[Closed] £2000 mobile phone bill - any options?

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

sell your daughter?

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

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?

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.

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

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.

Suggest this, with longer string

[img] http://pyromarketing.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83453633269e2010535b85db0970b-800wi [/img]

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

....cleaning the offices at Orange HQ.

STFU and get your daughter to pay!

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

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

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 😯

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.

"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?

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

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)

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!!

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???????? 😯

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.

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

Na this is a joke....right?????

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

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.

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....

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.

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

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.

I hate people like you, so annoying

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

Would her boyfriend make a contribution to the bill?

Or does he have a similar bill of his own?

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!

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!

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!!

[url= http://www.skype.com/intl/es-es/home ]A laptop and Skype will be cheaper next time![/url].

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

**** 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.

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.

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.

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

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

use skype and talk talk in future

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 😆

What's the point of travelling if you're going to be hanging off the end of your phone all day?

Not exactly broadening the mind or learning to be independent.

I thought the younger generation were meant to be tech-savvy? Wot no skype? Surely S.A. must be chocka with international call booths, shops selling prepaid cards etc etc.?

she has no respect of you (OP) or money and you paying the bill reinforces this

Thanks for all the parenting advice. Kind of expected that. FWIW she will be paying, it's just the direct debit is set up so her monthly contract is paid straight away from my account. I was more wondering whether anyone has a history of Orange being "charitable" for excessive phone calls/bills. I am annoyed that even unanswered calls cost £1.45, and that is not clear in any tariff listing (and there were quite a few of those).

But, she used the service and that service must be paid for. (I accept that, and never questioned that in my original post)

Funny how many people jump to the conclusion that my daughter is a spoilt princess, and her parents are soft and lack parenting skills. If you knew her or us you probably (hopefully) wouldn't jump to that conclusion.

She's just spent more on phone calls in 6 weeks than I'm spending on holidays this year.

your post said she'd had one high bill (ie warning shot), then a huge one, and that you'd paid them both. then you'd hoped a multinational business had a charity department. hence the questions raised re' you and her by other posts.

I generally fall on "should have known and should pay" side of the fence however it may be worth speaking to Orange, seeing what kind of credit limit you/her have (pretty sure there should be one) and why it wasn't enforced or even notified.

And ffs, she's an adult, why does she have phone contracts and DDs in your name?

I'd be putting the for sale signs on her car. £2k is essentially an unpayable debt for a 19 year old if they're going to uni.

I've also seen a few people who repeatedly run up big lines of credit and then go back to their parents, who pay it off, and the cycle continues. Be very careful. At 19, if I'd ran up a £600 phone bill, I'd have not used the phone at all until I got back home. Everyone knows roaming is expensive, everyone knows about skype.

Cheers - she's at 6th form, working part time, and off to Uni in Sept. My deal with the kids is that we pay their basic phone contract, feed and cloth them until they are earning full time (or if they can't get a job, in full time voluntary jobs).
Trouble with the bills was the first came in and I knew from the bank statement. When I went in to the Orange account the 2nd was sat there waiting to be paid in a few days time (so the warning shot had landed after the 2nd shot had been launched).

She has no car or other assets to sell. And the boyfriend will be contributing. That discussion is happening tonight.

And she has spent more in phone bills than our holidays for 3 years. Like I say, she will be paying, just got to work out how.

And the boyfriend will be contributing.

You'll either get your cash or your wish of a single daughter 😆

If you do put a decent amount of business Orange's way, pleading has to be worth a try. Does your entire house have Orange contracts?

Your daughter pays is the best lesson IMO.

She has been irresponsible and expects you to pick up the (known) high overseas call charges/tab for her.

So you then want to pass the buck on again to someone else?

Marvellous.

Yep, have 2 mobile contracts, 3 PAYG and a home broadband with Orange, so probably £110 a month. I'll call Orange anyway, despite the naysayers, even if only to explore the possibilities and see if there's a cost spreading option

Ask orange for evidence of use from the SA telecoms provider - there won't be any. the overseas providers send a 'non-itemised' bill to uk providers. Ask for the details of the SA usage. They probably can't provide it. Challenge them on that basis. This is a PSA for everyone, not just the OP. I had the same issue with a Spanish provider - t-mobile couldn't show the use, but only the charges. I paid half.

Funny how many people jump to the conclusion that my daughter is a spoilt princess, and her parents are soft and lack parenting skills. If you knew her or us you probably (hopefully) wouldn't jump to that conclusion

People are looking at the information you've posted/protrayed and drawn conclusions from that.

