Meteor GPRS Overcharging - unbelievable €1.30 A MINUTE!

Dave147

Cabaal wrote: »

Dave147, clearly you did respond...twice in fact in a very 5 year old way.... :rolleyes:

Its nice when people lash out because they foolishly assume that they are right or know better and then they get nailed for a 400e bill.
:pac:

Jesus you really deserve the double face palm



I don't care if it's 5 years old, it's so appropriate for your useless comments.

jimmycrackcorm

The OH asked me to check her meteor bill as it is always high and I noticed a huge amount for GRPS even though she wouldn't use the internet at all. I'm getting her to move to 3 - she'll save half.

the_syco

forumdedum wrote: »

Fair enough, charges found. Do you not think this is a complete rip off? Waiting for a single page to load? It was the ticketmaster page with the spinning wheel.

The one that says it'll load in a minute?

Random

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

The OH asked me to check her meteor bill as it is always high and I noticed a huge amount for GRPS even though she wouldn't use the internet at all. I'm getting her to move to 3 - she'll save half.

Have you checked what these charges are for? Does she have RSS feeds or automatic updates on? Is it syncing bookmarks? Is she hitting the internet button?

RATM

Just as an aside I posted this over in the Mobiles and PDS forum earlier today, probably should have started the thread here:

ust giving a heads up. Last month I joined up with Jamster, mainly because they had some games I wanted that my network Meteor didnt have.
Anyway I downloaded a game and when the bar was nearly full it said 'Download Failed'. So I tried it again and again and again until on the fifth attempt it finally worked. 6 weeks later I get a bill in the door- data charges of €115 (ex.vat).
After a lot of too-ing and fro-ing between Jamster and Meteor ( both were blaming each other ) I finally had the full amount credited to my account today. My argument was that I was willing to pay for the data I received but not for the other four failed attempts. The argument eventually held up and they saw sense.
The whole sorry episode wasted my time and certainly I won't be using a mobile to access the internet in the future.

As an aside the lady on the phone said it costs 2c a KB if you do not have an internet add on and that my case was far from the worst they've seen. Said that they've had people ring up with bills for over €1,000 for a months usuage becasue of the data charges.
I don't know how they are getting away with such high charges, Comreg must be in their back pockets.

I'm glad I got it sorted. To the OP Id advise to ring back up and ask to speak to a manager. I was offered half the cost off the data bill but I held firm for just paying for the game I actually got, not for the 4 times the download didnt work. In the end they waived the whole charge.

Im getting the 'if you don't like the charges then don't use it' argument but for me its not quite as simple as that. What we have in Ireland is only 4 mobile phone networks and its arguable as to whether they are really competing or not. They all charge these huge data fees for anyone who just might need to use the internet in an emergency or as a very casual user. It's not as if we don't like it we can go somewhere else because all the networks are doing it.

The way I see it is that the large telecommunications companies bought into the hype about internet on phones being the next biggest thing and that there was going to be big bucks to be made. So they queued up at the doors of governments with blank cheques clamoring to secure 3G licenses. Now that it appears that they spent billions and overpaid for these licenses they are now going to recoup the costs of their mistake via the customer through these crazy charges. And because it is an oligopoly those who make the mistake of use the internet will be the ones to pay.

Cabaal

Dave147 wrote: »

Jesus you really deserve the double face palm

I don't care if it's 5 years old, it's so appropriate for your useless comments.

:rolleyes:

thanks you've confirmed my theory your a teenager, perhaps not physically but certainly in your thought processes and "so called" arguments.

I'd post some 15+ year old image as some sort of "witty" come back but I'm happy knowing that you've lost any argument already.

Sam Vimes

foggy_lad wrote: »

just re-read the op's post and he mentions being on a train when this usage accrued and i am wondering if that may have caused some issue when switching between cells? i know before with three there was issues with texts being sent hundreds of times when the sender was at the edge of the cell area, maybe there was a technical glitch?

There was an issue like that but the person wasn't charged for each message, it just wasn't getting an acknowledgement so it kept retrying. I really shouldn't be talking in the past tense because it still happens

kildareash

I've had similar problem with Meteor recently.
Had been using wireless broadband connection to use net on my phone.

One Friday evening, at about 4.30, got a call from Meteor customer service to say they were cutting the wap services off my phone because I had ran up a bill. It was about €100.

