[Closed] Help! 15 Y/O daughter Vs phone bill, & it's me that has lost out.

sold as unlimited texts?

[i]exceed her unlimited text package by about 3500 text[/i]

that's quite an achievement 🙂 and 🙁

I'd be putting everything in writing recorded delivery and explainign that you were never advised that she could exceed the monthly limit, that you thought unlimited meant unlimited etc

look at the contract you signed.

take phone away.

thats about 6500 texts!!

thats about one every 7 mins.

24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

exceed her unlimited text package

Eh?

I don't know whats the most shocking? Giving a kid a credit limit of £550? Or the 3,500 texts, managed above 'unlimited'? 🙂

I suspect you're going to have to suck it up 🙁

PAYG...
I have nothing less to offer, sorry...
Unless you'd consider daughtercide..

What version of "unlimited" is this?

Probably the same as unlimited broadband that's subject to a "fair use policy". IE [b][u]not[/u][/b] unlimited 🙄

That'll be "unlimited*"

*fair use policy applies

Is the [i]unlimited texts[/i] the same as some company's [i]unlimited internet[/i]
Sounds very strange..

A harsh lesson learned and, yes, she should contribute.

If its anything like my "unlimited" broadband connection, the contract will have some sort of "fair useage" policy. Ie "unlimited but don't take the pish".

But they should have flashed a warning. did she not receive a text telling her? Or was she too busy sending more texts to read incoming ones from boring phone people?

Yes, similar situation a few years ago.

Your best options (in my opinion):
phone the phone sharks, and plead poverty, asking for their help - can they can put you retrospectively on a different contract that will help you pay the bill (or reduce the bill) (I got 25% taken off this way). Accept that it's all your fault (in the eyes of the phone company anyway) so any favours they can do will help you stay a loyal customer blah blah. Do you have any other contracts with them to show how loyal a customer you are? (Creep a lot). Remember that being nice and vulnerable may make them want to help you - being an arse will make them want to sting you.

Then, to prevent such an issue in the future, ask for a lower phone credit limit or swap to a unlimited texts contract.

Then give your daughter a good talking to?

Good luck, but the sooner you talk to the phone company the better (just calm down first!)

In all seriousness, check with the the phone company, could be an internal error/typo?

As for checking what she is using, O2's site tells you where you are at on your allowance (think its 24 hours behind, but thats close enough) Not sure about other providers.

khani - Member
PAYG...

This.

ask for details of texts sent, from where to whom etc,thebove info can be requesteunder the data protection act for a tenner.

take phone off daughter with alot of freinds alledgedly and buy a payg 8 quid at tesco.

What network and tariff is it?

Sell your daughter to pay for it.

I have been there with my teenage daughter but she's lightweight as only managed 2800 in a month

They use texting for chatting, better to look at phone where you can use whatsapp or the like, which is free

I assume this is a one-off or has she been exceeding the "unlimited" number on a regular basis? You should be able to find this out by looking at previous months statements (which, of course, you always check anyway). If it's a one-off then try to find out if there has been some sort of billing error. If it's been going on for some time then the phone company can point to you ignoring previous months usage and not doing anything about it.

I think I've only ever gone above 100 texts a month once, maybe twice! That's some going!
As above, what network? What phone? Apple iMessage and Blackberry BBM are both internet, not cellular, services and would avoid that if her friends have the same phones.....

They use texting for chatting, better to look at phone where you can use whatsapp or the like, which is free

Or use an alternative mode of communication say, a phone? 😉

Was she sending a friend a bedtime story by text- war and peace?

Join the club.
Eldest (also 15) ran up £600 on Orange this summer.
5830 texts - did the same calcs and I have no idea when he slept or ate.
It was in the summer holidays, I queried it with Orange.
He had just hit the yes button on the automatic top up which came off MrsC's card.
Did not know who to murder, him or Mrs C for putting her card details in his phone.
Anyhoo - nothing the phone company could or would do, even though we both agreed it was impossible for him to text that often.
It was PAYG and the top up was made, I argued the physical impossibility of using all that credit on texts alone (virtually no calls and no data used)
Only explanation was multiple recipient texts, they are billed as unique texts, so one to 10 mates is actually 10 texts.
Check out if this was what she has been doing.

They use texting for chatting, better to look at phone where you can use whatsapp or the like, which is free

This.

Depending on the phone, if it's a smartphone there's a slight possibility it could be some scamware app sending the messages, I'd definitely be asking for an itemised bill to check who the messages are being sent to.

And get your daughter a PAYG phone, there's no way on earth I'd let mine have a contract phone!