Surely after the first bill received she would have calmed it right down?

I know my girlfriends dad would do anything for her- always offered to pay for things etc (a real Daddies girl)- she always tempered what she actually took though and worried about it.

What is her attitude to credit? 😉

You could discuss with Orange - nothing to loose. I was under the impression they had to warn you when your usage exceeded a preset amount, although that might be data use.

the overseas providers send a 'non-itemised' bill to uk providers.

how does it end up itemised on the phone bill? where do they get that information from?

Thanks iDave - useful help there.

Hora, the first bill came through just as my daughter came back and I actually thought that bill covered most of her trip. From phone call to phone bill can be up to 4 weeks, then phone bill to bank statement is a 3 week delay, but I hadn't really considered this beforehand, so was a little shocked by the 2nd bill. The 1st bill was going to be a 50:50 split with daughter, the 2nd kind of changed our perspective on that!

Tron,
maybe that's the deal - they finish and he walks away without coughing up, or he pays and they last a bit longer. Makes sense to me but I can't see her buying into it (maybe she did that with £2k of phone calls though)

If you can afford it...pay the bill, she's your daughter not some random acquaintance. Nothing wrong with chasing Orange and pleading - haggling seems to be a part of modern life and there has been the odd bit of good advice on here - especially the proof of usage suggestion. I assume you will ensure that the same mistakes are not made again as there are ways around situations like this but we all balls it up sometimes...

Funny how many people jump to the conclusion that my daughter is a spoilt princess, and her parents are soft and lack parenting skills. If you knew her or us you probably (hopefully) wouldn't jump to that conclusion.

All evidence thus far points to that. FFS - a mobile phone roaming in Africa?!? There has been enough publicity over the years over roaming costs in Europe never mind Africa!

[url= http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?pagename=PersonalIR&c=OUKPage&cid=1123171273258&mid=1123171272053&extarg4=1123171272053&extarg1=PAYM&extarg2=1126544428406&extarg3=&x=23&y=3 ]Orange Roaming Charges SA[/url]
Just so you know - that page was a couple of clicks away from 'orange roaming charges' on a Google search. Not difficult to find at all - not hidden.

You had 2k to be pulled straight out of your current account? Are you one of those 40% tax rate payers who milked the CTW scheme?

You ought to get Orange to set a credit limit on her mobile. Assuming her contract is around £25 p/m, arrange for the phone to be disconnected the moment the bill passes £50.

It's not that long since I was 19 either and I remember what phone calls with 19 year old girls are like, ****ing pointless!

My ex used to go all teary when I sought to end the daily call at any point prior to the one hour mark, even if I'd seen her earlier in the day.

Hora, the first bill came through just as my daughter came back and I actually thought that bill covered most of her trip. From phone call to phone bill can be up to 4 weeks, then phone bill to bank statement is a 3 week delay, but I hadn't really considered this beforehand, so was a little shocked by the 2nd bill. The 1st bill was going to be a 50:50 split with daughter, the 2nd kind of changed our perspective on that!

Ah understand. You could look through the T&C's in regards to unanswered calls costing you. Rather than pleading for a reduction I think you should look into this side more. Why should unanswered calls cost you? Speak to the Ombudsman and pop onto this http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/ and ask how to approach the heinous charges.

Would they just refund the unanswered calls though? (drop in the ocean). You could angle it that you are looking for a review of the bill and angle for a better discount due to time involved etc.

I'd approach the subject from unfair charges rather than asking for assistance.

Check the Times (think saturday's) They have a thing about call costs. Was she using Facebook which is expensive as it "streams data constantly". I would have thought they have a preset limit of acceptable use and then would contact you/her. Ask them why this is not the case.

According to the times (possibly financial pages) thay do give "goodwill" gestures.

I am annoyed that even unanswered calls cost £1.45, and that is not clear in any tariff listing (and there were quite a few of those).

Why? This is how it works, isn't it? Even if you don't get connected you are still using the mobile network and get charged for that.

Quirrel, yes, we go even further into the red, so I have used the banks money to pay Orange, plus the charges on that. We have some savings that have been used as a temporary plug.
And the place I work has only just (last week) signed up to C2W, and yes I commute every day by bike and was looking for a new bike on it, but that isn't really relevant I think.

Credit limit on her phone sounds good, but every other month she's within her contract, so the horse has bolted so to speak.

