Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6

Original poster

to resist paying this?

147 replies

Itstoocoldforme · 28/01/2017 20:48

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?

OP posts:

Trainspotting1984 · 29/01/2017 17:26

"Yes the rates are not the cost of the data but if you go over the limit there is a penalty.
Just like if you go over your car park ticket."

What a ridiculous suggestion. It's nothing like a car park, and it's not a penalty

Katy07 · 29/01/2017 17:29

Maybe you should be more careful letting your DD just help herself to your phone? And maybe take the time to actually read the texts you're sent? And while you're at it just try taking responsibility and behaving like an adult?

JacquesHammer · 29/01/2017 17:30

They get away with it because PEOPLE LIKE YOU ALLOW IT TO HAPPEN

No. People like me read the contract, query anything I am unsure about and ensure through the various technology a device has that I don't incur any excess charges.

What about people who don't understand about technology and contracts and don't read things. Should they be ripped off, or not have phones or other utilities?

No - they should ask questions and read a contract before signing as any responsible adult does

DesolateWaist · 29/01/2017 17:34

The point I was making Train is that when you overstay your ticket at a car park you are charged much more than the cost of actually parking there. Just like going over a data limit, you are charged much more that the actual cost of the data.

ssd · 29/01/2017 17:55

op, I had sympathy with you at first here, but not now, you deserve whats happened as you claim its not your fault, when it clearly is.

Trainspotting1984 · 29/01/2017 18:06

You are charged for over staying in a car park because it's a limited resource- you are stopping someone else parking there. The argument doesn't hold with data which is freely available to as many users as demand it

GinIsIn · 29/01/2017 18:10

You are not being exploited, you used their service and ignored the warning. People who sign up for things and don't bother reading them aren't 'being ripped off', they are being stupid. And yes, Vodafone will issue a default notice if you are disputing it.

Trainspotting1984 · 29/01/2017 18:12

And jacques your contract won't state how much you will pay for data over your unlimited amount. So not much good reading it is it?

Honestly I think you lot are just being deliberately obtuse. You know full well the best course of action is to TRY to get the bill reduced

specialsubject · 29/01/2017 18:16

an AIBU classic of 'asked advice, didn't like answer, got upset'

everyone on here can read, write and organise internet access. 'don't understand contracts' doesn't really cut it.

ShowMePotatoSalad · 29/01/2017 18:18

OP your responses are aggressive.

You used the data despite a warning. You haven't been exploited. Yes it's sucks for you, but maybe you ought to learn a lesson from it rather than blaming the company and accusing people here of being indoctrinated.

Respectfully, get a grip.

VintagePerfumista · 29/01/2017 18:22

Oh, so "having worked in finance" tells you that if you dispute it, you don't have to pay?

I'm going to try that one with my lecky bill. Forget the numbers tally and I let the man in to read the meter. I'm going to go all shouty and say "I dispute this!"

You're sounding a bit unhinged from your blushy daft face from the OP btw.

Now't like being told you're being U to bring out the beast in some people.

JacquesHammer · 29/01/2017 18:31

trainspotting actually my contract States quite clearly the charges exempt from unlimited such as roaming abroad. I know because ive read it.

OP you sound unhinged. YOU used a service. It doesn't matter if it was your DD. You used the data. You were daft enough to ignore messages. So no. The best course of action isn't to try and get it reduced. It's to learn to be an adult

Natsku · 29/01/2017 18:44

Don't blame you for trying to get it reduced, the charges are unreasonable. Hopefully you'll get it reduced but also learn to be more careful in future.

As a side note, I can't believe they allow such ridiculous charges anyway, with my phone company if I go over my data limit (well I'm unlimited now but before I wasn't) they just throttle the speed, they don't charge anything.

