O2 Broadband rip-off

thebigcheese22

Hey apologies if this is in the wrong forum, I think this is more relevant than the broadband forum but mods change it if needed!

Anyway, I signed up to the O2 broadband student deal last September that gave me broadband for 10 euro a month, as well as a cheap modem. Thought this was a great offer, as I was dying to get away from the crappy 3 service.

Anyways I thought the service was grand, if a little slow, up until around 3 months ago. Then I got charged for 165 euro for one month's broadband! This is because I went over the 10 gig limit, which is ridiculously low as it is. I only received a letter about this after the modem itself broke (along with my laptop) so I no longer needed it and couldn't have been arsed getting it repaired with no working laptop. In the last few weeks O2 have sent me a letter saying that they are getting a third party to ensure payment of the money.

Is there anything I can do to get around this? I haven't used the service in months, and as I'm a student studying abroad in the next few weeks I really don't have the money that they are asking. Is not paying an option i.e. will it affect my credit rating? I'm almost tempted to pay to avoid hassle but I am really angry at the excess of the payment and don't have the money. Any suggestions are welcome

Soswozere

That sucks.
This mightn't help much, but thought id give you my two cents (you can put that towards the bill

Friend of mine (yes, NOT me!) had a 12 month contract with O2, but due to the ridiculously slow speed of the internet, couldnt use it.
Tried to break contract, was told no, so just ignored it.
Last i heard he had recieved a few threatening letters, but no action.
That was a year ago, contract would be a few months up i reckon.

I'd be too freaked to ignore a contract like that, but maybe i'm just naive!
€165 is a lot of money for a months broadband, hope someone here knows what your rights are in this case, were you aware of the penalty for exceeding the limit?

Best o luck whatever you do!

Jarren

8.3 You are liable for all Charges including, but not limited to, connection charges, Equipment, administrative charges, monthly charges, voice, SMS, MMS, data charges and excess data usage charges which may apply when you exceed your data usage limit. For up to date details on the Charges applicable to the Service please refer to O2.ie. Please be advised that any inclusive data traffic that you receive under existing Bill pay terms and conditions will not apply and is not transferable to your O2 Mobile Broadband Service.

http://www.o2online.ie/wps/wcm/connect/O2/About+O2/Terms+and+Conditions/O2+Broadband/Student+Broadband


Terms and conditions bro;)

whippet

how many more of these threads are we going to see? People looking for sympathy for their own carelessness and then claiming that they have been rip-off.

you signed up to a mobile broadband service with a 10gb limit, you went over the contractually agreed limit and were billed the amount that you agreed to when you signed up.

Pay up and chalk it down to experience.

I'm waiting on a few usual suspects to come in here banging on about the usual hysteria ... but O2 have only charged you for a service you signed up for and used.

dudara

I have some sympathy for you but you did exceed the stated limit for the data download. Therefore you owe o2 money.

However, you should get in touch with them straightaway and state that you are a student and money isn't easy to come by. See if they can reduce the bill in any way for you. Come to some arrangement to pay the bill - ignoring your debt is a very stupid thing to do.

E.T.

On a similar note - does streaming count in your download allowance? My friend's bills have been just the basic cost for the last year and a half (think it's about €25), jumped to €60ish last month and she told me she got a bill for nearly €150 this month! This amount is just for broadband alone. She rarely downloads anything, the odd song from itunes would be about it, but she streams a lot of tv and watches a lot of stuff on youtube. She hasn't had a chance to ring 02 yet, but it's just weird that it's only the last 2 months' bills that went over the €20 odd euro.

chris85

OP i am sorry but consumers need to be more careful about entering into contracts like this. You admit the limit is low, why did you choose it then? The charges are valid and it is simply non payment of the bill at this stage.

aidan_walsh

Any and all information that comes to your computer from the internet counts toward your download limit.

Esoteric_

Streaming TV shows and Youtube videos (and anything else that requires streaming) eats up your download limit, just for future reference.

