Company mobile phone bill problems. Unusually high bills

[Jamie_ Stevenson]

Hi all,

 

Just looking for a bit of advice before I bring this up with my employer. I currently have a company phone and as I use this for personal use as well I have agreed to pay for any text messages sent. This I have no problems with however my recent phone bills have been ranging from £120.00 to £185.00. This is taken directly from my wages each month!

 

I have asked for itemised copies of each months bills and have discovered that I am being charged for data usage on my phone. For example this month my bill was £185.00. From this £30.00 was text messages and the remainder was data usage. I have worked out from these bills that this data usage is in fact from sending COMPANY emails from my phone.

 

My question is, how do I bring this up with my employer and then claim the money back from them. I have worked out I am owed approximately £700.00 for these charges over the past 6 months. Also as the money was taken from my wages and I have been taxed on this am I within my rights to ask for a company cheque or cash back rather than having the rebate added back onto my wages.

 

Can people please advise how I should proceed?

 

Thanks,

[honeybee13]

Hello there. I can see why you're fed up about this.

 

Is there anything in writing about phone use please?

 

My best, HB

[Jamie_ Stevenson]

The only thing I know of in writing is that the phone can be used for personal usage but any texts or calls outside of the contract will be charged for and removed from my wages.

 

The emails are all company emails not personal. I have checked the MegaByte usage per day and it tally's up perfectly with my email usage through Outlook from my phone

[stu007]

Hi

 

I would ask the company for a copy of the Companies Mobile Phone Usage Policy and Procedure as you would really need to see this as to the recovery of payment especially data usage.

 

If you can actually verify that the data usage cost you are being asked to pay are not personal usage but company usage then i would complain to HR and the Finance Dept about this.

[Jamie_ Stevenson]

I can prove the data usage I was charged for is company usage. I have went through my itemised bills and hi lighted all the charges. I have also done this with my emails on my laptop to show the usage is exactly the same as the data used to send and receive my work emails

[assisted blonde]

Just speak to your manager saying a mistake has been made and you have been chrged for company use, it shouldnt be a problem except that it has taken you quite a while to realise you are being overcharged. most companies just need telling things like this you dont need to get funny with them just tell them its not a big problem or shouldnt be.

[Emmzzi]

I have a cheap personal use phone for this reason. I suggest you consider the same.

[transient]

I suggest they also change their corporate tariff that is poor

[altobelli]

Hi Jamie, I would go along with the advice from assisted blonde, I think that's the best approach to take, don't over-formalise or complain, just mention informally to your manager what has happened. It shouldn't be a problem and if the charges are relatively high it may prompt the employer to change call plan or something like that, so it could actually be a good thing in the long run.