UK Edition
O2 text-alert let‑down
Later this year I will be moving to Russia for the year abroad section of my degree. Therefore, when my two-year contract for a phone on the 02 network expired, I told 02 I wanted the tariff for the minimum allowance. I was assured that I would receive a notification when I had used the data allowance and 50 minutes of talk-time.
After a week or so, I received a message from 02 informing me that I had used the data allowance.
Therefore I switched off the data and continued to use the minutes and texts and waited for a notification that I had used what was allocated.
The next text I received from 02 told me I had run up £88 in extra charges.
EM, Northamptonshire
Your downgraded tariff gave 50 minutes of calls, unlimited texts and 100 MB of data.
You thought you would be alerted when the call usage was exceeded. In fact O2 alerts the customer when they are close to their data usage limit as it does not offer unlimited data within its packages so the provision of extra data has to be arranged separately.
Once the amount of calls in the package is exceeded, they will then be billed on a usage basis. 02 stresses that customers can keep track of all of this via their My02 online account or the My02 app.
You moved to a different provider having been assured by 02 that the complaint you had lodged about the lack of a call alert would continue to be looked into. Nevertheless, using the excuse that you were no longer an 02 customer, the complaint was closed. You spent a frustrating amount of time trying to sort this out but couldn’t.
02 said that it does not have a recording of the call during which the misunderstanding came about but expects the adviser was referring to the data allowance text alert.
As a gesture of goodwill 02 has cleared your outstanding £138 mobile account balance.
- Jessica Gorst-Williams tackles consumer problems for Telegraph readers every week. To contact her, click here. If you want to ask a general money question, email moneyexpert@telegraph.co.uk. The best of the answers are included in our weekly newsletter