Incorrect billing - online agent will not admit problem

[Anonymous]

I am on a tariff called online 20 texter which allows me up to 200 messages per month.
Recently I started texting rather more and for the last couple of months have exceeded my tariff message allowance. My charges have suddenly jumped and I came online to find out why.
It is as clear as blue sky on the bill that I have been charged twice - once for the tariff charge and then for ALL the messages again, not just the extra ones, over and above the tariff.
Yes I do now understand that multimedia messages count as 4 normal ones, even though this is not described anywhere on my tariff. I was only told this in the course of the interactive chat.
Yes I do understand that the messages I send my bank asking for my balance is an interactive message and not included. That's fine, it accounts for about £0.42
This problem ONLY occurs on my bill when I exceed my message allowance. Where the number of texts is within the tariff, it doesn't happen, yet the breakdown of the messages is shown in exactly the same way.
There is no deduction shown on my text message breakdown, or anywhere else on my bill for the cost of the messages included in my tariff.
When there was nowhere else for the conversation to go and it was clear that I was in the right, it was concluded abruptly by the online agent (Charlotte).
It would appear that O2 have made a massive mistake in their billing and are unwilling to admit it.
I expect to see the problem solved, and the extra I have paid for messages deducted from my next bill, PLUS an apology from O2 for the inconvenience and stress caused by a larger than expected bill.

[Anonymous]

First of all we are all customers here not o2. You believe you get 4-1 for you MMS, that is certainly possible but your contract would have needed to be taken out a couple of years ago and had no changes since. You really need to give a bit more info about which contract you are on before we can advise, and still remember we are just customers like you.

[Anonymous]

I don't see what else I can tell you about my contract. I've given you the correct tariff name and the message allowance.
What is so significant about when the contract started? I'd have to drag out the info from my files. Count back 18 months from October 2011 and you'll have it more or less because it dates from when I got my current phone and I kind of recall it was an 18 month contract. When I checked in my local O2 store recently, asked when my next upgrade was due, they told me October.
And no, there have been no changes to the best of my knowledge. I rely on O2 to tell me if I am on the best tariff for my usage. There seem to be loads of tariffs that they offer to existing customers that are not publicised anywhere. But surely they can't change the terms of the tariff without telling you!
Thanks for replying, but it would appear that a forum where questions are merely answered by other customers is really a bit useless - not your fault of course.
I guess the only thing to do is to have another protracted argument with O2 but on the next occasion it will be on the phone and with a manager. Terminating an online conversation because the agent can't answer the question is not acceptable. I've been with O2 for over 11 years and it is disappointing to find out here that customer loyalty now counts for nothing.

[sheepdog Level 26: Upbeat]

What's customer loyalty got to do with a billing query?
The significance of the date you took out the contract is that as Brendan002 says, around that time there were a lot of changes made to contracts which resulted in MMS being removed and became chargeable. That applied to new and upgrading contracts.
Under the T+C's there is scope for o2 (or any other provider) to amend the conditions. Generally it only take effect if you change your tariff during the term of the contract
What the forum advice is usually to sit down, take a deep breath and write out all your points and post it to the Complaints Review service if you get nowhere with CS on the phone.

[adamtemp64 Level 66: Unequalled]

Try a pm to abs@o2 or zoe@o2 they may help if you give them the full info
i think the 4-1 went in the feb 2010 tariff change so you should still get that if sep 2009 but I could be wrong as the old 2009 t&c are no longer on the o2 t&c page just feb 2010 onwards

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies - I will try the PM's as you suggest.
The para about MMS was only to show that I now knew about this, although I hadn't before.
Customer loyalty SHOULD be everything in any conversation I have with O2. In any other setting, you would take note that someone has been a loyal customer and not treat them as if you don't care if they leave and go to another network.
If the 4:1 has gone, what has replaced it? Yes I can go and look but it would be good to see it here.

[Anonymous]

Online 20 Texter is a 2007 tariff. You've probably carried it over because until recently you could stay on an old tariff despite upgrading.
When you go over your allowance on minutes or texts you don't see the total cost minus a reduction of what was already included. The total cost should only be the full amount that you've gone over.
The reason for this is that texts/mins that are covered by your allowance should not show a charge next to them at all.
I'm assuming that you must have access to your online bill? If so from the front summary page of your online bill...
Click 'What I've used'
Click 'Messages'
Click 'Text Messages'
Click 'Total cost of text messages sent' (bold navy blue towards bottom)
You should now find that you're in the itemised pages showing all the texts you've sent. Under the cost column texts that are included should show 0.00
If you go through all the itemised pages and no texts show 0.00 for the cost then yes, it looks like there may be an issue. You'd be best calling 202 free from your o2 phone to query this with customer services.

[sheepdog Level 26: Upbeat]

Thanks for the replies - I will try the PM's as you suggest.
The para about MMS was only to show that I now knew about this, although I hadn't before.
Customer loyalty SHOULD be everything in any conversation I have with O2. In any other setting, you would take note that someone has been a loyal customer and not treat them as if you don't care if they leave and go to another network.
If the 4:1 has gone, what has replaced it? Yes I can go and look but it would be good to see it here.

Nope. Thats Customer Service. Completely distinct entitites as loyalty is meaningless nowadays in the mobile network provider industry. Without knowing the actual conversation - we only have your view of it, its difficult to know what actually went on in the conversation. Not being rude, but your tone to the operator may have been the cause of the operator disconnection as they felt they weren't going to get anywhere with you.

[Anonymous]

Canwefixit - that's a really useful reply - thanks. I can tell you definitely that there are no texts of any kind to any destination in the detail breakdown on my last two bills for which the charge is zero.
There obviously is a serious problem with billing which I will be following up.
Sheepdog - I was conversing ONLINE with an agent, not on the phone - I was being perfectly polite but insistent as I had the detailed bill information in front of me.
The conversation showed that :
a) she didn't know enough about how the online billing info worked to do her job properly and
b} she was not looking at my personal info although I gave her every opportunity to ask me for the information that would have allowed her to do so.
The 'tone of voice' simply did not come into the situation.

[Anonymous]

Not wanting to make an issue but just wanted to say that 'tone' can come across in writing as well as spoken words
I would certainly advise giving CS a call to get the bill investigated. Hope you get this sorted soon.