O2's dishonest Marketing and Web information - Read this exchange with an advisor!

[Anonymous]

Welcome to O2. Someone will be with you soon.

You're through to 'O2 : Arnie'

Mike: Hi

Arnie: Hi I'm O2 : Arnie. How can I help?

Mike: my bill includes charges for mobile.o2.co.uk. I don't know what this is. my allowance includes 100mb of data and so do not understand this charge...?

Arnie: I'll check that for you.

Arnie: Please confirm your full name and your mobile number ?

Mike: XXXXXXX 07XXXX XXXXXX

Arnie: Thank you.

Arnie: Please can you tell me the 1st and 4th characters of your security answer?

Mike: Depending on the question it's either X X or X X

Arnie: Thank you. First one is correct.

Arnie: Thanks for the information. Please give me a few minutes while I check this for you.

Arnie: Thanks for waiting.

Arnie: As I can see you do not have 100 MB data bolt on.

Arnie: The cost of 100 MB data bolt on is £3.00.

Mike: I'm looking at my account now. It says O2 Web Dailey Free Active No End Date....?

Arnie: Web daily is not a data bolt on. The cost of Web Daily is £1 for a day for 50 MB data for a day.

Arnie: Its not a free data bolt on.

Arnie: We have 3 data bolt ons.

Mike: I think that is extremely misleading then!

Arnie: £3.00= 100 MB , £6 = 500 MB data, £10 = 1GB data.

Mike: Why in 'my allowances' section does it show a Daily limit of 100mb then?

Arnie: Its not allowances. It indicates that you can use 100 MB day instead of 50 MB and the maximum charges would be £1.00 for a day. You will not be charged more then £1.00 for a day.

Mike: In other words this is just plain wrong and extremely misleading. YOu are saying I have a Free allowance of 0mb. This is frankly dishonest. I think this is worth taking up with trading standards or the mobile authorities!

Arnie: You can use 100 MB data for a day for £1.00. For free data you need to take a data bolt on from any of the 3 bolt ons.

Mike: Again - Your advertising, web information and billing information is at best mis leading, and at worst dishonest! I would like to claim a refund of data charges for the past few months.

Arnie: I'm sorry but if you check the website it is written over there that web daily is free of cost. There is no line rental but to access the Internet you will be charged.

Mike: Frankly, O2 is dishonest. I will be taking this up with the watchdog. Very unhappy with O2's marketing tactics!

[adamtemp64 · Accepted solution]

have you actually looked at the t&c for pay monthly?

The bolton is added for free to the account but costs £1.00 max a day to use. If yours says 100mb you are still on the old tariff terms

This is from the t&c

4. Data Charges

1. If you have a phone that can use data, but you don’t have a data Bolt On then all our Pay Monthly tariffs include O2 Web Daily. If you use data in the UK you’ll be charged for the data you use up to a maximum of £1 per day (00:00am to 23:59pm). If you reach your maximum daily charge of £1, O2 Web Daily allows you up to 50MB use of our data network via your mobile phone for the rest of that calendar day. If you exceed the daily allowance or breach these terms, we reserve the right to:             
   • impose network protection controls which may reduce your speed;
   • remove the data access from your account;
   • impose further charges; and/or
   • disconnect your SIM Card at any time, having attempted to contact you first.

[perksie]

What are you saying here, that the poster who is accusing O2 of dishonesty in a public forum in a way that could be considered libellous, should have looked at the terms and conditions first?

Isn't that asking rather a lot?

[Anonymous]

Referring to the small print is a cop out and you know it!

[perksie]

Standard knowledge, Web Daily has been around for a long time.

It always pays to be sure you know what you are arguing about before you make accusations!

You were given the best advice - get a web bolt on, data isn't free.

It's a pity you didn't come here for advice before you expressed your outrage.

[adamtemp64]

No cop out just the hard truthful facts

[Anonymous]

Hmm.... Ok Perhaps a bit harsh to say dishonest - Unreserved apology for that. But misleading... certainly.  The headlines "My allowances" and "Daily limit 100mb" - You can chide me all you like for not reading the small print, but this is not being open and up front. Seriously are you guys so in love with O2 that you think this is honest, no nonsense information?

[perksie]

No, we are the first to take them to task when we find anything wrong.

There has to be some responsibilty on you though, when I joined on Pay and Go, then moved to Pay Monthly, I made a point of checking what I was getting and what I was paying for.

[adamtemp64]

if you look at the tariff pages and select no data there is  if you hover over it a popup that explains it.

Not defending o2 here just the facts

But web daily stops what could be a very large data bill at £3 a mb new 50mb limit would cost £150 without web daily being added for free (not a paid bolton) to the account also once you have used a 1/3 of a mb the rest of the data is effectivly free.

[Liquid]

I don't see the issue with just adding a data bolt on.

I am surprised at the security question bit 😞

Mike: Depending on the question it's either X X or X X
Arnie: Thank you. First one is correct.

Social engineering would be all too easy to gain access to accounts this way.