My teenager ran up £160 worth of calls on his mobile phone

[StuntNun]

My 14-year-old DS has a Three phone contract that was supposed to be capped so he couldn't exceed his call allowance. Over Christmas, due to WhatsApp issues he made three hour-long calls to his brother in the next room FFS while gaming online. Three have now billed me £160 for the calls and claimed they have no record of there being a cap on his call allowance. The contract was set up in a Three store about six years ago so I can only assume the salesperson forgot to enter the cap on the contract at the time. Note that no current Three contracts have a limit on number of call minutes so I am effectively being punished for being a loyal customer for so many years. I have complained to Three and they have said they cannot progress my complaint and I must go to the Ombudsman to take it further.

AIBU to expect Three to cancel the £160 charges?

@StuntNun

Thanks Embarrasedaf he's had the contract since before 2014 and Three haven't notified me that they removed the spending cap. It must have not been set up properly in the first place. He uses his phone on Wi-Fi almost exclusively so he never needed much in the way of minutes, text or data.

Are you 100% sure it wasn't in any paperwork?

My phone contract goes up by a small amount each year and I get a letter to inform me. Are you sure it wasn't hidden in there somewhere?

if was calling using whatsapp it would have been a data call, not a proper "telephone" call.

Are you talking about phone calls or data?

In that case you have a stronger leg to stand on provided you can prove the cap was included in your contract, and that you haven’t undertaken a new contract since.

Place a subject access request as they will supply all your contracts and account notes which many clarify the situation

Thanks again Embarrasedaf.

I'm going to go and search through my paperwork but I don't remember seeing the contract in there anywhere. The Three app might have more information.

I don't understand why posters expect me to have somehow known that there was no spending cap on his contract even though I was specifically asked if I wanted one and said yes. His brother had the same contract and the same spending cap although he has since changed contracts as his data use increased massively.

WhatsApp will be using data and not call time as it’s a VOIP service. Are you sure data was capped? Also why wasn’t he connected to the WiFi if he was at home? That’s much better than using data.
I’m slightly shocked that you got your 8 year old a mobile phone contract!!!

Presumably you will have had a contract for a fixed term - usually 6 months to 24 months. After that, like your electricity, gas, phone bill and broadband, you get put onto a standard rate with different terms and charges. Usually they phone you within a month of the end of your contract to get you onto a new one, to choose a new phone etc.

It's not their fault if you didn't take the renewals calls they will have made (and they absolutely will have made these, they get commission off them). Maybe this is a good wake-up call to look at a lot of your household bills and get yourself on better tariffs?

I don't understand why posters expect me to have somehow known that there was no spending cap on his contract even though I was specifically asked if I wanted one and said yes. His brother had the same contract and the same spending cap although he has since changed contracts as his data use increased massively.

But that was six years ago - it's highly likely that things have changed since then. I suspect if you read the small print in all your paperwork over the years, there'll be something about a change in contract.

Whether you've kept six years worth of paperwork is another matter, however! I suspect most people don't and if you have no proof of a spending cap, they're highly unlikely to just waive a £160 bill.

Simple prevention. Contact the network provider and cap the contract so £0 can be spent over the set monthly amount

And yes, like PP said, most phone contracts used to be fixed-term for x months and then they reverted to standard charges.

@NotFabulousDarling most phone contracts are on a rolling basis after the initial fixed term is over, where exact the same contract and terms are carried over. In cases like the OP where a provision has been discontinued, the network provider has to provide notice of changes instead of unilaterally changing it

Sorry OP but it's parental responsibility to check on contracts like these, especially for teens where games etc are concerned. There have been enough 'sad face' articles in the papers about parents kicking up a stink when presented with gigantic bills - which they usually seem to get refunded as it's otherwise bad publicity for the company involved. The cost will then be passed onto other customers.

Idontgiveagriffindamn at the time he got his first phone (very basic with only calls and texts) we were living in a cul-de-sac where all the kids roamed freely in and out of their friends' houses and gardens. He got the phone so I didn't have to walk up and down the street every time I needed him e.g. for dinner. He didn't get a "proper" phone until he was in high school.

To clarify, the extra charges were run up on phone calls he made because WhatsApp, which he usually uses, wasn't working.

To be fair you can ignore my last comment as I’m only going off my own (recent) experience

I'd better go and check his bank account too to make sure they haven't set up an overdraft facility for him without telling me.

If he has been on that same contract since he was 8 then I'd say you have got off e extremely lightly OP. Imagine if he had left it logged into a call for hours.
Well that's the washing up sorted for the next few years....

I have just renewed my contract with Three and they asked if I wanted to put a cap on out of allowance costs. Did it all on the website.

I found this on uswitch:

www.uswitch.com/mobiles/guides/end-of-contract-notifications-broadband-and-mobile/

Saying end-of-contract notifications only became law in February 2020 - so is it possible the contract ended after the original time period and you just assumed it had continued?

A 14 year old knows full well that three hours on the phone to someone in the next room is going to be expensive.
I don’t think the phone company should let you off and I would expect him to pay me back. It’ll give him something to think about next time.

I would be p*d off my mobile provider too, surely excess use of this scale should have been picked up and triggered some kind of unusual use/ fraud alert? And I would focus on this point when complaining.
You arent the first parent to fall foul of this and wont be the last, sometimes companies offer goodwill gestures.
I would be scouring the house/ email for any record of contract and also ask them.to send you a copy of your original agreement.
Put a cap on all contracts right away if you haven't already but also change contracts to one with a higher data allowance a contract of that age wont be fit for purpose for todays teenagers, data is what my DC use the most.
Worth writing a formal complaint , you've nothing to lose.

Complain with your feet. Take your custom elsewhere.

I would also be making your teenager pay back the £160. A 14 year old knows full well that it'll cost a fair bit for those calls.

Yes, totally U. Your son can pay the charges.

I’ve never had a mobile phone contract whose terms lasted for years without changing.

The onus is on you to stay on top of the terms.

I got caught out like this with my DS 1st phone contract. Virgin Mobile were really nice (can't believe I'm saying this!), and refunded me the whole lot - about £100- £150 - and set a cap going forward.
I agree try again, be polite, and you might get a more reasonable person.

Have you made an official complaint in writing @StuntNun that tends to get you further in my experience!