Mobile Phone operator HELP!

[mcowlishaw]

Hi everyone,

I wish to bring up a subject regarding mob tele charges:
I have a monthly contract paying roughly £30-£40 each month.

However back in May/June i went abroad and i was using my mob to connect to internet via GPRS (OOOOUCH!). 2 months later i got bills totalling over £5,000 !!

I called company to enquire WHY my bill was so high and WHY they let my account get this much in DEBT. They advised that there was no credit limits etc and said sorry!

This company never advise me of these charges for GPRS internet connection, or advised me of the charges for connection outside the UK, (which is loads higher), either in writing or otherwise!

Now they demand the whole payment, which obviously i cannot afford, and have sent bill to debt collector's.

Plse advise if i have a case, in court, regarding no notice of the connection charges etc? I have considered visiting the Citizen's Advice Bureau.

Thanks in anticipation

[tim2718281]

I was under the impression that the mobile phone operators were promoting GPRS as a fixed-cost service, at around £25 per year, together with a charge per megabyte of data.

IANAL, but I would suggest looking at your operator's web site to see what they say about GPRS charges. Take a copy, and ideally get a witness or two. Then offer to pay the phone company at the stated rate (deal with the phone company, not their debt collection agency. Tell the agency you do not owe the money claimed, and you are in discussions with the phone company to get a corrected bill.)

Tim

[mcowlishaw]

Hi Tim,

Thanks for that, however, i was charged for each MB downloaded and which is far more overseas than in UK. They did not advise of these charges after i set up the mob 4 roaming.
also, you say get a corrected bill??? What do you mean? As far as they are concerned i owe them 5 grand!

Cheers
martin

[chiefengineer]

Originally Posted by mcowlishaw

Hi Tim,

Thanks for that, however, i was charged for each MB downloaded and which is far more overseas than in UK. They did not advise of these charges after i set up the mob 4 roaming.
also, you say get a corrected bill??? What do you mean? As far as they are concerned i owe them 5 grand!

Cheers
martin

Can you tell me who your mobile provider is, and what country you visited? The roaming/GPRS Data charge per Mb varies just like roaming call charges do. A lot depends on what agreement your provider has with their opposite number overseas.

Jeremy

[buzby]

Oh dear. The best rule of thumb is to NOT user your phone abroad, and access the web using an Internet Cafe instead. Your contract will state that you agree to pay for all services accessed by your phone (even when roaming) but even at a (typical) roaming charge of £10 per Mb, that's one heck of a data bill for just a few weeks abroad - unless you seleted trhe 'wrong' network and got wellied. Neither does it help that roaming accounts normally take 6 to 8 weeks to be billed by your home network, making the problem worse.

I think the only way forward is to dispute the charge and ask for itemisation if the data connects and Mb transferred. There could be errors induced by the foreign network, and only a full breakdown will resolve tihs. Ask for it urgently, also stating you want your account marked as 'disputed' until the requested data is reviewed.

[mcowlishaw]

Hi All,

My mob operator is ORANGE and the costs were incurred in Italy. They even admitted to me on the phone that i was not advised of the charges!!

I just want to find out if i have a CASE AGAINST ORANGE for NOT advising me of the costs per Mb overseas by connecting to internet.

Thanks all!
martin

[buzby]

No. Orange have actually made it easier - can text them to a special number from the country you are in, and they response with details of the cheapest network and the costs. Like all things in life, its up to the consumer to ask what the cost is, not blindly assume it'll be OK until the bill comes in. Telecomms firms are no different. Take a look at Orange Business Services - costs and services

As you can see, the information they provide is extensive - so if you didn't ask beforehand, how would they know you were going? I still think the charges may be incorrect and should be challenged in the way I described. Hoping that they won't bill you because they didn't tell you the cost is stretching things a little!

[tim2718281]

Originally Posted by mcowlishaw

Hi Tim,

Thanks for that, however, i was charged for each MB downloaded and which is far more overseas than in UK. They did not advise of these charges after i set up the mob 4 roaming.
also, you say get a corrected bill??? What do you mean? As far as they are concerned i owe them 5 grand!

Cheers
martin

What I mean is, look at the service you obtained, and calculate the cheapest price for it based on the information on their web site. Then offer to pay that.

Orange offer World Access GPRS for £88.13 a month with no limit on the amount transferred. So, you were using the service for two months, and their charge for two months would be £176.26.

Tim

[buzby]

That's a special tariff which you have to op-in for, and costs this amount each month - just like similar voice deals. Just because that price is available on a specific tariff, doesn't mean they'll be happy to switch = but as a negotiating point, it's at least worth a mention. Also how many Mb are they billing you for - it sounds as though you were online 24x7 solid for a fortnight.....

[Alison82]

Oh my god!! I thought mine was bad when t mobile tried to charge me a roming deposit of £250 which i would never use.

Sorry to hear this hope you get it sorted