O2 stealing from me.

[Anonymous]

I am on Pay as you go.

Yesterday and today I get a message reading 'you can now use data on your phone until midnight tonight. we've given you 50mb to use, and taken £1 from your balance'. ????

WTF, I don't want data and did not ask for it.

O2 is stealing my money. I want it back you bunch of theives.

[perksie]

Well we're always here and you're always welcome if we can be of help!

On some phones now they are putting on messages that using turning on data may cause charges, but it may not become standard.

[MI5]

Most of the latest Androids phones give that warning now....

[Anonymous]

I've just joined this forum whilst 'investigating' the message which has started to appear on my wife's phone and whilst some of the responses have been useful, the sneering self-satisfied tone of a lot of them disappoints me. My wife uses a smartphone because she wants a large screen, she wants a 'qwerty' keyboard when sending text messages but she doesn't want to access the Internet which is why the data message was so puzzling. Now this could all have been explained quite pleasantly without resorting to snide remarks about 'not doing research' or 'what do you expect ...'.

[Anonymous]

Having also just joined the forum and reading this thread I have to agree with you. The customer-to-customer 'helpers' do not have the right to be rude & obnoxious to those asking for help simply because they are not 'employed' by 02.

[jonsie]

Welcome @Anonymous 

No one sets out to be rude, we try to help. Sometimes when people make wild accusations such as in the title of this thread, they often don't want help and don't want to listen to the advice given.

I do agree that we shouldn't be rude to newcomers but pointing out peoples own errors can sometimes come across as curt or unwelcoming.

[Anonymous]

Hello @Anonymous

Welcome to the community. We are all customers here trying to help other customers with issues they may have and we all have different levels of expertise.

We try our best to help and if course it is a two way thing so when members post a thread care and consideration need to be taken to ensure the right request for help is sent and the right answers are given.

If you have a question please do feel free to check previous threads for answers and if no joy please do post a new thread. We would be happy to hear from you.

Kind regards
☺

[Anonymous]

@ piperdog123 & jonsie

Thankyou both for replies. I do appreciate your welcome & comments, but people usually search help forums because they are confused and frustrated. ( Honestly, 02 are not particularly informative ) Clearly people should be courteous in their questions, even though they are stressed. Still, I cant see how terse or rude replies help anyone, especially a novice.

My own misunderstanding was this. My Note 2 switched on data and I dont know why (no idea if it was the phone or 02 ? ) I quicky turned it back off as I dont want or need it. I then had a message stating £1 had been taken and I now how 50mb for the rest of the day. Why would they take the money when it had been on barely a minute and I turned it off ?

Thanks for your time,

[MI5]

Sometimes comments are written as "humour" but the written word doesn't always come across as the writer intends.... Also, we all say things that can look silly when we go back and read them later...
Anyway, to answer your question, the O2 rules for data (when no data bolt on is present is that any amount of data will trigger the "web daily allowance" which costs £1.00
You can then use data for the rest of the day (up to the maximum amount of data allowed) and not be charged anymore.
For some people this suits as they use their 50mb up for £1.00 on occasional days.
If you are intending to use more then a dedicated data bolt on is cheaper.
In your case it was an accident and in many cases a call to CS will get the charge refunded if they can see that only a few kb's were used.
Other options open to you are the use of a giffgaff sim card (runs on O2 network) which can work out cheaper depending on your usage.
Hope this helps but please ask if you need any further explanation....?

[Anonymous]

Hi @Anonymous 

 

Glad to hear you found our replies helpful and informative and I agree, inappropriate comments are not helpful.

As @MI5 has advised, the moment the o2 network picks your phone up on the network with a data connection, without a suitable data tariff, you will default to web daily at £1 per day. 

 

For your information, if your phone is turned off or the battery runs out, when you turn your handset back on it will automatically turn data back on. It would take a magician to turn data off before the network registers the handset so best if you are not using data at all to ensure your phone doesnt turn off for any reason.

 

I am told that by turning the handset on to "airplane" mode (and ensuring it does not switch off) you can then set the phone to only connect to data over available wifi connections. This would save you from being charged. Alternatively you may want to consider a basic web bolt on (cheapest is £3 a month I think, please check tariffs in the o2 shop for the range to see the most suitable for your needs).

 

Hopefully this helps.

 

Kind regards

[jonsie]

Unfortunately it is the way the system works. Using any data at all triggers the £1 charge. You then get to use the 50 mb up to midnight even if it was 11.55pm when data use started. I'm not saying it is right but that is the way O2 have set it up.

Many people get caught out like this but it is clearly laid out in your tariff details in My O2. You could try calling customer service to see if they will refund you given the amount of data used?