I've often wondered how it's legal to sell anything as unlimited when it's not unlimited

Like this?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2010/09/unlimited.html

Normally I’m fairly harsh with parents who kids rack up huge phone bills/Xbox Live bills/AppStore bills, but if your daughter had a contract with unlimited texts, then it’s not unreasonable to assume that it meant ‘unlimited texts’ – especially as they’re supposed to be cracking down on misuse of the term. The only thing I can think of that would lay the blame more at her door is if she was sending picture messages that aren’t included in the contract?

I’d say that if they’ve sold the contract as unlimited texts, kick up a fuss.

had a LONG chat with t mobile about this when i got my new contract. they got burnt with some serious bad press due to their internet usage limits. and now cut you off internet rather than letting you run up a bill at all.

who is she with?

give them a ring, i think they might be more receptive than you think.

also. contract mobile for someone else? NEVER. **** that.

Probably sexting semi naked pictures of herself to random Book-Face " Friends " who really arent ' Imogen from Kingston ' but actually 'Ron from Crayford'.

Maybe no pocket money for the next 12 months?

And no chrimbo or birthday presents . Shes already had them. 6500 of them.

Phone = removed
Christmas = cancelled

If you do not confiscate the mobile phone, then she will have learned nothing. Take it away until January 1st or limit it to incoming calls only.

as above. remove phone.

not to get all 'when i were a lad' but i got my first phone when i was 20ish. and it was shite.

EDIT: and paid for by me (importantly)

@2unfit - welcome to parenting teenagers ! Different set of challenges from when they were little ...

First PAYG for teenagers in my view is NOT the way to go, would you want your daughter to have no credit to phone you if she was in trouble, needed collecting late at night ?

You should call the phone company and negotiate a discount, plead lack of understanding, lack of disclosure. You might like to offer them in return to upgrade the contract to unlimited texts.

Blackeberries were popular with kids as if your mates have them messages (BBM) are free

We always got unlimited texts for the kids phones as that's what they use, these days they use whatsapp (texting which uses your internet allowance which is generally much cheaper/free) or similar

If you do not confiscate the mobile phone, then she will have learned nothing. Take it away until January 1st or limit it to incoming calls only.

yep

and then put her on a PAYG that she has to pay for each month out of pocket money, keep it up until your sense of humour returns

I have 6 year old and 8 year old daughters.

I have also just pooed myself in anticipatory fear.

@jambalaya

OP had unlimited texts, thats part of the issue.

You're the bill payer so request an itemised bill for starters.

"unlimited" FFS

Serves you right for not using PAYG and not keeping a closer eye on how much she uses it.

Mobile phones are a pita for kids. Nothing but trouble. Parents of children in my daughters class have given a phone out as a present. Ffs only 7 years old, it's seriously wrong.

it's seriously wrong.

succinct. but pretty much my opinion also.

i don't buy the 'child MUST have funds on phone to contact us at ALL times for unseen emergency' either.

one wonders how kids survived without...

Many thanks all, some interesting thoughts & observations.

Yes the phone was taken off her (well thrown against the wall & smashed anyway)

I have spoken to the company involved (Virgin) & the customer complaint team will call me back tomorrow so I haven't given up on some sort of reduction as they have always been great with complaints in the past.

I knew the limit was 3000 text so I won't lie about that, but it was agreed at the time as it would be virtually impossible to make more!

When I initially spoke to someone to query the amount of text's they went through them & they were all made, but yes lots of them were group text's, sometimes 300 an hour!

ir_bandito - Member
If its anything like my "unlimited" broadband connection, the contract will have some sort of "fair useage" policy. Ie "unlimited but don't take the pish".

But they should have flashed a warning. did she not receive a text telling her? Or was she too busy sending more texts to read incoming ones from boring phone people?

She is out at the moment, but good call I'll ask her when she returns & if this is the case then she will pay for it out of her bank account which will wipe her out.

Oh & as it stands her skiing trip next Jan to the USA with the school will be cancelled, so it will save me in the long run 😉

Cheers all.

sometimes 300 an hour!

yikes!

Just made my 2 teenage daughters read this!

Got a £100 bill for the eldest last year - she paid it.. hasn't put a foot wrong since!

Good luck

Did she know what the unlimited limit was? Or did she take 'unlimited' at face value?

I didn't realise there was a fair use policy on texts.

I imagine it's unenforceable, unless deliberate abuse can be proved.
i.e. spamming, bulk messaging.

There's no way I'd be paying without a large fuss.

Seems totally bizarre that something can be described as 'unlimited', when there is such a clear limit (of 3000) described in the smallprint.

