£2000 mobile phone bill – any options? – Singletrack World Magazine

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This topic has 148 replies, 74 voices, and was last updated 14 years ago by tron.

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£2000 mobile phone bill – any options?
large418
Free Member

Daughters back from 6 weeks volunteering in South Africa. Last months phone bill (£691) was eclipsed by this months (£1290). A few boyfriend issues and every call (answered or not) was £1.45 minimum, and quite a few >£25 calls.

We knew the cost of calls before she went, and all the calls/texts are genuine. Is it worth me appealing to the charity side of Orange customer care? Or do I just STFU and pay? (I have actually paid as it's direct debit, but should I chase a refund?)

Posted 14 years ago

Edric64
Free Member

I don't think they will play ball .I would chase my daughter for a partial refund!!

Posted 14 years ago

MrNutt
Free Member

sell your daughter?

Posted 14 years ago

donsimon
Free Member

The calls were made, what type of refund do you expect?

Posted 14 years ago

Kuco
Full Member

You knew the cost of calls, maybe you should have tried to limit them. I can see Orange has done no wrong so why would they refund you?

Posted 14 years ago

smell_it
Free Member

Got to be a troll, you knew the costs, she ran up the bill…….perhaps for your next trick you could fill your shopping trolly with everything from the organic and finest ranges and see if they will let you have half for 'nowt.

Posted 14 years ago

j_me
Free Member

Arrange a garage sale of her stuff ?
How much did you pay for her to go to SA in the first place?

Posted 14 years ago

Frankenstein
Free Member

I stupidly did that when my GF had to go abroad – £2000 and £800!

Luckily I had the monies to pay – hell it would be cheaper for me to fly!
Or buy myself a roadbike!

I'd make your Daughter pay – call up the mobile compnay and see if they do monthly installments.

If not, get daughter a job, 0% finance credit card in her name and get her to pay it all back.

Yes we do silly things when in love or crisis.

Posted 14 years ago

mcmoonter
Free Member

Suggest this, with longer string

Posted 14 years ago

Jamie
Free Member

Looks like your daughter will be doing another 6 weeks volunteering…..

….cleaning the offices at Orange HQ.

Posted 14 years ago

Hohum
Free Member

STFU and get your daughter to pay!

Unless she can go for an IVA or declare herself bankrupt.

Posted 14 years ago

phiiiiil
Full Member

Oops. Incidentally In SA WorldCall cards are so cheap you can natter for hours for less than a national rate call in this country… 🙂

Posted 14 years ago

PikeBN14
Free Member

Chuffin 'ell, make sure she doesn't go out of Europe next time, at least then the phone companies have been forced not to take the p1ss.

All you can do is plead for leniency, as already said, the calls have been made, the tariffs published, the bill sent!!

It's still less than half of a mates monthly bill when he was sent to Germany a good few years ago and used his mobile for Internet access via his laptop, the company paid it, but asked him to be a little more careful next time!! I think he halved it the next month 😯

Posted 14 years ago

project
Free Member

absolutely no need to have a mobile abroad, use a calling card system, or Lyca phone or the internet, via an internet cafe.

If you get a refund etc, then we all want a refund off Orange.

Posted 14 years ago

Jujuuk68
Free Member

"Since when was a silly teenager with a silly teenage crush on a boy forgotten about in, ooh, about 3 weeks after he finally dumps her, worth trying to renege on a comercial agreement entered into by you?

If you'd not made so much of it, she might have grown a little emotionally, instead of being cossetted for every tearful whim."

Would be a particularly harsh but realistic assessment. Six weeks is hardly the end of the world to wait to sort out problems. Next time – try prepay?

Posted 14 years ago

ivantate
Free Member

Ouch, cant see orange being charitable or you daughter accepting the blame either.

Posted 14 years ago

large418
Free Member

thanks Don Simon – I don't expect a refund, just wondered what the intellect on STW had to offer.

