Shock - eMobile

Ger3

I am reeling from what happened today. I moved the whole family to eMobile on 10/4/13. I had been with O2 for the last 20 years. I had heard that if we had an eircom landline that we would get a good deal from eMobile. We visited the eMobile store and after approx an hour we were all signed up - 2 of us on the €39 a month plan and 3 on the €25 plan. This was 3 weeks ago. What happened today had stunned me. My daughter rang me at about 4.45 from a friend's phone to say that she couldn't use her phone. I rang her back and heard a voice message saying that credit control had stopped all our phones. This led me to the first of 3 customer service employees. He told me that we owed €505.44. I nearly got sick in the car. He said that my son had clocked up €203 in text messages. I was shocked. But this left €300 unaccounted for. Apparently there were pro rata charges which I had never heard about so our first bill without my son's charges after 3 weeks was over €300. I had changed providers to save money but the opposite has happened. I meet many people through my work and I will for the next 18 months until this contract finishes make it a priority to tell everyone I meet about eMobile.

dh0011

that is shocking. surely there is a mistake somewhere.

drunkmonkey

Mistake alright, kids/teens should never be allowed a bill phone unless its capped or unlimited. Not sure if eMobile cap accounts/users no harm in asking. 02 more than capable of the same along with every other network.

dh0011

yea but 203 euro in text messages. No youngster can be on the phone that much. If they are 10 c each and you get no free allowance that is 2030 messages - over 60 a day

jesus_thats_gre

dh0011 wrote: »

yea but 203 euro in text messages. No youngster can be on the phone that much. If they are 10 c each and you get no free allowance that is 2030 messages - over 60 a day

Easily achieved.

dh0011

even if i had four girlfriends i wouldnt have come close to that

Gorilla Rising

Ger3 wrote: »

I am reeling from what happened today. I moved the whole family to eMobile on 10/4/13. I had been with O2 for the last 20 years. I had heard that if we had an eircom landline that we would get a good deal from eMobile.

Did you find out exactly what the terms of the deals were and what you're entitlements are as regards mins, texts and data?

errlloyd

I've had a very quiet month because of exams, and I've sent 800 in 3 weeks.

dh0011

i couldnt see myself sending more than a couple a day

jesus_thats_gre

dh0011 wrote: »

i couldnt see myself sending more than a couple a day

How does that equate to "No youngster can be on the phone that much."?

theteal

are these the plans? I hope I'm wrong, you couldn't possibly put a teen on a plan with only 100 texts and expect to save money (pro rata for 3 weeks would only be about 75 texts). I'd be introducing him/her to whatsapp very quickly

dh0011

well while i am at work i am free to send messages youngsters in school are not.
I find it hard to see a young lad managing to send 60 messages a day outside of this

Gorilla Rising

dh0011 wrote: »

well while i am at work i am free to send messages youngsters in school are not.
I find it hard to see a young lad managing to send 60 messages a day outside of this

Jesus. It's easily done!

Also, depending on the length and subject of a message, hitting send may equal up to 3, 4, even more texts at once.

End of story.

You might find it hard to believe, but that doesn't mean it can't happen.

scudzilla

dh0011 wrote: »

well while i am at work i am free to send messages youngsters in school are not.
I find it hard to see a young lad managing to send 60 messages a day outside of this

Ok, take away the school time, you've got an hour (maybe more before school), an hour of breaks at school, and around 5hrs (at least) before bedtime.

That's 7hrs, only 11 texts per hour, i could do that in 10 minutes if i had any friends

dh0011

I ll take your word for it lads. I probably am out of touch with youngsters.

A2LUE42

dh0011 wrote: »

I ll take your word for it lads. I probably am out of touch with youngsters.

A teenager can get through a few hundred texts a day. That is why there are so many unlimited text packages for about €20 a month.

You need to login to the emobile website and look at the bills yourself.

Seems you have not realised the packages you needed.

Meteor would probably have been better for the kids phones. Or 3.

errlloyd

I guess you need to stop thinking of texts like emails or letters, they're not. They're an alternative to calling.

So while adults will ring other adults for a chat if they can't meet up in person, kids will just text each other, and each text message is only going to be one line in a conversation. Texting is far more comparable to instant messaging than anything else.