Needless to say, i was extremely pissed off for a number of reasons:
1. Friday evening phone call...customer service rep knew nothing, accounts dept had finished for the weekend.
2. I never use WAP on my phone...so why didn't they notify me before now
and finally, I pay my bill which is always around €100+ by DD, and there and never been an issue with payment, felt that they were unjustified in stopping the service.

I sent an e-mail on the following Monday, was basically told that it was standard procedure. Previously they used to inform people when they had reached €50, but the customer would say they were aware of this.

When i got my phone bill, I realised that it was one connection or whatever that had run up the bill.
Have no idea how it happened, but I will be alot more careful in future.

I'm annoyed tho that there is no way to have multi-media services on your phone to allow you to send receive picture messages etc, but not be able to run up huge bills like this on the net.

I've considered leaving meteor...but in the long run I would be punishing myself more, as I would no longer have free calls and texts to most of my friends and family.
Besides, with no way that I am aware of to check it out, it was my stupid mistake!

Sam Vimes

kildareash wrote: »

I'm annoyed tho that there is no way to have multi-media services on your phone to allow you to send receive picture messages etc, but not be able to run up huge bills like this on the net.

Yes there is. The mms settings and internet settings are separate so you could just delete the internet settings. What type of phone do you have?

kildareash

Sam Vimes wrote: »

Yes there is. The mms settings and internet settings are separate so you could just delete the internet settings. What type of phone do you have?

I've asked meteor this question sooo many times.
It's a nokia n95...I want to be able to access internet through wireless broadband and send and receive mm messages, but not be able to run up huge phone bills when phone automatically connects to meteor wap instead of wireless connection.

ch750536

Dave, don't feed the trolls. Internet rule 113.

Cabaal is foreign for troll.

Having a price list or small print does not make something right.

Remember a story my father told me many moons ago. Was working in the mines, his boss told him to fetch a plum line from 10 feet away 'and don't go left' he said while laughing. My dad didnt know why, so being a foolish 17 yr old he took a step to the left. Luckily someone caught him before he fell 100ft.

It was decided that even though he was told not to his boss was still a **** for not telling him why.

Kinda similar to having a different price all of a sudden without a message telling you (what does a text saying 'just letting you know, you are now paying €10 per kb, naa , that would damage profits.)

Also similar to charging obscene prices compared to cost (the price goes from 0.0019c per KB to 2c per KB more than 10000 times the cost!, perhaps they should change this, naa, would be bad for the margins.)

All this on a very technical service that many people would not understand.

Neither my son nor my mother knows what a 'Kilobyte' is but both want to read their emails.

So, Dave, wp. They are thieving ***** and deserve to be burnt down.

Sam Vimes

kildareash wrote: »

I've asked meteor this question sooo many times.
It's a nokia n95...I want to be able to access internet through wireless broadband and send and receive mm messages, but not be able to run up huge phone bills when phone automatically connects to meteor wap instead of wireless connection.

go into tools->settings->connection->access points

and delete everything related to meteor except meteor mms.

Also in your browser go to options->settings->general->access point

and set it to always ask. Each time you connect you can make sure that you're using the wifi. For any applications that don't ask for an access point when they first connect there should be an option somewhere in the program to set it to always ask or at least default to wifi, eg in google maps it's options->tools->change connection

Cabaal

ch750536 wrote: »

Having a price list or small print does not make something right.
.

A companyneeds to cover their arse from customers stupidity, its only fair and its perfectly legal.

Otherwise they'd have every fool and ejit claiming refunds for everything.

If your not intelligent enough to read and understand T&C's of any service then you should not be using the service,

They are thieving ***** and deserve to be burnt down.

Wishing actual harm on the company and/or its employee's is bang out of order and you may want to see a psychiatrist about it.

foggy_lad

Sam Vimes wrote: »

There was an issue like that but the person wasn't charged for each message, it just wasn't getting an acknowledgement so it kept retrying. I really shouldn't be talking in the past tense because it still happens

i know two people who got charged but refunded after by three when it happened to them.

also we must remember that meteor are going through a phase of improving their network and hopefully rolling out 3g throughout the country so problems with gprs are to be expected for the foreseeable future, i myself have noticed their wap service to be a bit patchy at times in the last couple of months and many mms messages are not recieved but this is the price of progress.

i would suggest a written complaint to meteor as they will have to read this and act on it

Fighting Irish

I hate people like you, you fooked up and its meteors fault? And the people who you got to end their meteor contract are stupid as well

Dave147 wrote: »

Same thing happened to me, except my charge was 400 euro, I went 30mb over my 250mb data bundle, Meteor wouldnt budge on my LITTLE indiscretion so I left meteor (2 numbers), my brother left, my sister left, my brother's girlfriend left and several friends. All you can do is pass on your experience to people and damage their reputation as much as you possibly can.

