Meteor Internet Browsing RIPOFF

louielou

Hi, Has anyone had any similar expieriences with Meteor Internet on there mobile phone. I just opened up a bill from them and was extermley shocked to find i had spent €200 on browsing the internet, on 21 occasions for the last month. I couldnt believe it and called them immediality. The operater went through and according to him to was all correct , and to my horror i found out i had spent over €400 this month already. I have only started to use the internet in the last 2 months and think this is absolutley extortionate. They charge you 2cent for every 1kb downloaded , but if you buy there package for €9 a month you can get 2.5mb a month, and according to the operator i havent even used 2.5mb in the last 2 months. The fact that they dont tell you this just shows what they think of there customers and shows no customer loyalty at all. Cant believe it and am refusing to pay. Does anyone have any similar stories about this and what was the final outcome. I have had numerous problems with this company and i am looking forward to changing operators. :mad:

Random

Yes, the prices do seem excessive but it's consistant across the board for the most part.

It all boils down to you using a service and not checking the costs fully.

You could give them a buzz and explain your predicament etc .. but I really don't see why you shouldn't have to pay.

Fresh Pots

Thats steep alright,but you must have been doing a fair bit to have spent €200. As much as i think their data charges are a rip off i think i really should have checked the data charges at some stage.

Also they will make it impossible for you to port to a different network if you have a balance outstanding.

brophis

Ouch, that sounds a bit much alright. Might want to check out http://www.meteor.ie/personal/bill_pay/add_ons/data_add_ons/ for their data add-ons.

eamon234

louielou wrote: »

Hi, Has anyone had any similar expieriences with Meteor Internet on there mobile phone. I just opened up a bill from them and was extermley shocked to find i had spent €200 on browsing the internet, on 21 occasions for the last month. I couldnt believe it and called them immediality. The operater went through and according to him to was all correct , and to my horror i found out i had spent over €400 this month already. I have only started to use the internet in the last 2 months and think this is absolutley extortionate. They charge you 2cent for every 1kb downloaded , but if you buy there package for €9 a month you can get 2.5mb a month, and according to the operator i havent even used 2.5mb in the last 2 months. The fact that they dont tell you this just shows what they think of there customers and shows no customer loyalty at all. Cant believe it and am refusing to pay. Does anyone have any similar stories about this and what was the final outcome. I have had numerous problems with this company and i am looking forward to changing operators. :mad:

The €9 data add on is 250 mb not 2.5! In fairness if you've been charged that much you must have been using it an awful lot or downloading a lot of data when you did use it if you knew you would be using the internet that much you should have checked the charges first - the other operators charge just as much if you're not on a data package you would have had the same problem if you'd done it with O2/Vodafone

louielou

I know i should have checked the costs Random , but the cost of using it are ridiculous by anyones standard. To be honest i would have seen more in the last 5 minutes on the internet then i did for the €600 i "have to pay". It should be explained when you sign up how much it cost, like the call charges etc. Its just a sneaky,sly way of making money. They must have known last month that i spent 200 on internet and if they were a decent well respected company they would inform you of there different products. The internet should be turned off on your phone when you sign up and only activated when requested, and all costs explained. I have checked with my friends who are on other networks(and dont have internet packages) and they couldnt believe the costs. They are just money grabbing Bast**ds.:mad::mad:

Random

They ask you to sign a contract to say you agreed to all the fees and charges. You should have asked about the fees and charges.

I do not dispute that the cost of data usage is excessive on all networks but I maintain it's your own problem that you ran up the bill as you should have read up on the charges for the services you were using. It's not the networks problem and if they reduce the bill at all then it would be a goodwill gesture and nothing more.

Yes, phone companys (and most companys) are money grabbing bastards. This is how they survive.

eamon234

By the way Vodafone charge 2c/KB up to 512 kbs and 0.5c/kb for any usage over 512kbs in similar circumstances. O2 charge 1c as far as I know.
So it's not just Meteor

strecker

eamon234 wrote: »