Jujuuk68 – there's a few assumptions in your post. She has been seeing her bloke for 18 months, and actually we did not make much of it. We actually wanted the relationship to end, as they're not best suited, but that's a difficult one to engineer. Both of us parents are actually very balanced and fair, and she is developing emotionally (who on here, at 19 years old, knew as much as their elders?).

Her trip was funded by her part time job during 6th form – as was her brothers round the world trip a few years ago.

So I guess I'll just pay without comment to Orange (which was the plan anyway)

Posted 14 years ago

Edric64
Free Member

Without denegrating your parenting skills YOU paying the bill is spoiling her I would make her pay some back to help her learn financial responsibility and then maybe give it back to her at some point in the future if you are a big softie!!

Posted 14 years ago

FoxyChick
Free Member

Why on earth should you pay? Your daughter made the calls, knowing how much they would cost!! I'd be passing the bill onto her. How can someone be so irresponsible?
Unbelievable.
And you want a refund???????? 😯

Posted 14 years ago

KT1973
Free Member

is it a smartphone? Did she have it on roaming or data on push? If so, and that was why the bill was so high then you may be able to plead ignorance and hope they'll go along with it. It's pretty well know that a lot of people have been stung this way and every time I go out of the country I get a warning text about this and I still run up average £200/month. If she had a smartphone such aas an iphone she can download skype as an app and run this for peanuts to any phone or free to another skype account- alternatively do it via her laptop if she has a decent speed connection at her work or hotel. You could buy all this kit and still save a mint, but I feel your pain because I've had a few scary ones myself in the past.

Posted 14 years ago

mactheknife
Full Member

Mate – seriously, your daughter runs up a 2 grand mobile bill and you pay it.

Na this is a joke….right?????

Posted 14 years ago

molgrips
Free Member

I'd open the largest can of whup-ass I could find, to be honest. No excuse for spending two large of your money.

Posted 14 years ago

steveh
Full Member

It's worth a phone call at the very least surely. Regardless of the who/why etc. Why wasn't there a limit on the bill etc etc. The worst that happens is nothing.

Posted 14 years ago

tiger_roach
Free Member

My bro spent £1k on calls to his gf whilst away in SA a couple of decades ago; they split up on his return. I'd have sent a few postcards….

Posted 14 years ago

Junkyard
Free Member

do you think you spoil her? 2k phone bill are you mad? You certainly are not teaching [financial]responsibility for her own actions are you?
Were you so cross you stopped her allowance took the car off her and asked for the creit card back?
Possesions sold to reimburse me.
Troll surely utter madness.

Posted 14 years ago

Jamie
Free Member

I don't suppose the OP wants to pay my phone bill?

Posted 14 years ago

bol
Full Member

FWIW I would try appealing to Orange. When I first got my iPhone last year I went to holland with my family. Before I went I bought a data bundle from o2 for £20, which I figured would cover a bit of surfing and emailing. When I'd been home a couple of weeks I spotted the direct debit on my bank statement for £360. I rang up o2, who after a bit of grovelling let me off the lot, with the understanding that they wouldn't be ao kind next time.

Irrespective of whether I should have known better, or whether they should have been clearer about the costs I was racking up, they won a hell of a lot of loyalty from me with the gesture. Give it a go.

Posted 14 years ago

timc
Free Member

I hate people like you, so annoying

Posted 14 years ago

bravohotel9er
Free Member

That's her birthday and christmas sorted for the next 5 years then.

Posted 14 years ago

Cletus
Full Member

Would her boyfriend make a contribution to the bill?

Or does he have a similar bill of his own?

Posted 14 years ago

philjunior
Free Member

Ignoring any parenting advice, as I'm not the parent of your children, try phoning up the phone company and asking very nicely, see what they can do.

I have never been in that situation, but have managed to ask kindly for all bank charges I've ever had (before the anti bank charges bandwagon started rolling) back, and been successful. A female in my life has tried "asking nicely" unsuccessfully with bank charges, but I don't think she's got the "asking nicely" sorted as much as I have – make it clear that you see this as your fault/your daughters fault.

