to resist paying this?

[Itstoocoldforme]

Dd got hold of my phone and watched minecraft tutorials for 3 hours in total over 2 days at Christmas. Trouble was it was not on wifi. Cue £265 bill.

An acquaintance overheard my plight when I was whingeing to a friend, and said that the same thing happened when her dh was watching the golf at work. He thought he was on wifi and ran up an £800 bill. the phone co waived it and told him to be more careful in future.

So I try it with my provider, who I've been with for about 15 years. They're not budging and say it's legitimate usage. I know that it's legitimate usage, I'm appealing to their goodwill. They are not having it and have of course cut me off.

AIBU to hope for a bit of leeway here? They sent me a message at the end of the first day saying they have noticed high data usage. I didn't even read it because they send so many junk texts anyway and I have never gone near my limit before. In fact I didn't even know what it was 😳

They didn't stop the usage until I'd run up this huge bill.

AIBU to hold out payment and see if I can get some joy? Or should I just suck it up?

[Itstoocoldforme]

anyone? 😃

[ginfan]

But you did use it?

[honeysucklejasmine]

Well, they did try to warn you. Most companies allow you to set a data usage limit to control your bill. I have a 1G limit. If i exceed it, I actively have to buy more to keep using data.

[GladAllOver]

I feel sorry for you, but this is a common problem and widely publicised. You must have read about similar cases.
I'm afraid it's going to be an expensive lesson.

[harderandharder2breathe]

Yabu

They messaged you and told you it was high usage and your DD did use the data.

Supervise use of your phone more closely next time and make sure it's on wifi

[GinIsIn]

They sent you warnings and you DID use the data though

[Bluntness100]

I think you need to pay it, you have no grounds here, you've asked and they said no. It's legitimate usage, they tried to warn you and you ignored it, and you let your child have free reign of your phone. Lesson learned I think, sorry but you're responsible,😞

[Patriciathestripper1]

Sorry but you use it you pay for it. They sent you a warning.
Suck it up and pay the billy.

[Itstoocoldforme]

I hadn't heard of anything like this before. Don't watch the the or read the papers! How naive am I 😳😳😳

[Hellmouth]

If you don't pay it, you'll end up with a default and, at worse, they'll take you to court. Is it really worth it?

[TheFairyCaravan]

Sorry no, you should suck it up and start reading the correspondence from them

[VeryBitchyRestingFace]

AIBU to hope for a bit of leeway here? They sent me a message at the end of the first day saying they have noticed high data usage. I didn't even read it because they send so many junk texts anyway and I have never gone near my limit before. In fact I didn't even know what it was 😳

Entirely your own fault. Sorry. You should pay.

[Itstoocoldforme]

God that's awful! Doing my research it's only my phone company that behaves like this !

[AHedgehogCanNeverBeBuggered]

YABU, you should set up controls on your phone to avoid this.

Also, YABU to not watch news or read the papers - how can you possibly not care about current affairs? Setting a v bad example to your DC, how can you use your vote properly if you don't understand the issues?

[FusionChefGeoff]

Pay it. I've still got 2 yrs of a £40 unpaid phone bill on an otherwise near perfect credit file to discharge and it's the biggest pain in the arse ever. So much financial stuff is on automatic checks now even if credit is not needed (switching bank accounts for example) and I just get computer says no every time. Not worth it.

[Itstoocoldforme]

That's hilarious hedgehog.

[Soubriquet]

Vodafone by any chance?

Yabu though

You need to be more awareness of your phone

Turn off your data when your in the house to ensure it's on wifi

[Itstoocoldforme]

Got it in one. Yes I certainly won't be making that mistake again..

[Soubriquet]

They have terrible customer service

I was with them. Refuse to go back to them after paying for a service I didn't get.

With O2 now

[YourOtherLeft]

Just one of those things. Accidents will happen, just take the hit and move on. For future reference, Android phones have a setting that allows you to put in a mobile data limit per month. Hit the limit and it cuts off the mobile data. In latest Android it's in Settings > Data Usage > Mobile Data Usage > Settings cog. It'll be in a similar place for other Android versions. You set your billing date and put in your preferred warning and cut-off data use values.

[PussInCoutts]

Vodafone is terrible for this. I changed provider eventually. They are raking it in, taking advantage of people. Virgin is so much better, even when I run over the limit it costs a few £10s at most, not bloody £100s!

[HermioneJeanGranger]

Not paying it will stuff up your credit completely. Your choice, though.

[Stoneagemum]

Was it an iPhone? In an update last year they introduced wifi assist which boosts poor wifi by using your mobile data but still shows you being connected to wifi.
You can turn it off in settings, problem being it is automatically enabled when you did that update.

Iirc it happened in and update in April/may 2016

I only found out about it after my works account data increased substantially int may, June and July and speaking with my network operator, once they told me about the setting and it was disabled on all handsets data usage went back to normal.

If you have an iPhone go to settings - mobile data then scroll to the very bottom and you will see Wifi assist, switch it off otherwise when your iPhone thinks the wifi is not good enough it will use your mobile data but your display will show you using wifi

[Itwillbefine]

Could you say you will go elsewhere if they don't reduce it?

[longerdays]

ok am at odds with others but I say have a go on this. It is obvious a mistake on your part - I agree with your point I get bombarded with rubbish texts from virgin phones and doubt if I would notice one that was actually important. I am not sure I agree that one random text is great on the part of the phone provider to bring an issue to your attention.

Do providers stop a service as soon as they note unusual behaviour? I know my sons phone has been cut off due to unusual usage and we had to confirm it was him before they switched it back on. If you don't usually use the data and then clock up several hundred pounds I would expect providers to do more then send one text. What if it has been stolen? or was unauthorised use? What if £1000+ had been clocked up?

I have no idea who regulates the mobile phone side of things but definitely worth asking them what is expected in terms of this from the phone providers.