Ger3

I haven't seen the bill yet. So I don't know the details of my son's texts - he is selling his drum kit to pay for this! I have spoken to customer service again!! With eMobile you pay a month in advance so instead of receiving a bill a month after we joined for €155 they want €300 3 weeks after. This covers us up to 24th May. This is the first time that I have been made aware of this. So on top of the €155 we have to pay pro rata charges which cover 10th -24th April as the month doesn't start when you join. This was never explained to me!!
I had to pay €254 to have all our phones unlocked. I am paying the rest off monthly. Little did I know when I left O2 what was ahead. So I advise everyone to stay away from eMobile.

drunkmonkey

Leave the kid his drum kit unless he's the one who convinced the whole family to move to eMobile. The kids are way better off on 3pay or something like that, hopefully you put them on sim only contracts, if so move them back to pay as you go.
The kid shouldn't be punished as he probably had unlimited texts before one of his parents decided to put him on a restrictive plan.

annie.t

Ger3 wrote: »

I haven't seen the bill yet. So I don't know the details of my son's texts - he is selling his drum kit to pay for this! I have spoken to customer service again!! With eMobile you pay a month in advance so instead of receiving a bill a month after we joined for €155 they want €300 3 weeks after. This covers us up to 24th May. This is the first time that I have been made aware of this. So on top of the €155 we have to pay pro rata charges which cover 10th -24th April as the month doesn't start when you join. This was never explained to me!!
I had to pay €254 to have all our phones unlocked. I am paying the rest off monthly. Little did I know when I left O2 what was ahead. So I advise everyone to stay away from eMobile.

I think that's pretty standard thing for all the networks. I'm with meteor and it was the same for me when I signed up for bill pay. First bill was for 2 weeks or so plus 1 months in advance. So nothing out of ordinary there.

du Maurier

Ger3 wrote: »

I haven't seen the bill yet. So I don't know the details of my son's texts - he is selling his drum kit to pay for this! I have spoken to customer service again!! With eMobile you pay a month in advance so instead of receiving a bill a month after we joined for €155 they want €300 3 weeks after. This covers us up to 24th May. This is the first time that I have been made aware of this. So on top of the €155 we have to pay pro rata charges which cover 10th -24th April as the month doesn't start when you join. This was never explained to me!!
I had to pay €254 to have all our phones unlocked. I am paying the rest off monthly. Little did I know when I left O2 what was ahead. So I advise everyone to stay away from eMobile.

Why? Because you erred? I always find this is the mode of thinking when people get stung and it's their own (or kid's, in this case) doing.

I've had no issues with this network at all. I read the t&cs, chose a plan that suits me, and pay the bill at the end of the month. Try make things easier for yourself where you can.

ED E

Sorry but OP you brought this on yourself by not examining the actual tariff you were signing up to before you moved and singed a contract. Or had the sense to ask your kids just how much their usage is.

ballooba

Hi OP, I'm inclined to say this should be a valuable lesson learned, but we have consumer protection legislation for a reason. We can't expect everyone to research every purchase they make, unfortunately. Hence the weak in society need to be protected from unscrupulous business practices.

It sounds like you were sold the incorrect packages for your needs. I would suggest you ask eMobile to reconsider if the packages you were sold are appropriate for your needs and to move you to more appropriate plans, including writing off some of the debt. eMobile have unlimited packages for similar rates to what you are paying on average. They could also sell you an unlimited texts add-on.

I'm not sure what the best way to go about seeing what your rights are and enforcing them. A solicitor is probably a bit of a waste of money.

EDIT: Also, EUR 250 to unlock 5 phones? Did you get them unlocked in Brown Thomas or something?

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

whiterebel

Sorry OP, but like the majority here, I think you should have researched this a bit better. eMobile are following industry practice, O2 would do the same. They have billing cycles like everyone else. Bit harsh getting the lad to sell his drum kit

aSligoDub

Selling the lads kit.. Humbug.

How are you going to recoup the other €300? Become a pimp?

ted1

What type phone does he have? Surly a teen would be savvy enough to be using whatsapp to send free texts. No one I know pays for text messages.

aSligoDub

You should be thanking emobile for capping when they did.. Another less scrupulous provider might have kept the bill rolling.

Grumpypants

It sounds like the guy on the shop signed you up to idiotic contracts. If he unlocked your phones you should have been put on a 30 day rolling contract with sim only unlimited calls and texts with 15gb of data for 32 euro.

Sounds to me like you got signed up to a 18 month contract with limited texts either that or your son was texting people abroad.

XxMCRxBabyxX

Grumpypants wrote: »

It sounds like the guy on the shop signed you up to idiotic contracts. If he unlocked your phones you should have been put on a 30 day rolling contract with sim only unlimited calls and texts with 15gb of data for 32 euro.

Sounds to me like you got signed up to a 18 month contract with limited texts either that or your son was texting people abroad.

That plan is only available online AFAIK. The guy in the shop couldn't set the OP on that plan.

OP was you son aware of what the plan was?