Cheers Hora, good advice.

don simon, thanks for the constructive comments. It doesn't work that way on a landline and resources are still being used. Only seems to work that way on mobiles (and probably only abroad, but I've never looked into that)

Life's changed..!

I went travelling aged 19, first stop Sputh Africa. The [b]first[/b] call I made was after 6 weeks, and that was only to make contact with my mother to let her know I was OK.

But that was 15 years ago, and plenty of adults didn't have mobile phones then.

Anyway, I think it's worth contacting Orange and asking:

1. About them not making any contact to raise a concern with the sudden and significant increase in cost; and
2. Details of where all the charges were notified to you/her in advance.

In both cases, the implication is that they have some responsibility. Tell them you're not happy and want to do something about this.

Then, tell your daughter she's paying £1000, her bf £500 and you £500.

I always aim to please. 😆

I also don't see why the boyfriend should pay. Take responsibility for your own actions, ffs!

ourmaninthenorth I once helped myself to a girl whose boyfriend was doing Peacework out in Africa. In an unusual way we were both helping others out 😯

hora - selfless and altruistic to the last. STW salutes you 🙂

T'was hardwork but ultimately rewarding 8)

By "unanswered" you presumably mean gone to voicemail rather than genuinely unanswered calls.

Call gets placed to roaming UK number - UK network knows it's out of the country, connects to destination country, phone rings, gets diverted after x seconds to a UK voicemail number, call gets routed back to the UK to play the VM message to the caller.

That's not an unanswered call. As a landline analogy, it's like calling someone who's got an answerphone plugged in - that picks up the line, you start getting charged, wheras if it just rang and rang then you put the phone down you wouldn't pay anything.

Slight hi-jack.

Do mobile providers allow you to set a credit limit for contract phones used by less responsible family members?

My lad is pestering for a new phone for his upcoming birthday and I was thinking about a contract option as the handsets are better but am worried about the phone being lost/stolen or him going over the limits especially data if he has Spotify or similar installed.

don simon, boyfriend was playing silly bu66ers by not answering phone calls from her. So she kept phoning. Not sure if they all went to voicemail, or were unanswered - either way his messing around has cost someone lots of money.

Cletus, learn from my daughters mistake. PAYG only.

hora,
almost glad my daughter was out of the country. Your reputation seems to precede you!

should have used telediscount.com when my girlfriend was in oz i was making mobile to mobile calls to her for less then 10p per minute
http://www.telediscount.co.uk/index2.php

She's 19????

I hope you dont pay for her phone, and her living costs..

The world will be a shock if/when you stop paying for her..

She's 19????

I remember when I was 19 🙁

When I got a contract there was a limit for the first couple of months. It was somewhere around £80-90, that then goes up to under £300 if You pay the bills on time. A friend managed to get his phone blocked once he reached the £90 limit and had to phone them and ask to increase the limit. There should be an option of limiting how much above the contract price You can spend.

I always turn my voicemail off when going abroad as I got charged couple of times for people getting caught on my voicemail.

As others suggested try and speak with Orange why no one ever contacted Your daughter (or You, if the contract is in Your name) about the spending. It is not reasonable to just not notice someone who managed to get fine with a £25 contract to rack up a £600 and £1200 bill. I do feel for You as it is a lot of money but it probably might finally end Your daughters relationship if You talk with her boyfriend. But then watch out as Hora might be there to comfort her as she is back in the country now 😉

Funny how many people jump to the conclusion that my daughter is a spoilt princess, and her parents are soft and lack parenting skills.

From what you've said you create this image tbh...she is an adult and really shouldnt (IMHO) have DD and contracts in your name...

can you pay for mine too please? im only 29..

scotia, she has minimal income. She is a student and off to Uni soon. We will not let her claim benefit as I feel very strongly that she should not without contributing first, and up to the point she contributes her parents are financially responsible. She is an adult and is treated as such, and to be honest, her phone contract is in my name as it's the same contract she had from before she was 18. The issue in my OP though was not whether my parenting skills are up for debate, more whether I should just pay the bill (from within my families income), or contest it. The more constructive feedback on here is that I could contest it, but there is also some feeling that the bill should just be paid. If you are presented with a bill though, and you don't feel as though you had value for money, do you pay it and learn that lesson, or contest it?

I'd still put contracts etc in her name otherwise she is going to run up (potentially) monumental levels of debt at uni.

Its only a small lesson! 🙂

mieszko- strangely always comes across as sorted/well thought out. mieszko are you a groomer on here of older-males?!!! 😉