Help! DSS mobile phone bill £4500!

[mumtomoley]

Just got DSS's phone bill and it's just over £4500

He's been to Turkey for 2 weeks with his mum and left data roaming on/been on the internet as it's all data charges. We really do not have the means to pay this at all. I've spoken to his mobile phone company, Orange, and they are going to call me back tomorrow. They have said that they may be able to put a credit on the account but 'to manage my expectations it won't be a significant amount'.

Any advice gratefully received?

Orange can't monitor usage in real time. Think O2 and TMobile are better.

600£! what a nightmare. As someone who Travels a Fair bit usually he would definitely have received texts to let him
Know local charges etc. tbh my dd 14 has a contract phone-new model with tesco 15£ a month and it's capped there is no room for flexibility or extra charges-have found tesco great. I would definitely suggest capping his allowance and tbh would be making him Earn/pay at least part of the money.

And change to PAYG from now on.

I would definitely be making him pay!

Op, have just been reading this, I ran up a huge bill as a teenager (pre mobiles, overseas calling card linked to landline). I was in a desperately sad and difficult situation and honestly didn't realise how much it was. Due to the situation my amazing parents swallowed the cost (I was heading to uni and they said they preferred me to save for that rather than needing bailing out further!). Has Orange let you agree an instalment payment plan? 16 + years on I still feel guilty. It did give me a real wake up call about the true cost of things. Still crops up as part of family folklore though...I like your thought about showing him the original bill and letting him sweat, although as he's not working £600 probably will seem just as big!). As he's not done well at GCSEs he might feel he's "rubbish at everything" but he'll hopefully see this as a turning point. Help him see how to break down repaying you so it becomes an achievable thing rather than something he hides from?

My parents still say the bit they were really cross about was that I didn't tell them how desperate I was. And that BT allowed me to authorise a bigger limit! (was 3 figures not 4!).

I hope it all gets resolved. You and DP sound very reasonable people and I reckon he's very lucky to have you!

Also if you are in the EU there are caps to the amount they can charge. Not so outside EU.

If he is to learn anything from this, and be responsible from now on, there has to be SOME consequences to this. Like Pay as you Go, and a cap on mobile use. Along with him getting a part time job to start paying off the £600. If he seems sincere, you can opt to let him off when he has repaid most.

soup - presumably though if it kept warning you, you'd eventually think it might mean something. Wouldn't it be a flag to make you check?

hallelujah - orange can monitor data usage in real time and did with me. I regularly checked the data usage on the phone itself and orange texts were about five minutes after I hit each limit. That's pretty much real time.

Yes, he was ignorant of the magnitude of the costs but I still think he must have known something was up and therefore should have been alerted to be more careful.

I think you're over estimating the common sense of a 16 year old :)

If Orange had sent "You've spent £2000 so far" it may have been more useful.

If they had capped it like O2 do, it would have been even more useful.

The only reason they do neither of those things is to try and make more money out of people without the sense to complain.

i think you're over estimating the common sense of a 16yo

Yes you're probably right!! Mine aren't that old yet but I hope hey would at least see it as a flag to investigate.

"Yes, he was ignorant of the magnitude of the costs but I still think he must have known something was up and therefore should have been alerted to be more careful."

This is what I think too. He wouldn't have had a clue about just how big the costs would be, but I also think that with all the texts about roaming costs etc he should have at least thought to ask the question, or restrain his usage, but because he doesn't pay the bill, he wouldn't have cared about the consequences.

If he was otherwise responsible then I doubt that we would expect him to contribute, like your parents MsPickles. And I think, if he is able to get a part time job then this will help him in lots of ways so if it's an impetus for him to do this, then that's something good to come out of it.

He lets himself down so much by being irresponsible. He did very little work for his GCSE's despite ours, and his mum's best efforts and he could have passed them if he'd tried. Everyone around him bent over backwards to help him, but the minute he was left to his own devices he'd just be on facebook etc. So a short sharp shock about consequences (hopefully) will help him in the long run. I don't think he's particularly unusual for a 16 year old but it doesn't mean that bumbling along not caring what happens is a good thing!

We won't see him till Saturday so will speak to him about it then.

Thanks again for all your help and input :)

hi, moley just getting back to this thread - i'm glad you've had some sort of result. with re to your question about my friend, it was roughly 6 months ago if that makes any difference to your argument with orange....

Vodafone send you very regular texts if your use data whilst abroad. I had one after just £2 use on holiday last month, and a second at £5. I imagine the texts would have continued each time at different intervals.

What I like with the Vodafone text is it tells you how much money you have spent, rather than how many mb you have used - much more user friendly and a far bigger warning.

mumtomoley May I just say how very calm and restrained I think you've been about this. Good for you but make dss sweat a bit, won't you>?

Wow, I'm totally shocked by how much they wanted to charge you!

I use a free app called Snappli when I'm roaming. The Orange app only monitors data usage, Snappli actually compresses the data so I use less, saving me money. Also shows which apps and websites I've visited (or anyone else who has access to my iPhone has visited).

Oops, meant to add the app store link. Here it is: itunes.apple.com/gb/app/snappli/id534504254?mt=8

Can anyone help please? My daughter (14) got a freebies vodaphone in March 2012. Neither of us thought about it until a bill arrived in July via my bank saying l was massively overdrawn. Turns out she called her friend once a day for 30-40 mins to discss GCSE stuff and the charges have amounted to £1,450. Tried to speak to Vodaphone, first operater helped me get ALL the money into my bank as they were charging me for being overdrawn. Vodaphone did not notify her or me as state it is a self managing account. They have given me until 31-10-2012 to pay all, or go to external debt agency. Im terrified, as do not have money but trying to renew my mortgage and Vodaphone told me today this moght be a proble when it goes to external agency. Been to CAB, they cal see me in Nov. Absolutely no ideas what to do as Vodaphone tell me they dont have a complaints dept. Cannot get to speak to anyone and get too tearful when l do! Bad l know, but in shock. Should have checked my bank account, but my mum died at Christmas last year and my dad being diagnosed with ca. All getting too much at mo. Any advice would really be appreciated. x

hi Mel16, it would be best to start a new thread and re-post your message as this thread is so old. Hope you get things sorted.

-I would offer to pay what you can afford and see if they will accept that.