I put my daughter on a £10/month plan which gives 250 mins, 3000 text (or similar stupidly high amount)and 500mb data. As if that's not enough they give the option to cap the spend at £10 so she's unable to go over her limit.

Why is the daughter being held partially responsible for this?

"here's a phone, you have unlimited texts"

few months later

"you've sent too many texts!!!!"

Still, if I was in the OPs shoes, I'd sue my daughter.

So - what is her previous usage like?

2unfittoride, ask your daughter has she been texting X factor or strictly come dancing rip off phone lines, at whatever they cost.

PAYG for kids, they canm always reverse the chargfes from a freinds phone or a call box.

Seems a bit unfair to punish your daughter for your mistake!

Unless she knew what the limit was and knew that she would be charged for going over, not sure you can hold her to blame.

http://conversation.which.co.uk/technology/unlimited-mobile-use-should-do-what-it-says-on-the-tin/

I rang Customer Support and the person I spoke to was quite abrupt and told me he wasn’t going to credit back the extra fees. So I emailed someone reasonably high up in Virgin Media and explained my problem politely, they rang me back within an hour to apologise and say that [b]when customers go over their limit the first time, Customer Support are supposed to clarify the fair use limits with them and waive the extra fees in that instance. He told me my account would be credited back with those fees.[/b]

So thumbs down for normal Customer Support, thumbs up for the Executive team (if you know how to get their attention!),

Hope that gives you some ammunition!

My mistake?

My daughter knew as well as me the contract, I have put it in the 'shit happens' category, why certain people on this site insist on blaming others for a genuine mistake or even plain stupidity is beyond me.

I only want to know if I have genuine recourse or if I have to pay the bill.

Cheers.

Zulu, currently dealing with the CEO's office, so hopefully that will suffice.

Cheers.

(well thrown against the wall & smashed anyway)

Can we expect another thread on how to claim for a broken phone on insurance ?

Good luck, mine are 18, 22 and 24, different set of problems but adorable just the same (BTW just wait till they crash the car (obviously not injuring them selves / anyone else) ....)

I'm just going make a quick comment before reading all the messages here but my ex's kids racked up - over a grand on their phones!!!! Yes that's right a grand!!!! Did she punish them or anything? No - and to say it pee'ed me off is an understatement to say the least.

jambalaya - Member
(well thrown against the wall & smashed anyway)

So now you have a contract and no phone, how much is that going to cost ?
Can we expect another thread on how to claim for a broken phone on insurance ?

Good luck, mine are 18, 22 and 24, different set of problems but adorable just the same (BTW just wait till they crash the car (obviously not injuring them selves / anyone else) ....)

No, unfortunately you won't see that thread anytime soon, as I said in my original post I won't lie, I'm not short of the money but I'll just give her an old (shite to her) phone, sorry to disappoint.

Cheers.

My three teenagers are on 3 Mobile, same as us. Each have been setup with a 'zero limit' - which means they are unable to go beyond their contract. But, we get around this:

[i]First PAYG for teenagers in my view is NOT the way to go, would you want your daughter to have no credit to phone you if she was in trouble, needed collecting late at night ?[/i]

By been on 3 Mobile they also have the separate 3-to-3 minutes, so they can always call/text us.

PAYG is just expensive, I don't want my kids wasting their money on buying 'credit'.

And gotta agree with this:

[i]Seems a bit unfair to punish your daughter for your mistake!

Unless she knew what the limit was and knew that she would be charged for going over, not sure you can hold her to blame. [/i]

Basically you want to use Ofcom and the office of fair trading to take them to the cleaners

Log a complaint to your mobile network provider re the charges, description of the call plan (clearly not unlimited) and their failure to suspending the service or notify you once their fair usage threshold had been breached.

Should they not resolve the complaint to your absolute satisfaction inform them that you will be taking it further with the regulator. If they don't back down at that point they're fools as the charges are clearly extortionate and I'd be amazed if Ofcom didn't find in your favour.

Get a tesco contract as you can cap the spending at whatever you like. So if you get a £10 contract you can enforce so its impossible for anything else to be spent. That way she can learn some self control in texting perhaps? (that sounds sarcy but its not meant to)

acidchunks - Member
Basically you want to use Ofcom and the office of fair trading to take them to the cleaners

Log a complaint to your mobile network provider re the charges, description of the call plan (clearly not unlimited) and their failure to suspending the service or notify you once their fair usage threshold had been breached.

Should they not resolve the complaint to your absolute satisfaction inform them that you will be taking it further with the regulator. If they don't back down at that point they're fools as the charges are clearly extortionate and I'd be amazed if Ofcom didn't find in your favour.

