O2 UK worldwide tariff removed

[droogish]

First I would like to appologies if this is already under discussion a quick search I could not find it but it has made me soo mad I am considering court action.

I am with O2 UK (under carphone warehouse) for blackberry and have a worldwide tariff (Personal use), I have had it for years with no problems. I changed my phone and signed up to a 24 month contract after dicsussion because of the worldwide tariff, which has now changed to be a limited usage tariff (still fine I don't use it a huge amount).

Ok so July bill came in world wide tariff was in place bill was £300 more than my last bills with loads of charges from blackberry dating back to May, I phoned got refered and cut off and then told they would look into it.

August no response, was being careful but had charges because of blackberry usage and some strange numbers.

September 3 attempts finally got though to a nice lady who helped and they started investigation so here are the results:

Due to the EU changes in June 2010 about not charging roaming data at more than £40 per month O2 UK have removed all worldwide bolt on's for blackberry from July 2010. However they failed to notify me and I have been charged for this continually.

So July/ August and September I have been charged for a blackberry worldwide tariff which does not work, and in addition been charged for usage in the UK.

In fairness to Carphone Warehouse, once I got through to someone who cared they dealt with it fast, listent to all my called and have sent a statement allowing me to fully return my phone and cancel the contract, going back to my original contract.

No mention of refunding the money but lets see how this goes, they have not said no yet.

OK so does anyone else know of this, have experience or in a similar situation? Is this across all carriers or just O2 UK and is it European wide?

Regards
Richard

[Hazysky]

Hi

O2 did change all their tariff's recently and there was a big hoo haa about it, especially on twitter.


http://news.o2.co.uk/Press-Releases/...model-2a3.aspx

The situation is that almost all UK carriers have now decided to be honest and admit there never was any 'unlimited' data tariffs and are now more open about the limits and indeed some have cut their limits. If you need more data you pay extra.

As for roaming rates this has come about because of EU policy but o2's rates of £6 per mb worldwide & £3 per mb for EU have been in existence for about 2 years now.

One main difference is that picture messages now cost extra whereas under the old policy 1 picture message used 4 texts this also applied when texting from abroad.

As you weren't informed of these changes ( I got a text from o2) I believe you should be entitled to a refund. Probably you won't need to go as far as going to court to get this. Write to the top dog at o2 and see what happens.

Good luck.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[droogish]

Hi HazySky,

Thank you for the information. Actually I was aware that there were changes to the charging of data aboard specifically that the mobile companies shouldn't allow people to be charnged more than £40 per month for data abroard and should be warned at £20, or something like this.

None of this was really a problem because for years I have had a world wide Blackberry tariff which included emails and a fair use of 80Mb per month for data. In Feb this year this was changed to two tariff's £23 for 10Mb and I think £53 for 50Mb, I have never exceeded 10 so had this one.

The sudden removal of the tariff caused me the issue and gave me the inflated charges.

I see there is a business tariff on the O2 site with a My Europe Extra which includes 1GB data, I will find out what this entails.

[Dtidley]

My account is withy o2 at the Carphone Warehouse and they have removed my worldwide roaming!!!!

On Wednesday October 6th, my Blackberry stopped receiving and sending emails. Having rebooted the phone without success, I called Carphone Warehouse where I was told that as a result of new legislation dealing with international roaming charges, the £20 bolt on that I have for unlimited international roaming had been removed and from now on I would be billed according to usage.

While on the call to Carphone Warehouse, I called my partner, who is on the exact same tarrif direct with o2, to warn this was about to happen to him also, and that he needed to confirm the situation. He was told by o2 that as he had not requested the bolt on to be removed, it would remain on his package until at least the expiry of his contract.

I had NOT requested o2 at the Carphone Warehouse to remove the bolt on. I called back and relayed this information. The agent I spoke to was unaware of this ruling but who on talking with her manager told me I had been given the wrong information and would call me back the following Monday. By Tuesday afternoon I had not received a call and rang again. This time I spoke with second tier resolution people, who were very apologetic, but that I could not have the bolt on reinstated on my account .

My complaint is that I will now see a huge increase in my bill.

The fact that o2 are honouring the bolt on and Carphone Warehouse are not, can only be because they are now able to substantially increase billing to high volume customers such as myself.

This is anti competitive. I would like Carphone Warehouse to resolve the situation and reinstate the bolt on, as would have happened for me had I been a direct o2 customer. Failing this I would like to be released from my contract so that I have the opportunity to shop around for a better deal. They are not budging and my bill is about to DOUBLE!!!!

Anyone have any similar experiences or advice??

[droogish]

Hi Dtidley,

I am still in progress with Carphone Warehouse, I was not aware that O2 were continuing to honour the agreement, I was told differently. So far carphone warehouse have refunded the money they have been charging me and promised to put me back on my original tariff.

I wonder what the legal position is on this.

As far as I am concerned they still owe me money and my tariff still needs to be reset.

Once this is done I am changing networks and good by carphone warehouse.

For information O2 business have a tariff which gives any phone data up to 50Mb per month for about 30 pounds per month but I am not sure I will continue to use Blackberry because of the way they charge. Charging can be back dated so it is impossible to see what you have really used in one month.

[madasafishuk]

Hi,

Ive been told by Platinum CS that the Bolt on will only be removed from my account, when i come to upgrade, and that the best option I have is to buy handsets either from PAYG or sim free, as then they wont remove the bolt on...

How long this will be the case im not sure, but my current contract doesnt complete till next July
Cheers
Andy

[Tim Waddy]

I just found out about this a week before I leave the UK for Japan
I got this kind of phone for when I do go away and can send emails and such without hassle. (Not blaming blackberry at all)

So I just spke to Car Phone Warehouse who I got my o2 account through and they now say that if you go over the £40 limit then o2 will bar my phone completely! I find that rather disturbing when I am away from home...

does anyone know of anyways around this? Is it possible to get a pay as you go sim and swap it over? Will my emails etc still all work on my phone or will I have to re program everything?

[samosa]

increase your limit for the month perhaps?

[droogish]

I am not sure they block your phone, they block access to any more data and you have to phone to have the block released. You need to ask to speak to second line support the guys that pick up the phone have not got a clue what is going on.

Mine got blocked but only data, not SMS or Phone, the block is not removed automatically you have to phone.

I am switiching to O2 Business tarrif they have My Europe Extra which conains data for Europe and Switzerland, I am not sure about the rest of the world.