PAYG and 'Where did all my credit go ?' aka sharp practice

[Anastasius]

Just a heads up to anyone with a PAYG phone.

I got one for my wife recently and put £20 credit on it. Based on past experience with another mobile operator, it should last her a couple of years ! Last week, she was off to visit her mother so I checked her credit and to my horror discovered that nearly all the £20 had gone. Further research showed it dribbling away with £0.20 and £0.40 internet charges on a pretty regular basis. And yet, the phone had sat on the kitchen worktop and untouched and unused for months. We had not downloaded any new apps. The phone was left exactly as when it was supplied by Vodafone.

So what gives ? Basically Vodafone conveniently forget to tell you that if you have left Cellular Data switched on (and why would you bother to switch it off if you're not using the phone?) that there are some background programmes periodically logging on to the internet - without so much as "bye-your-leave" - and triggering your charge. Kerching ! Vodafone must be stealing ££££££ millions. I'm sure that other mobile providers are equally as guilty.

Yet switching off Cellular Data ...these programs don't have a hissy fit. Just quietly waiting until you turn Cellular Data back on.

So...if you're not using your phone for internet access then switch off Cellular Data or lose your money.

[Old Grumpy]

Just a heads up to anyone with a PAYG phone.

I got one for my wife recently and put £20 credit on it. Based on past experience with another mobile operator, it should last her a couple of years ! Last week, she was off to visit her mother so I checked her credit and to my horror discovered that nearly all the £20 had gone. Further research showed it dribbling away with £0.20 and £0.40 internet charges on a pretty regular basis. And yet, the phone had sat on the kitchen worktop and untouched and unused for months. We had not downloaded any new apps. The phone was left exactly as when it was supplied by Vodafone.

So what gives ? Basically Vodafone conveniently forget to tell you that if you have left Cellular Data switched on (and why would you bother to switch it off if you're not using the phone?) that there are some background programmes periodically logging on to the internet - without so much as "bye-your-leave" - and triggering your charge. Kerching ! Vodafone must be stealing ££££££ millions. I'm sure that other mobile providers are equally as guilty.

Yet switching off Cellular Data ...these programs don't have a hissy fit. Just quietly waiting until you turn Cellular Data back on.

So...if you're not using your phone for internet access then switch off Cellular Data or lose your money.

Not so smart people* outsmarted by smart things in this case, then...


... welcome to the future!

OG

* I count myself among their number.

[Bella Kemp]

This has happened to me as well. A useful reminder that we all need to be vigilant.

[ahinton]

I wonder whether such things are exclusive to PAYG, never having used PAYG or had this happen?...

[Dave2002]

Yet switching off Cellular Data ...these programs don't have a hissy fit. Just quietly waiting until you turn Cellular Data back on.

I'd be cautious about that too. Sometimes things like that simply have a backlog queue, so they may get your money anyway.

I had a similar, but not quite the same situation years ago. I needed to have access to a mobile phone - or rather to allow other people to call me for a very specific purpose for a very short period of time. This was to deal with potential problems, which I (and others) hoped would not actually happen.
As it happens I was on a ship at the time, so any charges would have been quite high - but in the scale of things, acceptable. However, I probably lost about £4-5 because as soon as I turned the phone on, all the unwanted SMS messages to the phone flooded in, clocking up charges. There were no incidents - nobody did need to call me - so I could have saved the money by not turning the phone on - but it was not a sensible option. Hindsight etc.!

So if anyone has a PAYG phone and goes abroad, try to clear out all the text messages which might be lurking before leaving the country.

[johnb]

I use a PAYG phone (on "3" network) but all my data goes via my own WiFi when I am at home, therefore (as far as I can gather) without charge.

Do you not have WiFi in your home or is it just that you haven't you set up your phone to use your local WiFi?

[Dave2002]

On some networks data can be blocked, or paid for separately, so that data is only picked up on WiFi networks. That’s what I do with one of my phones, which is on Tesco Mobile PAYG.