It's only a relatively inexpensive phone call at worst!

Posted 14 years ago

Woody
Free Member

I remember going apeshit when my daughter ran up a £65 bill one month. To be so calm about £2k I can only imagine that you are seriously minted.

As an aside, I think the charity would have benefitted from getting a £2k donation far more than anything your daughter contributed as a volunteer worker. Let's face it she can't have done much as she was never off the phone!

Posted 14 years ago

donsimon
Free Member

but should I chase a refund?)

From First post!

thanks Don Simon – I don't expect a refund, just wondered what the intellect on STW had to offer.

Are you sure you know what you want? 😆

But the intellect on STW says you are looking for some kind of support/refund/reaction/sympathy otherwise you wouldn't have posted here and you wouldn't be wanting to get in touch with Orange, or just trolling. 😉

So I guess I'll just pay without comment to Orange (which was the plan anyway)

Which it wasn't, you came here expecting support/sympathy etc. and have been told to MTFU!!! 😆

And you want a refund????????

Apparently he doesn't, he wants Orange to, to…to… oh I don't know! to listen!!

A laptop and Skype will be cheaper next time!.

Why exactly did she do some volunteer work in Africa, it's a very laudable choice for someone who, I presume, is quite young?

Posted 14 years ago

Drac
Full Member

**** me I was annoyed at the wife building up a £75 mobile bill from data charges. Make your daughter pay it back.

No way I'd my Mrs taking her mobile to NYC in January I'd hate to think.

Posted 14 years ago

TooTall
Free Member

Her trip was funded by her part time job during 6th form

apart from her £2k phone bill. There are other ways of 'staying in touch' available – even in SA. Suggest a smarter approach next time your darling has a holiday.

Posted 14 years ago

mieszko
Free Member

When I was at her age (and that was not that long ago) my mum was also paying for my mobile. But I also knew that a higher than the contract mobile phone bill will mean me contributing towards it (plus I was helping in the family business during weekends).

I think that paying the bill for Your daughter will be very irresponsible, she will get off very lightly from a £2k expense that she kind of knew her phonecalls will cause. At least maybe get her to work couple of hours during her free time and pay something towards it. She might be 19 and had some relationship problems etc but I do think that if You let her off, than a lesson in how much £2k actually is worth will fail. A basic job at £5/h would take her ages to pay the bill off.

I know all parents love their kids and I'm sure that my mum would help me out if I had similar problems but even if You pay the bill for her let her know the value of money. If You will not than this might be a very expensive (for You) start to her adulthood. She was away from her boyfriend and all that but being responsible and knowing the value of money is a universal lesson that will come handy at all age, no matter where You are. I don't have my own kids, but I can tell You that the lesson I learned when I was younger helped me to become responsible and I'm managing pretty well on my own rather than rely on my mum (only got her left) to bail me out at any sign of a problem.

Posted 14 years ago

cranberry
Free Member

We actually wanted the relationship to end, as they're not best suited, but that's a difficult one to engineer.

What with the extra part time job she'll require there won't be too much time for meeting up with her bf.

Time for her to Adult-TFU

Posted 14 years ago

uplink
Free Member

FWIW [& seeing as you asked] – no I don't think it's worth chasing Orange

Going forward, – which you didn't ask about but I feel duty bound to respond to 🙂 – I'd take the phone off her & give her a PAYG one until I got my sense of humour back
I'd also have her paying most of the £2k back

Posted 14 years ago

rocky-mountain
Free Member

use skype and talk talk in future

Posted 14 years ago

NZCol
Full Member

Thats impressive – thats basically a >25quid call every day for the whole time she was there. Plus texts plus a fair few missed calls. She's 19 FFS so should be in a position to pay for it.

To answer your question – no. You used the service to have weepy sobbing calls of mainly silence probably. If it was word based it would have been cheaper 😆

Posted 14 years ago