Linda123

hi,
I got a bill for a few hundred euros off them for one month. It wasn't the downloading, but the uploading in the background that caused it. Nearly died.
Absolutely no way to get off it.
I told them I'd pay 10 euro a week, but I got cut off and the debt handed over to a collection agency.
Agreed to pay 10 a week, cause they will take you to court and you will get a bad debt.

jor el

Linda123 wrote: »

I told them I'd pay 10 euro a week, but I got cut off and the debt handed over to a collection agency.
Agreed to pay 10 a week, cause they will take you to court and you will get a bad debt.

They will never take anyone to court over this, and they can't directly effect your credit rating.

thebigcheese22 wrote:

I only received a letter about this after the modem itself broke (along with my laptop) so I no longer needed it and couldn't have been arsed getting it repaired with no working laptop.

Trying to work out a payment plan is the best option. The fact that you're not using it any more and broke the modem and your laptop is of no concern, you've already run up the debt, so now you pay for it. If you do owe a debt, you should pay it, and if the debt is because you didn't read the contract you signed, then you've no one to blame but yourself.

Peppapig

Never ever, ever get the O2 broadband dongle. As I type this here my modem goes off every 40 seconds and then I have to wait 15 secs for the HSDPA light to flash back and connect, a complete shambles if you ask me.

Actually I have the same 10 euro a month contract and I'm going to ring them tommorrow and complain. How can they expect me to pay if they are not providing a consistent service?

Cabaal

In short you signed up to a package with what you view as a low limit, dispite knowing this you broke the limit. Its your fault plain and simple and O2 are entitled to pursue the charges

Peppapig wrote: »

Never ever, ever get the O2 broadband dongle. As I type this here my modem goes off every 40 seconds and then I have to wait 15 secs for the HSDPA light to flash back and connect, a complete shambles if you ask me.

If you knew anything about Midband service like O2, Three etc you'd know that just because it may not work for you doesn't mean its the same for everyone else. Other people could have a perfect service with Three, O2 or whoever whilst others may find it unusable.

It all depends on your location and how many people use it in that location, your sweeping statement means nothing because of this

jor el

Peppapig wrote: »

Actually I have the same 10 euro a month contract and I'm going to ring them tommorrow and complain. How can they expect me to pay if they are not providing a consistent service?

Anyone who has a mobile phone will know that they don't work everywhere, and a mobile modem is no different (in fact, it's actually worse). As Cabaal pointed out, location is important, and if it's not working for you then it probably never will. Don't just ring to complain, ring to cancel. There's nothing O2 can do for you, because where mobile data is concerned, the operator has no control over distribution.

Just because it doesn't work for you, doesn't mean no one should ever use it. It works great, for what it is, in a lot of situations. You just need to remember that it's not broadband, and that it may or may not work, and even when it does work, it may not last. The key feature is mobility, not speed or reliability.

thebigcheese22

jor el wrote: »

They will never take anyone to court over this, and they can't directly effect your credit rating.



Trying to work out a payment plan is the best option. The fact that you're not using it any more and broke the modem and your laptop is of no concern, you've already run up the debt, so now you pay for it. If you do owe a debt, you should pay it, and if the debt is because you didn't read the contract you signed, then you've no one to blame but yourself.[/QUOTE]

Oh yeah I totally accept that, I'm raging with myself for not checking it more vigintely. Rang them up yesterday, couldn't get them to reduce it but they did agree to let me pay it in installments so gonna pay €50 upfront and €20 a month afterwards.

It's just a really bad time for myself, heading off on Erasmus for a year and barely have enough for that after getting a loan off the bank. C'est la vie I suppose.

Ah-Watch

Have to say I found 02 great when my friend who had been using my 02 student dongle went over the 10GB. Rang them, explained what happened(it was an automatic download of window or something) that broke the camels back. The guy in the 02 store said the student broadband cuts out after 10GB, unlike others, I on the other hand from working in a phone shop thought this was strange. Read my contract, said nothing about overcharging (all overcharging on the terms related to iphone) and argued this with customer care, emailed a copy of my contract and they brought the bill down to €100 from €202. Just a positive experience with 02 in my book.







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No I dont work for 02 before someone suggests it:D