Mobile companies dismiss "bill shock" accusation

 

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By Stewart Mitchell

Posted on 21 Nov 2011 at 09:46

Mobile operators have disagreed with calls for greater transparency on domestic mobile data services, saying they have measures in place to prevent "bill shock" already.

The Communications Ombudsman has warned that confusion over “unlimited” tariffs and heavy charges for exceeding fair-use policies meant consumers faced “bill shock”.

The mobile providers disagree, with insiders at two leading phone carriers suggesting the regulator was “barking up the wrong tree”.

O2, for example, stopped offering unlimited services a year ago, while Three has no fair-use policy in place on its unlimited data plans.

If customers are getting near to the top of their allowance we text them to let them know

“We tackled this over a year ago by introducing data bundles, so customers never spend more than they agree to,” a spokesman for O2 said. “We also text our customers to tell them how much data they’ve got left each month, and give them the option to buy more if they need, so they are always in control.”

Three insists that its mobile data, which is sold as “unlimited”, is exactly that. “Three’s all-you-can-eat data plans offer customers genuinely unlimited internet use on their smartphones and no out of bundle data bill shock,” Three UK CEO David Dyson said in a statement.

“Both contract and pay as you go customers tell us they prefer the peace of mind of all-you-can-eat data to fair-use policies or worse still: out-of-bundle data bill shock.”

Caps and warnings

While Vodafone and Orange do offer the data packages the regulator is complaining about, both claimed users were given adequate warning before being charged for excess use.

“We clearly publish the amount of data that's included with each price plan that we offer,” a Vodafone spokesperson said. “If customers are getting near to the top of their allowance we text them to let them know.”

Orange, meanwhile, said a data price cap prevented undue shock, athough admitted cuistomer could face charges of up to £40 a month.

“All of our latest price plans feature a £1 per day cap on mobile internet data usage, and for dongle and mobile broadband SIM users, all our mobile broadband plans come with a £40 bill promise so we never charge more than £40 for data in a month,” the company said.

“We feel these measures, along with the information provided to customers at point of purchase clearly detailing data charges, go a long way to helping our customers avoid unexpectedly high bills.”