MissVictoria · 29/01/2017 18:44

It is your responsibility to supervise your child. It is also your responsibility to monitor your phone usage. You presumably know that mobile data and wifi can be turned on and off. You left your phone on mobile data instead of wifi and let your child use your phone for 3 hours on the internet. You received text messages warning of your usage, and chose to ignore them. Now you are trying to blame everyone else for your failing to monitor your phone and supervise your child and what they were doing. The data was used, so you have to pay for it. You can't claim "you didn't know" because they told you. In no way are you being "exploited" you had your phone on the wrong setting and gave it to a child to use. I'm assuming your child is too young to understand wifi and mobile data and be able to identify which she was using to have prevented this. You've shown her at some point how to go on the internet, and have let her do so without putting the phone on wifi. Pay what you owe. For all those saying "tell them you'll switch to someone else" OP would either have to buy out the remainder of her contract, or wait til it ended to move elsewhere, you can't just say "I don't want this contract anymore" and stop paying. Can't say OP is someone i'd want to retain as a customer anyway if she thinks she should get legitimate data usage fees waived because she is unhappy with the price. They warned her, she admits she ignored the warning text. Fully responsible.

limitedperiodonly · 29/01/2017 19:18

I would contact them and ask them to waive or reduce the charge as a gesture of goodwill. If not, I'd tell them I would switch providers and then do it as soon as possible.

My credit card company waived interest for me because I have a record of paying in full on time, so I when I noticed after a week that their bill had gone astray they believed me. I had racked up the interest, so some people on this thread would think that meant I should pay, no ifs or buts, but thankfully it was the company's decision, not MN's and they let me off.

Phone companies, like credit card companies, make large profits. £265 is no skin off their nose and they may feel like keeping a customer. It's worth a try.

Trainspotting1984 · 29/01/2017 19:23

JacquesHammer that's veryodd. So it specifies it costs say, £15 for each MB outside your data? Do they have to send you a variation to contract every time their prices change or have they frozen everyone's charges at their specified contracted rate? My contract is 7 years old.

DesolateWaist · 29/01/2017 19:30

Here are the charges from Vodafone www.vodafone.co.uk/explore/costs/data-charges/

Trainspotting1984 · 29/01/2017 19:42

Is that what's in your contract jaques? £6.50 for 250mb?

melj1213 · 29/01/2017 20:23

Obviously the text is designed to cover their back to meet their obligation to tell you whilst also giving them a fair chance you won't read it until it's too late.

You have no excuse not to read the text that they send to say you've used up all your data while you're using said data. How are you unlikely to see it till it's too late when you're actively (and continually) using the phone?!

Also, OP get off your high horse, the phone company has no moral obligation to anything when you are in the wrong. They could give a goodwill gesture, but if you went in with the attitude you've used on here, I am not surprised they said no. Your child didn't just watch one video or use a little extra data over the limit, they had the phone and watched THREE HOURS worth of videos. It's not like you could not notice they had your phone, that's a long time for it to be missing ... and your responsibility to know what they are doing on there.

I work in customer services and if something is the customer's fault and we have no obligation to do anything, we usually still have the power to offer some sort of solution, out of goodwill. But it is based on my discretion ... and if you come up acting entitled, you'll get absolutely nothing more than I have to give you. Come up and show responsibility for your actions and ask nicely, and I might use my discretion to give you something extra/offer goodwill even if i don't have to.

For example if you want to bring back an electrical product you must have a reciept, nobody in the store has the power to override that policy except the store manager and even then only in extreme circumstances. If you come up without the reciept and then have a shit fit because I won't do anything, then I will just say "Sorry, store policy will not allow me to return any electrical item without a receipt, if you do find it feel free to come back then and we can process your refund." If you come up and realise you don't have the reciept, ask nicely if there is anything I can do, or are generally just good about accepting the policy ... we can look up transactions on the system, but the system is very old, slow and not very "search friendly", so it's a PITA to try and work through unless we have to. This is not something we actually have to do it at all, esp if it's busy, but I will do it if someone is nice, but if they're rude or entitled, that option basically doesn't exist any more as far as I'm concerned.

SaucyDough · 29/01/2017 21:16

Trainspotting When you sign up to a contract you agree to pay the charges set by the provider which will have been explained at that time. My provider always sends me notification when any of those charges change.

JacquesHammer · 29/01/2017 22:03

I always get a notification through the post when there are changes to the terms of my contract in terms of changes to charges.

That's not odd.

GladAllOver · 30/01/2017 14:48

The OP will have been sent notification by text of any changes to the contract T&C's. That's a legal requirement on the provider. But if she doesn't look at the texts, she will never know what the current charges are.

But asking for sympathy or gestures from Vodafone really is getting blood from a stone.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6