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?

Of course YABU.
You used something, so you have to pay for it. I can't understand why you think you wouldn't have to. They were even good enough to try to warn you when your usage was unusual.

If you CAN leave Vodafone (if you are out of contract or nearly out of contract) then just call up the customer retentions department (often phrased as 'if you are thinking of leaving Vodafone, please press 4') Then just say
--> you are unhappy with the customer service
--> you appreciate that your kids did run up a bill, but it was without your knowledge
--> that you are a bit of a technophone who didn't realise that they had sent you a text message about it
--> How on earth they thought it was 'normal' usage for you, given that you never go over your contract amount
--> why they didn't have a limit in place to prevent this sort of thing from happening! (are they trying to profit from people's mistakes and misfortune?!)
--> that you feel that they should have made some effort of goodwill
--> the net result is that you don't wish to remain a customer unless they are willing to make some sort of goodwill gesture against the excessive charges.

Maybe they will be more helpful (retentions have a LOT more power to be helpful)
Or maybe they will just say, "of course madame".

Good Luck!

I think there is no harm in resisting, but I can also see that in the end you may have to pay or face court etc.

I would look for a new provider (one who lets you put a limit on data use) and then tell them your leaving citing this as the reason. They may let it go in order to keep you. They may not.

I think this sort of thing is a bit difficult. Many people got data rates long before watching video on your phone was common place and the switching between wifi and data is something you're generally that aware of. At the same time, lots of people do want to watch videos on their phone so the phone company can't just assume otherwise. I opt out of marketing texts partly because I'm nervous about missing a warning about something. But I think they should have an automatic cut off when you've gone over your allowance unless you positively say it's OK to continue.

oops - Switching between wifi and data is something you're not generally aware off

I don't see how people can say that OP isn't unreasonable they aren't conning OP she agreed terms of her contract, then used her data ( well her DC did but OP should have been more away) sent her a message warning her you have X amount left and then 0 left and will now be charged.

Assuming Vodafone charge standardised amounts for extra bundles they also tell you you can add 1gb for £6, 2gb for £10 or charged £6.50 per 250mb

Assuming that the £265 includes her usual contract which if it includes an upto date phone costs like £30 then that would be around 36 charges of £6.50 for 9gb (9000mb) of data

According to this:

www.quora.com/How-much-data-does-a-YouTube-video-consume-1

A high res HD video for 10 minutes is 34mb which if real is over 44 hours of video which does seem a bit off but even if we divide it by 4 thats 11 hours of video.

By that quora link if correct 3 the 3 hours OP claims is 612mb or £19.50 of charges.

So by OPs claims she was using 50mb per minute and being charged £6.50 per 5 minutes/ £19.50 after 15 minutes

According to confused.com

www.confused.com/mobile-phones/mobile-data-calculator

a 500mb data plan gets you 33 5 minute Youtube video plays which is only 15 mins off her 3 hours so again rounded up is £19.50 rounded up.

YABU

The company can waive the fee but it doesn't mean they have to, and in this case they have chosen not to, and it's not like this hasn't been widely publicised for years ... if you choose not to read the news that's your choice but don't act surprised when something that has been on the news happens to you and people think you're at best naive for being so shocked.

You were sent a warning text to say you were getting close to the limit, and chose not to read it, what more do you expect them to do? It will be in the T&Cs what happens if you go over your data cap, and it's your responsibility to check that, not them to hold your hand and assume you won't check them and/or ignore the message they do send.

They also cannot change the settings on your phone - that's your responsibility. You should be able to set up a data usage cut off on your phone so it automatically cuts off at your limit, and you should also have the optiuon to change your settings not to swap between wifi/data to kee a connection if you get cut off, but again, that is your responsibility to check/find out/set up (even if that means going into the store and asking them about it) not theirs.

At the end of the day, you chose to let your DC have the phone without setting up any kind of parental control, therefore you are responsible for the consequences.

itstoocold I used to work for Carphone Warehouse and I have helped many customers like this. My suggestion is to ask to be put through to their collections team and ask to pay it back in instalments on top of each of your future bills. That way, it won't affect your credit rating. And by doing this, and speaking to the Collections team, they are the ONLY ones who can allow a concession. So if you say that on the back of this, once your contract is up you WILL be leaving Vodafone then they may allow a one of concession as a gesture of goodwill, in order to keep you as a customer. Essentially a Retentions gesture. Worth a try. I have seen it work before. To be fair, it was your child that did it. And we have all read about children downloading things that charged their parents credit cards hundreds/thousands of pounds and the companies ultimately waiving it. So make sure you mention to Vodafone that they are the only network that don't do this, and that is the sole reason you will be switching providers!! Good luck x

Childmaintenance - Sorry to ask on this thread, but do you work for CSA or CMS/CMO??