Thank you, it took a while but as always a STW member saves the day.

Cheers.

Just so you know, the daughter in question is currently reading this thread, so I expect her to give her invaluable insight sometime soon.

<looks suspiciously at any new members>

😯

Just so you know, the daughter in question is currently reading this thread

YOUR DAD HIDES THE BOOZE UNDER THE STAIRS, BEHIND THE OLD BOOKS AND MAGAZINES!!!!!

HTH (we were all 15 once 🙂 )

My mistake?

My daughter knew as well as me the contract, I have put it in the 'shit happens' category, why certain people on this site insist on blaming others for a genuine mistake or even plain stupidity is beyond me.

Apologies if my comment offended...I got the impression from the thread that you had got your daughter an 'unlimited texts' contract which turned out to not actually be unlimited. She exceeded a limit that neither of you were aware about so the provider have asked for you to pay the bill.

In one of the posts above you said that her skiing trip was cancelled...I got the impression that this was due to this excessive bill from the phone provider.

Apologies if I misunderstood.

I knew the limit was 3000 text so I won't lie about that, but it was agreed at the time as it would be virtually impossible to make more!

So was it advertised as "unlimited, fair usage of 3000 texts applies" or is it just a contract that includes a bundle of 3000 texts, with charges for out of bundle usage?

Two different things - if the former, you might get a reduction. If the latter, I doubt it.

YOUR DAD HIDES THE BOOZE AND HIS 'SPECIAL' MAGAZINES UNDER THE STAIRS, BEHIND THE OLD BOOKS AND MAGAZINES!!!!!

FTFY.

😉

peterfile, she knows where all the booze is, she thankfully has no interest in it yet (unlike her dad), she a bright young kid in many ways, but it seems she has to test my limits sometimes 😉

McHamish, no offence taken, were all big boys together on here, well except padded fred, but that's a different story 😉

beej, the funny thing is all of the bills state that it is an unlimited text tariff, so who knows, they may except that & reduce the bill, or maybe not..

Your a naughty man CFH, I told you she was reading this, why would you tell her of my knitting weekly collection? 😉

PS, when is the next crocheting session around your mum's?

[i]she a bright young kid in many ways[/i]

Sort it out which ever way, then give her a hug. If this is the worst she's managed to do in 15 years you're doing well and, much more importantly, so is she.

There's worse to come fella, best get used to it.

I'm a Dad of three and can tell you stories that will make you weep!

Get itemised bill and check for mms messaging

That'll S&@t your daughter up *waves*

I've had some high bills in the past from going over text allowances so yeah it is possible to text that much during a day (mine wasn't that high!)

Hey Miss 2unfit2ride

Get pregnant, your dad will soon forget about this

Hth

Christmas is coming, tell her she's just spent her present, then put her on PAYG & she has to pay out of her pocket money/ allowance!

Houns - Member
Hey Miss 2unfit2ride

Get pregnant, your dad will soon forget about this

Hth

You basterd, you owe me a computer screen!

just looked on the virgin mobile pay monthly page. no asterisks or any qualifying statements next to the word unlimited in the texts fields for the plans. however, if you had previously agreed 3000, fair enough - did they say you'd be charged for exceeding that limit; I'd have assumed it'd be just unable to text any more that month

(my 13 year old is on giffgaff (runs on O2) - 300txts per month on a recurring monthly one-off payment. her texts just stop when she gets there)

re "unlimited" - last time I actually shouted at a radio was when some arse came on saying that "as the word "unlimited" had caused confusion for their customers, his company was changing to "all you can eat" contracts"

****ers

😛

PAYG is just expensive, I don't want my kids wasting their money on buying 'credit'.

PMSL so just waste money on buying a monthly contract instead.

Phones can be a serious issue, especially from a bullying point with kids. Not having the latest phone, or using it to text about others. It's the ultimate materialistic toy, especially for young kids.

I hate them, not sure if you can tell 😀

PAYG doesn't have to be expensive. Giffgaff do a £5 a month goodybag with unlimited personal use texts.

No call time included but they don't seem to actually speak to each other anyway.

Texting is breathing, but FB is cheaper...

(my 13 year old is on giffgaff (runs on O2) - 300txts per month on a recurring monthly one-off payment. her texts just stop when she gets there)

Yep, it works for 39 year old's too. It takes £10 out of my account monthly and I worry about nothing.

PAYG is just expensive, I don't want my kids wasting their money on buying 'credit'.

Isn't this a good way of teaching kids about the value of money and being responsible for your own actions. I would have though PAYG is the ideal solution.

My daughter has registered to use this site, so please have a little respect/compassion if she plucks up the courage to post ❗