The €9 data add on is 250 mb not 2.5! In fairness if you've been charged that much you must have been using it an awful lot or downloading a lot of data when you did use it if you knew you would be using the internet that much you should have checked the charges first - the other operators charge just as much if you're not on a data package you would have had the same problem if you'd done it with O2/Vodafone

yeah...
@OP,
2cent per kb means euro50 for 2.5mb, but you or meteor claim you haven't even spent 2.5mb???
What with that maths?
And why would your not checking data tariffs be more worthy of anyone's "condolences" than, say, your not checking call rates, and you continue to phone a mobile in india?
Yes, the rate is a bad joke, and I think some kind of warning would be ok, but it's your job to check the costs, and if the maths of cent/kb isn't clear, ask, then use...
2.5 mb...lol...I can waste that in an hour btw...it's not much... Not much at all...that's opening 1 image/flash-heavy page 5 or 6 times ffs!!! Maths :P

chrislad

It boils down to this: If you don't have a data package, don't use the internet. That's across the board, bar Three. Vodafone charge 99c a day for 50megs, but I think that's restricted to the Vodafone Live! portal, unless I'm mistaken.

Sam Vimes

picture this OP:


i go to a restaurant. I don't ask to see a menu. I order and eat my food. Then i'm presented with the bill and i refuse to pay because i think it's too high

who is wrong go that situation? The restaurant who had a freely available menu which i could have viewed before ordering or me for ordering something without any idea how much it cost and then refusing to pay after consuming it?

You say that meteor should have explained all the costs beforehand. Would you be ok with sitting there for two hours while the shop assistant talks about all the different options every time you buy a phone?


if you threaten to switch to any network other than 3 they'll laugh at you because the situation on the other networks isn't much better. O2 charges 1c per kb and vodafone has a crippled service for 30 per month or a proper service for 2c per kb


bottom line: you used the service without checking the price. Meteor did not try to hide the cost and in fact have it published on their website. They are perfectly within their rights to charge you so i recommend you call them and plead. Threats will get you nowhere because you are 100% in the wrong here

ablelocks

and if you had checked the data costs first, you would have noticed that there is a cheaper ISP access charge :

ISP €4.92
per MB downloaded*

*1MB = 1,024 kB
1MB = Approximately 10 Internet web pages or 40 made-for-mobile pages
Charging is applied per kB at a rate of €0.0048/kB

this rate is fine for very occasional usage, but obviously not for extensive usage like yours.

And granted, you have to ask Meteor to give you this ISP access - I've had this argument with them that it should be automatically assigned to customers.

I do commiserate but it's your fault op, not meteors. Talk nicely and maybe they might cut you a deal.

alantc

I asked to be put on unlimited data and they messed up, I noticed over €200 of data charges for ~5mb of use. I called and they acknowledged that I should've been on the unlimited plan. They credited my account for the €200 and then cancelled the charges.

robinph

I'd have been running up well in excess of €10,000 a month on those charges with the amount I use the phone rather than the €20 I've actually been paying. Get yourself on a proper mobile data package if you have any intention of using the phone more often than once in a blue moon.

Fighting Irish

louielou wrote: »

Hi, Has anyone had any similar expieriences with Meteor Internet on there mobile phone. I just opened up a bill from them and was extermley shocked to find i had spent €200 on browsing the internet, on 21 occasions for the last month. I couldnt believe it and called them immediality. The operater went through and according to him to was all correct , and to my horror i found out i had spent over €400 this month already. I have only started to use the internet in the last 2 months and think this is absolutley extortionate. They charge you 2cent for every 1kb downloaded , but if you buy there package for €9 a month you can get 2.5mb a month, and according to the operator i havent even used 2.5mb in the last 2 months. The fact that they dont tell you this just shows what they think of there customers and shows no customer loyalty at all. Cant believe it and am refusing to pay. Does anyone have any similar stories about this and what was the final outcome. I have had numerous problems with this company and i am looking forward to changing operators. :mad:

I've used meteor for ages and i've known about the charges, this is your nobody else

Fighting Irish

louielou wrote: »

I know i should have checked the costs Random , but the cost of using it are ridiculous by anyones standard. To be honest i would have seen more in the last 5 minutes on the internet then i did for the €600 i "have to pay". It should be explained when you sign up how much it cost, like the call charges etc. Its just a sneaky,sly way of making money. They must have known last month that i spent 200 on internet and if they were a decent well respected company they would inform you of there different products. The internet should be turned off on your phone when you sign up and only activated when requested, and all costs explained. I have checked with my friends who are on other networks(and dont have internet packages) and they couldnt believe the costs. They are just money grabbing Bast**ds.:mad::mad:

its a tax on the stupid