O2 Travel Changes 7/4

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

I have been usng the free O2 Travel bolt on since 2016 as I travel to European countries quite often. I use it primarily to browse for when wifi is unattainable. I browse and I get charged £1.99 for the day. In terms of of making phone calls and text messages. If I text a UK number whilst in a European country I get charged 4p. So the overall current setup is:

"While travelling in Europe just pay a 50p connection charge to make and receive calls between European countries then talk for free for up to 60 mins. You'll pay just £1.99 for the days you use data in Europe & there’s no upper limit, but traffic management steps apply. £40 monthly spending limit for data outside Europe."

An email has been sent out from O2 stating changes to how O2 travel works. It now states that:

"From 7 th April 2016, we’ll be adding calls and texts sent back to the UK and within O2 Travel destinations, to the data you already get with our O2 Travel Bolt On. This will give you data, up to 120 minutes and 120 standard texts, per daily charge within selected destinations in Europe. With O2 Travel you’ll only be charged for the days that you use it."

My udnerstanding is that from 7/4 if I am in a European country and I text a UK number, rather than being charged 4p like I used to be, I will be charged £1.99.  Is this correct? I appreciate they are saying you can send up to 120 messages and still get charged £1.99 but I never send 120 messages. I usually send just a couple. By this logic, the £1.99  charged that was activated only when you used data, will now also be activated by sending a text message. If I send one text per day for 3 days I will end up paying £5.99? 

Can someone please verify tell me if I have misunderstood the change?

Thank you.

PS: I am not asking to be told about the different options to circumvent sending a text.. I just want to know that I have understood the changes correctly.

[PhoneDoc]

The email could have gone into a bit of detail about alternative options for users who found O2 Travel just preferable to standard rates I guess.

As far as propositions go, this change makes sense, and is good value for many customers. EE and Vodafone bundle roaming with their 'premium' tariffs. O2, to remain competitive, is going to offer customers the option of having have a similar bolt-on, without having to also pay every month for services they may have no use for - like a few months of spotify etc.

[Cleoriff]

As more information is revealed I think I will be opting out. However it wont be just yet. I go to Spain on the 22nd of March and return on the 8th April. I will make use of O2 Travel whilst I am away this time. I have WiFi in my apartment so I don't use the £1.99 a day data charge. I was happy with the 50p connection fee for the occasional call home but since I downloaded TuGo I don't even get charged for calls now. I will just make sure any contact home is made within range of WiFi...

[MI5]

and that is the beauty of the choice currently being offered.

[jonsie]

Whilst the number of posts may not be endemic of the problem, bear in mind the number of people who have joined the community just to vent their anger at the changes. There must be thousands of people angry. It's ok to be plegmatic when the changes are beneficial to oneself but there aren't many people posting who are in that positive position.

Me? I could care less as I travel further afield than Europe and have no need for O2 Travel but I feel for the customers who rely on or have relied on the service. If this change was detrimental to my usage I too wouldn't be happy. You benefit so great but if it had an adverse effect on your wallet you would no doubt be condemning this also. This is a big change for them and yes, they have options, but these options have been forced on them.

[Cleoriff]

Actually I am annoyed the email they sent promoted it as a benefit. It's good for some  but not for others.

It was the lack of clarification I found infuriating. I don't consider myself stupid, but as someone who travels abroad every 6-8 weeks I could have found myself out of pocket. A good thing @Anonymous started the thread.

[jonsie]

---

@Cleoriff wrote:

Actually I am annoyed the email they sent promoted it as a benefit. It's good for some  but not for others.

It was the lack of clarification I found infuriating. I don't consider myself stupid, but as someone who travels abroad every 6-8 weeks I could have found myself out of pocket. A good thing @Anonymous started the thread.

---

I couldn't agree more. As I said, it has no effect at all on my budget but it will have an effect on my son when he goes to Greece in April. I can say goodbye to the call he would normally make until he is on wifi. No big deal but it is a change that he needs to make. By the way he got the email and wasn't too pleased as he has only just joined O2 after I extolled the benefits of TuGo and O2 Travel. To liken it to the iphone annual debacle is a little insulting in all honesty.

[MI5]

As we don't get people coming on here to praise in the same way as to complain I'll say well done o2 and thank you.

[GrahamW]

<< A dozen or so people unhappy on here isn't really epidemic proportions though...... >>

I think we all know that's misrepresenting what's happening.

The vast, vast, vast majority of typical users have busy lives and "better things to do". They received a "junk-like" email entitled "O2 Travel is changing for the better".  They either ignored it or noted that roaming phone costs on holiday, which have been getting cheaper each year and are suposed to be being eliminated soon, are "changing for the better".

They may even know/remember that they have enrolled for "O2 Travel" - surely a Good Thing.

It is they who, come August, will return home from holiday to find that their next bill (unlike the last few years) won't just be £5/£10 or so higher than usual ... it will be up to £28 higher as a direct result of "O2 Travel .. changing for the better" !

This is a term I rarely use (and don't like at all) but isn't this close to the dictionary definition of a "rip-off" ?

[Anonymous]

@MI5 I've been using o2 way back when they were BT cell net, then genie, then o2. During all those years I've never felt the need to post on the forum. No matter what debacle I had with o2, I always used o2 customer service line. From my experience, they were/almost always fantastic with the help they offer and solve all problems.

I see this forum more for advice on hardware and various issues. As a android user I used to peruse the site in hope of finding an answer to when o2 would release the latest android update. Luckily I don't have to deal with that anymore. Perhaps many users are like me and wouldn't use the forum to complain about the iPhone malarkey or whatever other issues people have felt the need to post about.

Anyway I digress.

A happy medium for all could be o2 keep the travel bolt on as it is AND add another travel bolt on with the new changes and call it o2 travel heavy user.

The above would mean current o2 travel users are happy and new o2 travel users are enticed.

Again, sure this won't happen but it's just food thought.

[MI5]

Everyone will have their own and different opinions on this, as said many times.
Those, like yourself, who took note will be fully informed and won't get "ripped off" as you put it. Others, I'm sure will be pleasantly surprised to see a reduction on their bill from what they were expecting and then there will be the others who have lost out - either way, a blanket statement won't cover everyone.