Has this happened to anyone else? Had a few people over on the 30th, wifi was down, my eleven year old got into my phone and opened up the hotspot (tethering). They used it to watch netflix and download some games for about two hours. When I checked my phone account this morning the episode has cost me €1254.66. Still in shock, they're "looking into it"
Jeez, that is stung. Problem is 11 year olds are far more astute at all things tech than us 'older' adults. My three year old grandson is far quicker around the i-phone than I could ever be...
Sounds about right if you were watching the lord of the rings trilogy in 4K Sounds like a New Year on the phone to customer services, bad luck Grinning.
Bill shock is the expression used. You'll find that they will write off a significant portion after you plead your case.
Hell's bells, that's some bill. There should be some sort of alert system that kicks in when anyone gets to a certain amount. Hope you get it sorted.
Might sound obvious but if you have not already done so, cancel the Direct Debit or seek to de-authorise your credit card. It is easier to fight your case as one not to pay than to try and recover what you have already paid out.
I've used my phone as a wifi hotspot many times when away from home. Never been a problem as my phone company gives me a notice when my monthly quota is close to being used up. Then I can chose by sending a text if I'd like to buy extra gigabytes for a fixed price. I think they are complied to do so and if you haven't recieved a warning I can't see if their bill is valid. A little tip for the future is to go and change the definition from HD on Netflix in the settings.
It doesn't help now but I have set up a limit that if my kids exceed the bill payer gets an email to advise. I know that tethering costs more but that kind of cost is taking the piss. Annoying thing is that you will get through to a call centre that doesn't speak fluent english and be told their charges are in their terms and conditions.
I had an episode in summer 2014 when my 19 yr old daughter's normal $60/mth mobile phone bill suddenly became $400. Whilst planning a trip to Morocco she made numerous 1 min calls to a number in Morocco from Canada, then the other party would call her back for a longer conversation, so in total 100 mins @ $1.95/min, $195 - now with a $3.00/mth international talk plan this charge would have been only 45c/min, then whilst in Morocco for 2 weeks she forgot to turn off her data roaming (which I had told her to do so), so $10/day, $150 extra. She paid for these additional charges. Our carrier, Rogers Communications were no help to me in attempting to minimize the damage. I only hope you are able to resolve something with your carrier regarding this much larger charge. I have no data on my phone plan, so just piggy back on wi-fi access, either you have it, or you don't, so never any data charges ($15/mth talk & text).
Thanks for all the comments and advice folks, I see I'm not alone in being hit like this. The phone company, 3, listened to my story, and as Ciarrai said above, agreed to reduce but not eliminate the charge, despite three long calls ranging from pleading politely to hitting high C's. My phone plan includes unlimited data, so my son and his pal could have done exactly what they did on my phone at no charge. Because they watched their games on a tablet tethered to my phone however, the charge was incurred. No warning, no indication that the costs were rolling up at €2 per Mb, and they used something like 2.4 Kb. Currently they're saying I'll have to pay around €230, which doesn't sound too bad compared to the original. Still not inclined to acquiesce to this mugging, I'll have to think about it a bit more.
Certainly €230 is a bit easier to swallow than €1254.66 - good luck in your efforts to pare that amount down further.
Threaten to refer them to OFCOM - the UK telecommunications watchdog. They should have systems in place to prevent children running up bills like that. Ofcom will be more sympathetic to you than 3.
Exactly the concession I expected them to make. My only experience was on a business account (not me incidentally but a colleague). Being a business account we accepted the concession.
