O2 phone bill

chughes

I received my O2 phone bill today and I was shocked to see a data usage charge of €120.46 for a volume of 14.35MB. I have an eircom wireless modem and I occasionally use my phone to surf the net through this modem. Even if I was to inadvertantly use the O2 connection (which I'm sure I didn't), how is it possible to have a download usage of 14.35MB as I didn't download any music or videos ? I rang the customer care number but I was told that billing data on all bills are checked 3 times before being sent out so, as far as O2 are concerned, the charge is a valid one. Anyone else have this experience with O2 ?
Mods, if this is in the wrong forum please feel free to move it.

Toots

This happened me before, I, or rather my OH, ran up a bill of about €50 surfing the net. The way the 'downloaded data' is worked it's not like you're downloading songs, it's actual data received on web pages, and they charge per kb. If you load up a big web page on your phone it costs a fortune. A friend of mine booked tickets on ticketmaster using the internet on his phone and because there's so much information on the pages the charge was almost as much as the tickets cost.

If you regularly use the internet on your phone, you might want to consider getting an internet add-on. It's not expensive and would definitely work out much cheaper if you accidentaly log into the net using the WAP and not your broadband.

Cabaal

The charge is perfectly valid if you do not have a data bundle add on you will be charged approx 1c per kb, so you can work out charges after that....

Merch

Even if you connected through your wireless as I did, your phone can still connect through gprs I think,you need to disable it on the phone and can request O2 prevent you from accessing that service at the source, it may prevent you from using MMS. call the customer service and get onto them about it.
I got a big bill, think it was about €75 for data connection alone even though I connected through wireless.
I rang O2 and asked what the hell was going on and where is this data bill supposed to have come from as I defintely connected through my wireless.
I was told they have seen this happen before, apparently happened to this guys girlfriend yeh yeh, I told him why dont they have some more obvious and clear information about it so people dont get billed by inadvertant use. I think they are willing to allow O2 account holders be hit at least once, I told them I was out of there and they can forget me signing back up as a customer again, so they halved the data bill on the spot. I accepted that but I wasn't that pleased about it anyway, but at least the bill was halved so it was something.
Not long left for the contract then see, if I can port my no. to tescos pre pay then I'm off.

Merch

How long have you left on the contract Chughes?, if not too long as in less than 6 months I'm pretty sure you can push them to reduce the bill (half) like me, tell them you're not happy with it and ask what will they do about the data bill part, Say you know O2 are aware people are getting caught out like this and are having the bill reduced, wait to see what they offer you, if its half I think thats ok. If they don't tell them they can say goodbye to you signing up after contract or as a customer ever again, then back it up and leave, even buying yourself out of the contract early(depending on your tariff) might be cheaper than staying the remainder, port(move existing no. to another provider)your no. to another service for a year, in a year they will be offering you a deal to go back, or move to yet another service.

Cabaal

Merch wrote: »

Even if you connected through your wireless as I did, your phone can still connect through gprs I think,

No this is incorrect,
Your phone either connects via wireless or GPRS for net access, it will not do both at the same time.

What likely happened is wireless failed and GPRS picked up then,

I rang O2 and asked what the hell was going on and where is this data bill supposed to have come from as I defintely connected through my wireless.

Again you didn't connect via wireless, if you did for a fact there is no way O2 could charge you

Not long left for the contract then see, if I can port my no. to tescos pre pay then I'm off.

Great, you'll still be giving O2 money as Tesco use the O2 network :pac:

Merch

Cabaal wrote: »

No this is incorrect,
Your phone either connects via wireless or GPRS for net access, it will not do both at the same time.

What likely happened is wireless failed and GPRS picked up then,

Again you didn't connect via wireless, if you did for a fact there is no way O2 could charge you

Great, you'll still be giving O2 money as Tesco use the O2 network :pac:

Yes thats what I was trying to say they claimed wireless failed or some such ****, but I connected to my wireless, searched for wireless put in the key, was beside the aerial as in less than 2 metres, same room, I never got any message saying wireless disconnected or failed, and clearly no are you willing to continue on gprs, you will have to pay, it just connects and you dont even know you were on gprs until the bill comes in, that to me is complete bollox!!

I also said if you read the post, go to any other service,O2 three, metoer I'm sure me going to tesco cant be as beneficial for O2 as going to O2 directly.
Unless you work for O2, shopping around if you're not happy with the service is the customers choice and right. I complained and I got half off, unfortunately I have found with plenty of services in Ireland, only the customer that complains is entitled to better service, if I have to complain and receive poor feedback then I put the boot in and follow that up with changing service wether its bank, phone or whoever.

chughes

My current contract is up in August. I was on the phone to O2 yesterday but got no joy. I sent an email to customer care but I haven't heard back from them yet. It would seem that threatening to leave is the only thing that seems to sway them.

Merch

I think so, there would be no need to be unpleasant, just be firm with them.

wait till after the bank holiday weekend, if you dont have a response by then, I'd call, however I'd say speaking in person is better than emailing.
Tell them you're not happy about the bill and their non response if that is the case, ask them what they will do about it, if nothing, then say they can kiss you goodbye as a customer, ask on the spot how much it is to buy out of your contract? will depend on your tariff, it wouldn't have been that expensive to get out of mine but it will be up soon anyway.

If the cost of getting out is not prohibitive then consider it. Otherwise follow through on a threat to leave when they see people wont take **** they might make it more clear about certain charges, even if it is buried in the contract somewhere, at least they might give you something if not bring your number to another service provider.

chughes

Cheers, Merch. That's sound advice. I'll let you know how I get on with them.

penexpers

Merch wrote: »

I never got any message saying wireless disconnected or failed, and clearly no are you willing to continue on gprs, you will have to pay, it just connects and you dont even know you were on gprs until the bill comes in, that to me is complete bollox!!

Your phone should have some way of telling you which connection it is using. I know, for example, on the iPhone that if it's connected via wireless it shows the wireless symbol, if it's connected via 3G/EDGE it'll show the 3G/EDGE sign. It'll never show both together, hence it's easy to see what connection is being used.

Davy

Op you should ask Daryll if he can help. Or ring o2 customer care and ask for the 'Bill shock team'