I wouldn't have left if they decided to reduce the charge to 100 euro or something, it is absolute extortion and you have these muppets on this thread advocating it "because it has the charges on the site, and you should have checked". Who the **** cares if the charges are there, it's still a complete rip off and it should be regulated. I hope they ****ing burn to the ground tbh.

RATM

Just to add to this debate there was a report on RTE's 1pm news about the EU legislating for a 60% reduction in the cost of text messages whilst roaming. The vote in Brussels should go through later today.

But what was really interesting is that they are also going to look into data charges in the future. The report said that the wholesale ( ie supplier to network ) cost of data currently lies at €1.68 per MB.

Now I'm no genius but its not hard to figure out that if Meteor ( and the other networks ) are charging 2c per KB to the consumer and there is 1000kb in a MB then their selling price for those who are not on a data plan is €20 per MB.

Some might call that good business for the networks but I think the majority of people would admit that it is extortionate to buy something for €1.68 and sell it on for €20. By my calculations it represents a gross profit of 1190%.Now if thats not ripping off consumers then I don't know what is.

Cabaal

RATM wrote: »

Now I'm no genius but its not hard to figure out that if Meteor ( and the other networks ) are charging 2c per KB to the consumer and there is 1000kb in a MB then their selling price for those who are not on a data plan is €20 per MB.

Everybody knows providers make a fortune of data usage, same as everyone knows txt message makes providers a fortune.

Say it costs an provider 30e for 1TB of bandwidth, work out how many txt messages you can send with 1TB of data

ziedth

RATM wrote: »

Some might call that good business for the networks but I think the majority of people would admit that it is extortionate to buy something for €1.68 and sell it on for €20. By my calculations it represents a gross profit of 1190%.Now if thats not ripping off consumers then I don't know what is.

To be fair though to achieve those Margins the start-up capital is not your average amount. I mean Myself yourself and Cabaal there just can't turn around and start-up a network. You talking Millions I'd imagine.

RATM

ziedth wrote: »

To be fair though to achieve those Margins the start-up capital is not your average amount. I mean Myself yourself and Cabaal there just can't turn around and start-up a network. You talking Millions I'd imagine.

Sure, agreed. And the company has every right to get their initial investment cost back for their shareholders. But there comes a time when that initial capital cost has been recouped and all profits beyond that are colossal and unfair to the consumer.
The initial capital cost would be big but think of it this way for Meteor, 1m customers, say an average monthly spend of €40x12=€480 which translates to just under half a billion gross per year. Now I'd find it hard to believe setting up a network costs more than half a billion tbh. Sure a lot of engineers have to get paid, a lot of base station to install, but €500m? So in theory the initial capital cost would probably be recouped by less than 3 years of net profits, after which they are in the spondulix big time.

I don't begrudge any company making healthy profits but making a profit of 1190% is obscene.The textiles industry is often held to be ripping us off with gross profits in the order of 600% but the mobile companies are taking the biscuit IMO. 1190% gross profit is up there with the margins of the oil companies and the pharma boys.
Clearly the major networks aren't going to lower these prices voluntarily which is why the EU has had to step in, fair play to them I say. It's long overdue.

dee1dee2

my darling step daughter took my phone on sat 2 txt friend again on sun silly me thought she was just txtin:mad:
got txt on mon mornin to say my internet was suspended becauce it had exceeded 150e nearly dropped rang customer care they told me internet had been accessed 46 times and my charges are 182.60e :eek:
couldnt believe it still cant have no idea how i am going to pay this
never ever checked charges because i have nerver used internet on phone. i have always on b band at home so never thought about mobile options aaagh i think meteor should stop service at 50e and send message to let consumer know to stop people getting into debt over stupid internet charges

Tom Dunne

This is a debate that comes up time and time again in the Mobiles/PDA forum.

While I am not for a minute disputing the costs are borderline extortion, the fact of the matter is, people really need to make themselves aware of the charges.

