Unreasonable international call charges

[Dul]

I live in the UK and on 5 Feb 23 I phoned o2 regarding some international charges to my account. I had to call America to speak with the CDC about my visa application before visiting my girlfriend, prior to making the phonecalls I attempted to call via o2 and it would not go through

I had to then sign up to the Rebtel app which gives a free 30 days subscription to make calls to the USA, I then switched my phone to wifi mode and phoned them via Rebtel. The calls went through and everything worked.

Then unfortunately when I received my latest bill, o2 are charging me £115.10 for making these calls. I tried to go to customer support to explain and ask for the charges to be amended, but they told me that it was my own fault and that I should have gone to the website to read the prices prior to making the calls.

Does anybody know what I can do in this situation? I have been an o2 customer for over 20 years, they've always been my go-to network, but this experience had been very unfair to me and I am now looking at switching network.

I also can't afford the bill because it wasn't expected and now facing having my credit score destroyed as well if I don't pay.

Date Time Destination Country Duration Cost
2 Jan 23 17:57:59 15186089003 USA 0:00:03 £3.000
18:17:12 18772275511 USA 0:12:16 £36.800

20:46:30 18002324636 USA 0:17:23 £52.150
8 Jan 23 09:03:04 12126203418 USA 0:03:38 £10.900
09:06:55 12126203418 USA 0:04:05 £12.250
Total duration 0:37:25
Total cost of International calls - UK to overseas £115.100

3 of the calls that they are charging me for do not even have dates so this is all very confusing. I would appreciate if someone from o2 could help me out. 

If anybody also has any advice, that would be really appreciated. I had never made international calls before and o2 did not give me any information or heads up about charges prior to sending me the bill. I was of the understanding that I was using the rebtel app to make the calls to avoid this exact issue.

[Dul]

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[pgn]

One thing I did notice, in your list of called numbers, @Dul -

" You can submit your question, compliment, complaint, or tip online or by calling 1-877-CBP-5511 (877-227-5511). If you are outside the U.S. you must call +1-202-325-8000."

Standard call rates from UK to USA, especially on freefone 800 and local 877 numbers can be incredibly costly, even from a UK landline, never mind an O2 UK cellphone.

https://www.o2.co.uk/help/account-and-billing/calling-abroad-standard-rates

[Bambino]

@Dul You could have avoided most of the charges had you used Skype: Guide: A Guide to Skype 

Calls to US 800 numbers (800, 860, 877) are free when you use the app. Calls to area code 212 (NYC) or 202 (Washington, DC) would be chargeable, but only pennies per minute on Skype.

[pgn]

Using WiFi Calling is still a chargeable call, @Dul.

Using Skype, which uses your WiFi to make a data call, as @Bambino suggests, is not the same thing. 

WhatsApp is another way of using your data allowance or your home WiFi signal to call another WhatsApp user for free.

The similarity of naming, with WiFi in the name, does lead to confusion.

"With Wi-Fi Calling, you can call and text whenever you're on Wi-Fi in the UK, even if there’s no mobile signal. You’ll be charged in the same way as normal, so your usage will come out of your monthly allowance, or you'll be charged at the same rate as you usually would be for using O2's network for the country you are calling."

[Dul]

If they won't lift the charges, as an act of goodwill I will have no choice but to cancel my contract and move to a different network

I've been on queue for 25 minutes whilst waiting to talk to somebody. It's being so very difficult to get through to them 😞

£300 worth of charges is horrible. I hope you can get it sorted out. I wouldn't know what to suggest, I'm in the same boat too

[Dul]

Update: I called o2 support and they have given me a one off 50% deducation. They then offered me a £0 spend cap. I am very confused though because when I took my contract out I made it very clear that I did not want any additional charges beyond my monthly payments. After that phonecall I was under the assumption everything was setup correctly, but the spend cap was never applied.

I have no proof that the phone call was made, but it would definitely have been recorded. Is it worth calling them back and requesting that they look it up? I have my contract and date that it was taken out on

I'm happy with the 50% deduction, I suppose it's better than nothing, but technically I asked for a £0 spend cap so should I even be paying anything?

Thank you to everyone as well for commenting, I'm really grateful!

[Bambino]

I will ask an O2 account advisor to look into this for you. @O2Georgina or @O2KyleW can you please assist @Dul?

[Dul]

Thanks, @O2KyleW has reached out to me since you tagged him, I've sent him a message, hopefully he can help me out. I'll update here when I find out