Back in the day when i was on BTCellnet I came back from holiday to find a letter from them saying they had disconnected me. Rang them up and basically they said I had clocked £100 of calls in a day which was unlike me. I said i had been on holiday for the past week. Turns out my phone had been cloned. They didnt charge me for any calls (even those i had made). Two thumbs up BTCellnet.

 

Anyway back on topic, its not the providers fault £300 + calls had been made. Blame Rock music, computer games or the internets instead.

JJ -- I'm not sure what the correct telecommunications term is but I was referring to a limit, in pounds, which when reached, disables me from making anymore calls or sending texts, thus eliminating horror bills.

 

That's exactly what a Pay as you go service achieves in the end.

If this tariff had been selected in the beginning, this problem could not have escalated, as member, "chatatara" has mentioned above.

 

No disrespect intended to the OP, but by choosing an unlimited contract phone for a 14 year old, you could compare that to a Parent buying their child of 17 a powerful sports car, when they have just passed their driving test and then complaining to the manufacturer that it goes too fast, uses too much fuel, or costs too much to insure.

 

 

@ BIGSI84

 LOL youre a Joker m8

to be honest o2 or any network cant stop the phone bill rising above any agreed amount due to most of there systems need 24 hours to upgrade so they couldnt gaurantee to stop bills rising above a certain limit, wich causes an even bigger problem believe me a no

lol it may of been cheaper to take her bf with you !

Perhaps it would have been  better idea to get her a pay and go phone - then you would not have had any large bills and you could just put the 25.00 a month into it if you saw fit

First off, Shark, you are WAY out of line. There is absolutely no
reason to get offensive over this. You've stated your case, which I
tend to agree with, but then you go way too far with the insults. This
poor woman asked a question, has been nothing but civil about it, and
you come along and show great immaturity and disrespect by blasting her
down. Take a deep breath, grow up, and keep crap like thatto yourself,
ok?

 

Right, now that I've said that. Nicola, I do
feel you don't really have any grounds to stand on. You should have
read and understood the T&C when you signed them, and so should
your daughter before using the phone. Now don't get me wrong, I have
never actually read beyond the first line of one of these documents, as
they are generally incomprehensible, but I have always asked what they
mean before signing. You signed a contract which, I'm sure, does
explain the billing procedure, and this binds you to it legally. So I'm
afraid you may be out of luck.

 

On a slightly
different note, I beleive you can ask your phone company to put this
"ceiling limit" on the account, which prevents the bill from going
higher than a predetermined limit. If you need to go beyond this, you
have to call them up and authorise it. Phone 02 and find out.

 

Or,
take her phone away. How many of us adults had phones when we were 14?
I was still making them out of two tin cans and a bit of string!

 

-eli 

loner:

Can you tell me what a ceiling barrier is? Not an expression I've heard of, but it sounds interresting.

 Thanks from loner

I'm not sure what the correct telecommunications term is but I was referring to a limit, in pounds, which when reached, disables me from making anymore calls or sending texts, thus eliminating horror bills.

Hope this helps

JJ

I said it at the outset, I have NO sympathy for this woman or anyone else campaigning on this type of issue.

Grow up and start taking your responsibilities seriously. Giving a child a mobile 'phone and then moaning when they cost you money is no-one else's fault except your own. You - and others like you - are the best advert for condoms yet. You cannot even manage to go on holiday without letting your daughter ruin it for you and then complaining on a forum in the vain hope that someone else is daft enough to reinforce your own stupidity.

You make me sick! I had tried to help earlier, but it is not enough. You want to campaign for the Supidity of the Year award 2007, go ahead, quite frankly with the catastrophic disasters that have befallen society in the last decade, your campaign stands a real chance of becoming law. Give your child a gun next and then complain to Smith and Wesson when it kills someone ...

Look in the mirror you sick person and realise whose fault it was for the whole situation in the first place, because you're looking at her.

SHARK!

The other thing is Nicola is whilst I do have sympathy with you - your suggestion is rather impractical.

 O2 must have millions of subscribers it would be a logistical nightmare to monitor ALL bills and contact customers !

Quote:"shall we make mobile phone companies send texts to say when ur over ur national free mins, ur free texts"

Actually, I think that would be a great idea. I'm sure if people were offered an option to have text sent when their free texts and minutes were used up, most would be willing to pay for a text message to be sent saying just that, especially as in the case of Nicola who was running the contract for her daughter to use. In fact in such circumstances there should be no reason why the text message couldn't be sent to the parent's phone. I can't actually see why it should actually penalise any tarriff cost. If I go abroad they're quick enough to send me a text message at goodness knows what time in the morning just to tell me I've entered a new country and can use that country's network should I wish to. In fact, hell, if not receiving that paticular text message would lower my tarrif I'ld go for it, but strangely I don't even get an option for that one.

Personally, I have always used a pay as you go phone, and I can get an exact balance just by pressing 3 numbers on my phone, and within a couple of seconds it will tell me exactly how much credit I've got left, that's so I can top up should I start to get low. This is a free service, no matter which country I'm in,  because it's in the phone company's interrest that I keep on topping up.  I rather think that at the very least this should be an option by a contracted phone, ring 3 numbers get a balance, it's obviously possible, or they wouldn't be able to do it for me on payg.

As for tarriff rates in general, it's because people do make the effort to complain about over the top bills that the law is stepping in and looking in to exactly how much profit these companys are making, and have agreed that their profits are somewhat over the top, and certainly in the case of people traveling within Europe the profits are so high that the mobile phone companys have been ordered to get them lowered.

If a company can get someone to ring me to tell me I've won a free mobile phone and have that person spend 10 minutes explaining the features of this mobile phone, most of which is way above my head, and how many free talk minutes and free text messages and free video texting whatever that is I can make, how long compared to that does it take to state when they are giving you this blurb, would it take them to say, you don't get the free text messages and talk minutes if you are abroad. Oh of course, that's not in their interrest, especially if you may only be buying the mobile to use abroad. It's a bit like me selling you a washing machine that doesn't heat up, after all, if you don't ask, it may be possible that you only want to use it for cold water washes. The adverts are quick enough to point out in great detail the features that they are offering, I don't actually think it would take that much longer to point out the down side.

loner

 

 

Can you tell me what a ceiling barrier is? Not an expression I've heard of, but it sounds interresting.

 Thanks from loner

this is what i don't get, i was mis sold the contract, the terms weren't clear etc, it's that type of self pitying that gives rise to the disclaimer, ambulance chasing, not my fault culture that is creeping into this country. where does it end, should every advert list every single term and condition. it'll erode contract law and make it unworkable. there already exist regulation of the market, there exists government legislation (unfair contract terms act 1977). i hate paying high bills as much as the next person, but where do we stop? shall we make mobile phone companies send texts to say when ur over ur national free mins, ur free texts, all this costs money and adminstration which gets past onto the customer. would that be fair to penalise the tariff costs for those who have low call costs?

I think you'll be wasting your time. I have been a customer of O2 for 5 years on contract. When I called to enquire about my £185 bill (usually £25) after making calls from Athens, I was told read the T&C's and tarriff.

Fair play, I thought. I have had the opportunity to put a ceiling barrier on my account but decided against it. Stomach it, pay it, don't do it again.

JJ

Good for you Nicola,

Hope it all turns out for you.  You may have a battle on your hands, but I bet you're not the only one to have had this kind of problem. If everyone wrote and complained, something would eventually be done.

loner

many thanks for taking time out to reply and for your valued advise. I will not give up I do feel quite strongly. I will write a letter and will keep you informed of any developments.

Once again thanks

Nicola