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Excessive monthly bill

Anonymous
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Apologies for the length of the text, but some background would help.  My son lost his mobile less than 2 month ago and did not tell me or O2.  His monthly contract bill was no more than £16-17 for nearly 2 years since I changed his PAYG to pay Monthly contract.

 

All was well until March when I noticed the bill was £73.11 and paid by Direct Debit.  I tried to contact my son, who is studying in Manchester University and I live in Slough, to no avail.  To my horror, this month bill was £103.75 and was paid automatically by DD on the 22nd of and I only just found out that he lost his mobile.  I contacted customer care immediately(today) and requested the number be cancelled immediately and it was.  However, and to my horror, I was told that there is over £400 in international calls and that I have to pay them.  I argued that O2 Fraud system should have spotted something is not right and alarms should have been triggered.  I was told that many SMSs were sent, the first being on the 31st March informing me to keep track of my spending especially the spending has exceeded the normal amount.  I was further told that many SMSs were sent in April and for me to call back.  But obviously I did not get them nor my son.  I was told that on one SMS, the message was that I may be roaming overseas, they stop the roaming.  I was further told that the roaming was stopped on more than once occasion.  It is suffice to say that between the time I paid the last bill of 103, i.e. 22nd April and today, there was over £400 of charges for international calls. 

 

I admit and take the responsibility on my son's behalf that O2 should have been contacted when he lost his mobile, but surely O2 has failed to act professionally and to protect me as a customer.  O2 could have at least capped the expenditure or even suspend the account until I contact them especially that I did not contact or reply to O2 despite the many SMSs and emails, which by the way was the wrong email and I never provided it.  The good thing is that O2 Fraud apps spotted the issue with the account.  However, it was not acted upon as expected. 

 

The frustrating bit is that the guy from customer care kept repeating that I was responsible and that I must pay the £400 and refused to acknowledge or accept that O2 shoulder some responsibility as well.  Suffice to say that I have already cancelled the Direct Debit and preparing for a fight with O2.  As I work for O2, I am not only disappointed, but this is going to affect my relationship along with my friends and family with O2. 

 

I would appreciate any advice from anyone who experience this before and willing to share information on how best to tackle the issue.   

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jonsie
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To be honest if you work for O2 you are probably well aware of the implications. Your son, and you as the bill payer are totally responsible for the charges up until the phone was reported lost/stolen.

 

I think the best you could hope for would be a gesture of goodwill from O2 but you would have to send it to the complaints dept putting forward your point of view,

 

As an aside, did it not twig if your son was calling you from a different number or not responding to your calls or texts?

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jonsie
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To be honest if you work for O2 you are probably well aware of the implications. Your son, and you as the bill payer are totally responsible for the charges up until the phone was reported lost/stolen.

 

I think the best you could hope for would be a gesture of goodwill from O2 but you would have to send it to the complaints dept putting forward your point of view,

 

As an aside, did it not twig if your son was calling you from a different number or not responding to your calls or texts?

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perksie
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Lost or stolen and unlocked contract mobile, just like cash in the bank to a finder or thief.

 

I'm afraid you are liable until you notify the network and as an employee you should have known that the same as any other customer.

 

O2 have no responsibility to check the usage and a goodwill gesture is the best offer you may get from them.

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adamtemp64
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And canceling the dd will bring further complications and posiablly affect your credit rating

iPhone 11 Pro 256gb on unlimited data
iPad Pro 12.9” 2020 256gb refresh o2 family discount
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My first mobile was in 1995 a CM-R111 from sony on Cellnet.
Wincanton South Somerset (Full 4g 3G 2g indoor coverage) Remember we are all customers here not customer services

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Anonymous
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Our head office is in Slough so a lot of employees will not have knowledge of our products and services - such as admin roles, legal roles etc.

 

If you are an O2 employee, you can search on Outlook and find contact details for Fraud & Security however they would only be able to give you general advice internally. If you want account specific advice then you would need to go through the correct customer channels.

 

I advise giving O2 VIP a call if you had your son's mobile on a staff discount and explainin the situation to them or, as advised above, writing a letter to the Complaints Review Service.

 

However - being realistic - there is every chance that each month Fraud did bar the phone but because you paid the direct debit the bars were lifted and because the usage was increasing each month, the cap before it was cut off was also increasing. 

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perksie
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@Anonymous wrote:

Our head office is in Slough so a lot of employees will not have knowledge of our products and services - such as admin roles, legal roles etc.



They will have the same access to the O2 web site though where we get our info.

 

They did manage to find the forum ok.

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Anonymous
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@perksie wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

Our head office is in Slough so a lot of employees will not have knowledge of our products and services - such as admin roles, legal roles etc.



They will have the same access to the O2 web site though where we get our info from.


Yeah, true I guess - but I was just saying that although some people work for O2, they may just be as knowledgable in this area as your average unhappy customer who flocks to the Community!

 

However, if the OP does work in Slough and has access to giving people time off... wink

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perksie
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@Anonymous wrote:



However, if the OP does work in Slough and has access to giving people time off... wink


You had better be nice to them then!

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Anonymous
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Thanks guys for your reply.  The only reason for cancelling the DD, because I cannot afford to pay over £400 in one payment.

 

My dissapointment is that I was told the roaming was stopped more than once, during this month(April) and so many SMSs and emails were sent.  Surely, the roaming should have been re-instated automatically until the bill was paid and not before.  You may say it is my responsibility rather than O2, might be true.  This is in my opinion has created a paradox.  Can anyone tells me please as to why O2 has invested so much money in a Fraud application that will detect Fraud and misuse of mobile if not to protect customers?  Why bothers to send me those SMSs and emails in the first place if you are not going to act on them?  Why stop the roaming several times in April according to customer service and re-instate before the bill was paid?

 

This is a big let down by O2 and poor service for customers.  As far as complaining, it is even a bigger let down as I have to send a letter by post rather than an email!  So much for O2 being part of the digital future and that.  Why not having an email box for customer's complaint?  My letter could easily be lost in the post or even ignored!  How could I tell?  It looks like it is desgined to put customers off complaining when the only option to complain, is to write a letter rather than an email.

 

 

 

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Bambino
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You can send the letter by recorded delivery. Someone will have to sign for it at its destination and you will have proof of delivery. You can track your letter online once you've sent it.

 

As far as O2 detecting fraud in this case, you were still paying the bills, so why would any fraud be suspected? Had you reported the phone stolen at the outset, which is what should have been done, all of the problems you're having wouldn't have arisen.

I DO NOT WORK FOR O2



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