation in. Again, I didn't receive a call back so contacted them again (after the money had now been taken from my account via DD) and was told that the investigation had come back and that it says I did in fact use the data. This of course wasn't the reason for the investigation. So she went on hold to speak to her supervisor and came back with a storey that just makes no sense.

She said that although in my account(on her end, and in my online dashboard) it clearly says "NOR" as the country I was in when I used the data, I was in fact connected to a non-european mobile network at the time the data was used. That the mast I was connected to was "manufactured" in Norway, or the "parts" in the mast I was connected to were manufactured in Norway, but the mobile network was actually from another non-european country. It took me a while to stop laughing, but I then asked what country I was actually connected to. She said that the system doesn't say and there is no way for her to find out, just that I wasn't actually in Norway. I then asked what non-european country is even near the Norwegian fjords and she couldn't say. I then asked to speak to her Manager, and was told that a manager call back is 24 to 48 hours. I then said I won't hold my breath as I have never been called back when told I would be.

That was 5 days ago. I have not contacted them again yet, I just wanted to some advice on how to handle this going forward?

Thanks for reading.

Alan

[MI5]

It's nothing to do with where parts were manufactured, that's just laughable but it is to do with where the cruise ships network is based.
Cruise ships have their own network and can charge pretty much what they like so the charges are probably valid, however if you plead insanity you might get some charges refunded

[adamtemp64]

https://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Pay-Monthly-and-Pay-Go/2-FAQ-s-to-help-understand-the-new-EU-roaming-r... Read the faq's I posted excludes cruise ships now And as alread said cruise ships own networks are charged as international non eu 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies.

Then why does it say "NOR" as the country? And why couldn't they tell me it was the cruise ship mast if that's what it was. The ship also didn't have 3G or 4G so not sure how I used any data. Plus the day I and my Wife was charged for the data was a shore day. Plus my wife was refunded for the mistake.

All of the above leads me to believe it's a mistake.

[jonsie]

It's unlikely to be an error. You were both definitely connected to the ships own very expensive network. Data is capped at £40 per month hence you were charged the same. The ship even charges for WiFi too if they have it. 

The reason it shows NOR on your bill is simply because the ship is registered there, nothing to do with parts of the equipment so the adviser was making that up. 

With regards to your bill being charged on an on-shore day, that is simply because roaming charges can take days to be received by O2 and charged to your account. 

[Anonymous]

Just something else you and all other O2 Travel users should be aware of. It seems since the change in EU charges from July this year O2 upgraded their systems however made a massvie blunder at the same time. Anyone using O2 travel in non EU but inclusive O2 destinations (UAE, South Africa etc) are now being charged for RECEIVING calls as well. As you may know recieving calls in O2 travel destinations is free up to 120 minutes per day, and I used this without many issues for a year until this July when suddenly the 4.99 charge started appearing for each day even though I made no outgoing calls, sent any sms or used any data.

To add to their stupidity (and stress to me) when contacting O2 customer service, they would spend almost 30 mins arguing that the charges are correct, BECAUSE on their screen it actually shows that in those destinations the 4.99 charge will be triggered by "receieving calls" despite the official O2 website clearly showing to the contrary. After call number 6 I managed to get one of these "advisors" to scroll to their own website and see where they were going wrong (and the fact that I had been using it like that way for a year without any issue). They admitted they had the wrong info on their system and that they would raise the issue - no **** sherlock I said. Anyway the escalation never happened and long story short eventually after many more useless calls and online chats where I was not really getting anywhere I discovered Resolver. After only two days of loging my complaint via resolver I finally got a decent response. 

I also now have charges credited back and a compensation amount, however the issue is still ongoing and I believe that its related to a system change during the EU charges change - possibly. I have a direct line to a Capita guy who will keep nulling any incorrect charges until O2 resolve the issue.

I believe many more people may have fallen victim to this and are not aware so I hope they can read this and take action if required. The O2 webite O2 travel section clearly explains everything but sadly the O2 advisors are unaware, O2 service has really slipped over the last couple of years unfortunatley.