The operators know they can make a fortune on it, so there is no incentive for them to make people aware of the charges, or send an alert when a user goes over a certain limit.

Paulw

dee1dee2 wrote: »

my darling step daughter took my phone on sat 2 txt friend again on sun silly me thought she was just txtin:mad:
.........................
i think meteor should stop service at 50e and send message to let consumer know to stop people getting into debt over stupid internet charges

Silly you indeed for letting your daughter play with the phone and run up those charges. A harsh lesson learned.

As for Meteor, why should they stop a service? Many people use their internet service and depend on it. Should their service also be stopped at €50? How are Meteor supposed to know who should and shouldn't have a limit on the service? It's a bit unrealistic.

People should take responsibility for their own phones and the usage/conditions.

jor el

dee1dee2 wrote: »

my charges are 182.60e :eek:

That's a lot of ass-whoppin'

Contact Meteor and tell them you can't afford it in one chunk and ask about a payment plan. They'll usually accommodate these requests.

Lesson learned, never give children your phone.

craichoe

Paulw wrote: »

Silly you indeed for letting your daughter play with the phone and run up those charges. A harsh lesson learned.

As for Meteor, why should they stop a service? Many people use their internet service and depend on it. Should their service also be stopped at €50? How are Meteor supposed to know who should and shouldn't have a limit on the service? It's a bit unrealistic.

People should take responsibility for their own phones and the usage/conditions.

They already bar premium rate numbers such as 1590 due to their high per minute charge.

They should have Internet disabled by default and only turned on by request.

I rang the number 10 before and it was International directory enquiries, the charge was 24 euro for 2 minutes 48 seconds, i must have sat on the phone without the lock on and dialed it with me arse

I successfully argued that since they barred premium rate numbers, they should have banned 10 as well.

Couldn't argue against it really, got a full refund.

jor el

craichoe wrote: »

They already bar premium rate numbers such as 1590 due to their high per minute charge.

They should have Internet disabled by default and only turned on by request.

The cynic in me wonders how much they make from people's mistakes, and how much they would stand to loose by implementing such a system?

Cabaal

craichoe wrote: »

They already bar premium rate numbers such as 1590 due to their high per minute charge.

They should have Internet disabled by default and only turned on by request.
.

So they should bare internet access be default to suit the people that won't read up on charges and to piss off the majority of people who are aware of charges and use the net as part of the reason why they bought a phone? your kidding me right?

By your logic they should also block all TXT messages by default to stop people subscribing to those premium services :rolleyes:

After all Meteor should protect people from their own foolishness :pac:
:rolleyes:

dee1dee2

Paulw wrote: »

Silly you indeed for letting your daughter play with the phone and run up those charges. A harsh lesson learned.

As for Meteor, why should they stop a service? Many people use their internet service and depend on it. Should their service also be stopped at €50? How are Meteor supposed to know who should and shouldn't have a limit on the service? It's a bit unrealistic.

People should take responsibility for their own phones and the usage/conditions.

never said service should be stopped 4 all people at 50e just said meteor should send message to let people know they have exceeded 50e point. i got message monday but charges had exceeded 150e i am not saying people who depend on phone internet should have limit if they want to pay that high price for a service that should be cheap more luck to them

dee1dee2

jor el wrote: »

That's a lot of ass-whoppin'

Contact Meteor and tell them you can't afford it in one chunk and ask about a payment plan. They'll usually accommodate these requests.

Lesson learned, never give children your phone.

thanks 4 advice rang meteor and explained and they have agreed to drop charges to 92.60e without me asking 4 price drop only requested payment plan like u advised;)thanks my step daughter is going to pay this as i never mentioned she is 16:eek: big big lesson learned cheers

DrumSteve

why do people use a service without checking the charges for it first?

you wouldnt fill up your car without checking the price first... i dont understand why people have the nerve to complain about a service when they are wholly responsible for the charges incurred...

and as for people bringing their whole family off Meteor with them... lol at that.

dee1dee2

DrumSteve wrote: »

why do people use a service without checking the charges for it first?

you wouldnt fill up your car without checking the price first... i dont understand why people have the nerve to complain about a service when they are wholly responsible for the charges incurred...

and as for people bringing their whole family off Meteor with them... lol at that.

i dont understand people replying to posts without reading the other posts properly i am the bill payer and it wasnt me who used the data:mad: