In early July, after returning from a five-week holiday to Thailand, I was horrified to discover a bill from O2 for £159,230.06 for use of my mobile phone while there.
I have spent hours trying to resolve this with O2 and the third-party company responsible for my contract, ICE Comms. I’ve made numerous phone calls to them to explain that I relied on the information I was given before I travelled that I would pay a £7.50 daily charge to cover my phone use while abroad.
Despite all my efforts, I feel I have been passed from one company to another, with neither taking responsibility nor offering a fair solution. Please help.
Sally Hamilton replies: You told me how you had gone to Thailand to visit Phuket island and its various landmarks including the Big Buddha, as well as to visit a health retreat where you trained in Muay Thai – a martial art. But all the good risked being undone upon landing back in the UK when you faced that astonishing bill from O2.
At first, you thought it must have been a weird glitch in the billing system, but no. You were told that you had used 27GB of data while away, that £159,230.06 was the price of the usage, and you would have to pay. To put it into context, that amount of data might be consumed by streaming just nine hours of high-definition programming. And you could have bought a brand-new Porsche 911 GT3 sports car for that money, or ten Rolex Datejust watches.
You couldn’t believe it as you had used the phone for just six days of your trip and were certain a £7.50 daily pass was applied so you could use your standard call minutes, texts and data without paying extra. The unexpected bill meant you feared for the future of your business, a plumbing and heating services operation.
You are adamant you checked in advance, you think with ICE Comms, the broker that arranged your contract with O2, and say you were assured the roaming package had been applied to your account. The irony is you were wary of paying even this extra daily pass charge, which is why you limited using your phone to just six days of your trip.
I always check what sum will be added to use data and make calls at my holiday destination, writes Sally Hamilton
Tourists can limit roaming to navigation apps and make use of free wifi to avoid high phone bills, or temporarily replace a phone’s physical Sim with a cheaper local Sim card
When you could not find out in numerous calls to ICE or O2 what went wrong or why the daily pass had not been applied, and why you still had the giant bill hanging over you, you came to me.
I contacted O2 which on investigation said no optional caps on your spending had been applied and it could find no record of a request for this to be actioned. But I am pleased to say that within 24 hours, the firm agreed to wipe most of the bill, leaving you to pay about £50 on top of your usual monthly charge.
A spokesman for O2 Business says: ‘We always aim to do the right thing by our customers. As soon as this matter was brought to our attention, we acted swiftly to review the case, spoke directly with Mr P and reached a resolution he was happy with.’
You were greatly relieved. Whether it was ICE Comms that had misinformed you or failed to act on your request for daily passes, I cannot say, as it did not respond to my enquiries by the time of going to press. O2 added that it urges customers, as do I, to regularly check spending controls and account settings on mobiles, particularly before travelling, to help avoid shock charges.
I always check what sum will be added to use data and make calls at my destination. Even then, I prefer to limit roaming to navigation apps and make use of free wifi to check social media, send emails and search the internet. Another option I haven’t tried yet is to temporarily replace a phone’s physical Sim (the card in the phone that allows the device to connect to a mobile network) with a cheaper local Sim card. Alternatively, consider an eSim, if the phone offers this function. This means purchasing a plan online and installing it, typically using a QR code.
Whatever the choice, a phone needs to be unlocked, which allows it to access other networks. Check this via a phone’s settings.