This is a cautionary tale and I am happy to say that it isn’t mine but my husband’s sorry tale but I thought I would share our recent experience as it is something that I wouldn’t want to happen to someone else.
My husband is not a big mobile phone user and when he had his first iPhone, he hardly ever used it, so much so that he still has the same phone a few years later. The phone contract was with Three and after the two-year contract finished, he was able to reduce his contract down to about £9 each month and asked for a cap on calls so that he would stick to his minutes. At this point, he was using his phone more regularly and with 100 minutes included in the contract, he would receive a text to tell him that he had used his minutes and he didn’t use the phone again until the new month started.
It worked really well and at the end of the year, he decided that maybe going Pay As You Go might work better for him but he was offered a cheaper deal again of £7 per month, which he jumped at. That was over a year ago now and he assumed that he had the cap on this contract too. Now this is the point in question, he thinks that he asked for the cap but he can’t remember. He had 200 minutes included and has been using his mobile a lot. He does like to talk and often rings his brother, family or friends for a chat.
Life has been hectic recently and even though I do check the bank account regularly, I hadn’t noticed the amount being taken out by Three each month. Until this week.
This week, I went through the amounts and found to my horror that the amount being taken out was a long way from £7, most months it was over £30, some months it was over £50.
I asked my husband to check his bills and sure enough, he had run up over £300 worth of bills over the last few months and was really angry.
He rang Three and although they were really helpful, of course there is no proof that he asked for the cap to put on and they aren’t going to question the amount of the bills are they? They talked about the app which is a good way of keeping an eye on things and I use one on my phone although I am with a different provider. In the end, he was given £50 credit and has no had the cap put on again but we have certainly learnt our lesson, life may be busy but it is worth taking time each month to check and double-check your bills and finances, just to make sure that you aren’t losing money.
As for my husband, he is now on a mobile phone ban and if he wants to talk to his friends, he has to email them or drive to see them. Seriously however, he accepts that he should have been checking his bills and he will certainly be doing that on a regular (twice daily) basis from now on. But if you think that you have a capped contract, it is also worth double checking that too as you may get a shock if it hasn’t been put on.
Never assume anything.
Thanks for sharing your husband’s tale of mobile phone bill issues Nikki. You’re right, it does always pay to check! We keep copies of emails for anything like this so we can always refer back if there’s a problem.
Izzie Anderton recently posted…The Blog Spot Interview with Sarah from Mum of Three World
This is the kind of lesson I keep telling my son at Uni – that and make sure what is coming in is what you are owed. Glad you noticed before he spent even more money!
That’s terrible! Something similar happened to me. I was only paying £12.50 a month, but if I went over on my use of 4G it could easily go up to £50. I realised quite quickly, so I adjusted my contract and for just an extra £10 a month I never go over my data.