Phone died but still managed to rack up a huge bill

[Anonymous]

I was overseas at the weekend in the Netherlands and on Friday night I put my iPhone 6 on charge but when I woke the phone was red hot and had a blank screen. No matter what I did I could not turn the phone on or get it to do anything, the only response I would get was when I put it on charge it would constantly vibrate. I went in to an Apple store on Monday and they confirmed phone was kaput and replaced it under warranty.

So just now I received an email with my latest bill and to my surprise I saw that I had been charged over £10 for international data after my phone died and another £40 under recent charges. None of these charges were from when I was in the Netherlands but only when I was on the ferry home on Sunday night and therefor the data fell outside of the European data package as it was using the Maritime service.

But if my phone was dead how on earth has it managed to use £50 worth of international data (and yet didn't use any when in the Netherlands?) I have called customer services and challenged the costs, easy to check that Apple replaced my phone yesterday, but all they can do is raise a Network Investigation and let me know the outcome in 5 days time.

Not holding out much hope as last year I got charged a fortune whilst on the same ferry for receiving an iMessage despite having Data Roaming turned off and they rejected my claim saying that it was my responsibility to also turn of iMessages as well (this issue only happens with iPhones on O2 apparently)

[perksie]

Who knows what the phone was doing while in that state?

O2 may offer you something back but I doubt anyone can prove what happened.

[gindygoo]

I'd be inclined to say is possible the phone was constantly trying and maybe succeeding to connect to the Internet?

But as above it's impossible to say for sure


Contact 202 explain the situation and cross your fingers for some goodwill gesture from an amiable cs agent.

This isn't on o2 though, as I'm sure they'll say, but a goodwill gesture may be forthcoming.

Good luck,

Charlie.

[jonsie]

If the phone was red hot then it was attempting to do something and it's obviously registered against the phone number. Ferry charges are outrageous and in fairness you knew this previously. Call again to see if you can get anything from another adviser.

[Anonymous]

I have contacted 202 twice. The 1st time when I saw £10 charge on my bill which they agreed to refund. I then noticed the £40 under recent charges so called back but this time they have raised a Network Investigation as I stated in the OP.

Appreciate that it would need to be a goodwill gesture if I do get any refund as it's a tough one to prove. But the fact that my phone was replaced under warranty on Monday afternoon at an Apple store and there were no calls or texts made or received since Friday should go someway to back up the fact that my phone died when I said it did. At the end of the day this was a faulty product I bought under contract from O2 so should not be out of pocket

[perksie]

If you had any insurance on this phone don't forget to let them know it has been replaced, they're touchy about this.

[jonsie]

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@perksie wrote:

If you had any insurance on this phone don't forget to let them know it has been replaced, they're touchy about this.

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Very good point which also applies to phones covered by banking benefits.

[Anonymous]

Insurance already updated 

[perksie]

Thinking about it there must be hundreds out there paying for insurance that will never pay out when needed.

[perksie]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Insurance already updated 

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Good for you, I still feel many don't realise they must do this.