Meteor Bonus Data Package cut off w/out warning

Roneyc

Hi,

I bought a bill pay HTC hero in a meteor store 3 months ago. When I bought it the salesman told he was giving me a 250mb data add on for free with the phone. He gave me no indication how long this would last.

I set up a dat counter on my phone to alert me if I went over 250mb, as I know that out of bundle costs are ridiculously pricey.

I've just checked my balance on the Meteor website and it says I owe e334 in data charges. When I investigated this, it seems my data add on was cancelled with out any notice being given to me at the start of my billing period (the 10th of each month). The amount of data I've used is 140MB, so well inside my previous allowance.

This to me seems ridiculously unfair (also on the Meteor T&Cs page there are only sections dealing with bonus texts and bonus calls, no section dealing with bonus data...)

Just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience to this, it seems pretty atrocious customer service to me, almost like its specifically designed to have people run up extortionate data charges. And the long and short of it is that I can't really afford to be forking over that kind of money for this.(It seems especially absurd when you consider that a regular 250mb 'add on' for a billing account casts 7.50e.

Any pointers or advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

Pacing Mule

Yep very similar with my wife. Upon signing up was offered a free unlimited broadband add on. She had requested the 250mb one but was told to wait until the unlimited one was used up. She was also told she would be texted when this was up. No text but a bill for €180 of data charges ensued on her 3rd bill. Currently fighting it with meteor - customer service have to escalate it to a different department who only accept email contact from them alledgedly. Meanwhile the following bill also had data charges on it up until the point where she initially queried the first one. (They had turned on the data bundle at that point)

Seems to be a pattern emerging of sales staff not giving accurate information. Will let you know how it goes.

Roneyc

Yeah, it seems ridiculous. This was my third bill too. I've emailed customer support and if I don't hear back from them tomorrow I will call them.

Jev/N

I have 1GB data in my plan and got the 250MB in addition to that (when I signed up), got a text today to tell me it's up on the 1 July, you sure nothing like that was received?

However, those add-ons are free and will be cancelled after the 1st month unless you want to pay for having it after (AFAIK), unlike some other companies who will continue subscriptions without asking, something which many customers hate, the current situation is the 'better' end of the stick, so to speak. I'm nearly sure it said this on the website when I ordered, I think the salesman should have informed you, if this was the reality.

foggy_lad

If meteor never informed you that the free add-on was ending then you shouldn't have to pay anything because they are legally obliged to inform you of all price changes on your account and any changes to the service and you can't be responsible for charges you were not made aware of!

drunkmonkey

I'd agree with foggy, pay them nothing in data charges and get an add on from here on in. Knowing meteor you'll have to pay the current bill and they will ammend your next one. Up to yourself how you play that one with them. I'd only pay what's owed less the data charges, if your on direct debit you better talk to them quickly.

Roneyc

I definitely wasn't informed that the bonus data pack was running out, I just double checked my messages there and there's nothing from them. Still nothing back from them anyway so I'll give them a call this evening. I can't imagine its in their own interest to carry on like this because I can't see many people who are stung with massive data charges coughing up for them, without a fight at least.

Roneyc

Also, to Jev/N, meteor do seem to continue add-ons month to month, at least with my account, as I have a text add-on (one I added myself, not a freebie) that has continued from my first month.

alexlyons

happened to me and i got it all sorted. If you're on DD, go to the bank now and cancel the direct debit. keep escalating it until the amend it. I had to write a really long horrible letter and eventually got it sorted, it took three amendments as mine was so complicated (i had a bundle and they charged me as though i didn't, and at an incorrect price). Keep pushing and you'll get it, but what ever you do, don't give them the money

Jev/N

Roneyc wrote: »

Also, to Jev/N, meteor do seem to continue add-ons month to month, at least with my account, as I have a text add-on (one I added myself, not a freebie) that has continued from my first month.

Oh I understand that, otherwise it would be a complete mess to deal with. I meant, I think it's just the free ones that aren't continued automatically (not entirely sure if they are/are not though)

slowmoe

the free add ons are special offers that last for your first month from signing a contract. i imagine its going to be in the terms somewhere as its pretty common. i was offered it 4 or 5 times when shopping around lately in meteor and was told by everyone it lasts one month and you get contacted at the end to see if you want to keep it

Gamesnash.ie: Pat

slowmoe wrote: »

the free add ons are special offers that last for your first month from signing a contract. i imagine its going to be in the terms somewhere as its pretty common. i was offered it 4 or 5 times when shopping around lately in meteor and was told by everyone it lasts one month and you get contacted at the end to see if you want to keep it

Problem is that sales staff are not mentioning the one month limit and / or meteor are then not contacting customers to give them the option to keep it.

Roneyc

Yeah, I get that, thing is I wasn't told it was for a month, I checked after my first month online and it was still in effect and I wasn't contacted when they discontinued it. Also I had a god look around online and can't find a section dealing with bonus data, their bonus section online only deals with calls and texts...

Roneyc

Just off the phone with meteor customer care now, apparently they can't deal with my request until the invoice is generated (the 10th) and also apparently data charges are capped at €50 a month? Again this isn't indicated anywhere on the website, but maybe a response to the amount of people upgrading to smart phones and running up ridiculous data charges and complaining/refusing to pay...still a little unfair and I'm not gonna let it go at that, but I definitley wouldn't feel as sickened forking out €50 as I would if it was €300...

miju

glad your getting it sorted OP. but serious question what do you people who are running up those bills doing on those phones?

I've had a smart phone for a couple of years , and my line of work involves constant web work , ftp transfers and emails on my phone as well as the usual app downloads / internet browsing and I've never even breached my 1 gig limit with meteor.

though I am always trying to scan for free and open wifi networks

Roneyc

Thing is it wasn't that much, was only 140mb, its just that it was charged at out of package rates, and so came to €330 (thinks its charged at 2c a kb). I'm pretty careful with my data usage too, ie switching it off when i'm not using it to avoid apps using 3g in the background, trying to limit downloading apps/using google maps/ other bandwidth intensive stuff to when im connected to wifi. Things that ran up my charge I guess were using facebook/surfing the net on the bus out of boredom.

I can see people who are less aware about how the whole charging for mobile internet business works getting hit with much larger fees, if you were to download a few apps at a few mb each and heavily use google maps/surf the web/ fb etc and leave your data on constantly you could easily be hit with a bill 10x what i got, esp. people who as I did opt for the cheapest monthly fee package on buying the phone.

Gamesnash.ie: Pat

miju wrote: »

glad your getting it sorted OP. but serious question what do you people who are running up those bills doing on those phones?

I've had a smart phone for a couple of years , and my line of work involves constant web work , ftp transfers and emails on my phone as well as the usual app downloads / internet browsing and I've never even breached my 1 gig limit with meteor.

though I am always trying to scan for free and open wifi networks

In the case of my wife who had the exact same situation occur it is simply from email recieving.

Pacing Mule

Update:

In our case Meteor have now fully refunded all internet access charges that were billed.