MOBILE PHONE BILL PROBLEM - HELP !

[answerbanker]

My son's mobile phone is on a 'family contract' through the family business.
He is in the Navy and has been using his phone on his laptop somehow.
The bill arrived recently and his part of the bill was £2800 !!!
He has not had any contact from the provider at any stage warning him of the impending bill !
Is this legal ?????
Will he have to pay it all - and will they expect it in one go ??
Please advise !!

[China Doll]

You'll have to call them and explain the situation in terms of payment but I think it probably is legal and binding as it's up to the customer to make sure they fully understand the charges and tariffs I guess which is part of the contract.

[boxtops]

The phone companies don't have any obligation to tell you in advance how much the bill is - mine certainly doesn't. If he's abroad - particularly out of Europe so is being charged worldwide rates - the download charges can be extraoridinarily expensive. If he can, he might be better off buying local SIM cards?

[annadomino]

Oh my goodness, how scary is THAT.

[pizza]

omg that sounds like a crazy charge, but without knowing how the family contract works I think a call to citizen advise would be an idea at this point

[EDDIE51]

Has he been using the phone overseas ? or on a ship ? that would explain the huge bill .The details will be in the small print of the contract, the provider will not tell you that you are running up a large bill, you are expected to read all the details of the contract even the small print.

[daffy654]

Has he been using his phone as an internet provider through his laptop? If so it would be incredibly easy to run up huge charges.

[boxtops]

I think a call to the phone provider in the first instance would be sensible - you need to understand how this huge charge was arrived at - is there no breakdown with the account?

[ChuckFickens]

Contact the ofcom advisory service on 0300 1233333 or 020 79813040 and ask them.

[Old_Geezer]

Always worth reading your contract and finding out what rights you have in this sort of situation. Also you can contact the provider and plead ignorance and see if you can get any concession; but I suspect they are under no obligation.

I think the previous replies has summed the situation up. Making international calls is expensive. Using the mobile supplier's network to connect to the Internet for hours on end is also expensive. Put the two together ....

Whilst I can not know for sure my guess would be that unless there is a gesture of goodwill forthcoming then you will be liable to pay it all and any delayed payment would be a consession on the part of the supplier. But you never know. My advice is to contact them, see what you can achieve. Best of luck.

[answerbanker]

Thank you all for your answers ..its not looking very good is it ?? He is only on apprentice wage aswell !! :( Oh dear !

[boxtops]

A thought for the future - don't they have wifi on the ship....? I'd have thought they might...

[Gromit]

No quite sure how he has been using his phone or where.

You need to find out what your provider charges for roaming. And possible data usage charges. You can often buy into packages that let you do both those things at only slightly higher cost.