I would call them again and say if you don't make some sort of concession, as they know from your history it's out of character, they should have done something when it hit £100. Not leave it till you get your bill. Ok they text you but what good is that.
If they don't do something you'll look for a new provider, as they don't show any kind of loyalty. As a last resort ask to speak to a manager. Tell them you will escalate it as far as you can.

Sympathy. I can see how easily this can happen.

Sadly, I think it's something that you will have to chalk up to experience if the company won't budge for goodwill.

A colleague of mine a couple of years ago had a long transit period whilst travelling long-haul. They decided to watch a film using the airport wifi. Except they weren't actually connected. And their data roaming was on.

The bill was over £1000. Can't remember which film they said it was, but it wasn't worth >£1000 for a single viewing!

I know she ran up the bill, but it's a huge shock. They have the power to at least reduce the bill, which is more than reasonable to expect, considering length of custom. PAYG on 3 give you unlimited data for £15 that's without more texts than you could ever use & 200 minutes for calls.
So it doesn't cost them that much, he can't have been watching that many videos.

You'll have to pay it

Your phone company DID attempt to contact you, and you ignored their attempt. Therefore yes, you are liable for the bill. Phone companies do not have to show good will with things like this. Yes, some do, or they reduce the charge as a means of goodwill...but this doesn't mean it can be relied on for all companies to do this.

Also, do you have a usage meter on your phone? I have set my daughters phone to block data as soon as she hits her limit!

Doing my research it's only my phone company that behaves like this It's really not. No company is obligated to write off money because their customers don't read their notifications.

They are raking it in, taking advantage of people They aren't taking advantage of anyone here though...op's daughter used the data. Op was notified. They did what they could..did op expect a personal phone call??

So Vodafone is clearly unreasonable, which in turn makes be not unreasonable Really?? This is a stupid comment considering voda actually have an app (available in the app store/istore) that gives very accurate data use stats right there on your phone. My daughter has it, and it is very accurate.

--> you are unhappy with the customer service because they won't waiver costs run legitimately up by the op's daughter??
--> that you are a bit of a technophone who didn't realise that they had sent you a text message about it erm...technophobe or not, a text is a VERY basic thing on any phone
--> How on earth they thought it was 'normal' usage for you, given that you never go over your contract amount they contacted the op on seeing that she has higher than normal usage
--> why they didn't have a limit in place to prevent this sort of thing from happening! (are they trying to profit from people's mistakes and misfortune?!) they do. It's on many phones, or an app that can be downloaded
--> that you feel that they should have made some effort of goodwill but they don't have to
--> the net result is that you don't wish to remain a customer unless they are willing to make some sort of goodwill gesture against the excessive charges.They won't care. Excessive charges yes (all phone/internet companies, if they charge, charge excessively), but it is all stated in the contract that op signed/agreed to. It isn't their fault that op didn't read it. Add to which, many people now will use their data over it's limit and ring their provider and blame kids etc, because they think that they will be sympathetic. Phone companies are getting pissed off with scammers, and are clamping down on wavering bills like this.

they should have done something when it hit £100. Not leave it till you get your bill. Ok they text you but what good is that.

Your third sentence answers your first.

They did do something, they sent text messages. What else are they supposed to do? Data capping is an opt in service on Vodafone, which is made clear in the T&Cs, it's the OPs responsibility to read and opt in.

how old is your dd? Can she pay some of it?

Thanks 38cody, I do love an award!

I don't think I was unreasonable, it's irresponsible, selfish and lazy to ignore what's going on around you in the world.

Of course YABU - not only is it a legitimate charge for what DD used (with your knowledge) but they texted you to say.

How can you possibly contact them to try and reduce it and plead you didn't know?!

Pay it and learn

I don't think it is fair as £260 is so much more than the data really costs. If you buy a massive data add on it's £8 on my phone and I get a huge amount every month for £25.

Here the company are charging an excessive amount because the can. It reminds me of the bank charged and they were declared unfair weren't they

Ask to pay back monthly in installments. Get a limit set on data. I'm with tesco and my data cuts out when i reach my limit

Not useful now but when I use the "My Vodafone" app I can go into Vodafone Data Manager and turn on a data usage cap which stops me from going over.

A few well-indoctrinated little capitalists here, OP. Big company scams little people - totally cool and YABU to complain

It's not capitalism, it's personal responsibility.

I don't think it matters if you are unreasonable or not it is well known that if you haggle and negotiate with most phone companies over these huge unexpected bills you can expect them to give you some goodwill gesture. In which case you should absolute haggle and negotiate with them and ultimately leave them for a company who has better customer service.

I think this is awful. There can be no way it cost them anything like £365 to allow the data download, I just don't believe it. I reckon they profiteer on this and this will be the next "bank over draft charges" big thing. Get Martin Lewis onto it

I'm with Vodafone and have 1gb free data. When you get to 300mb, 200mb and 100mb left they message you so I think you will have to pay