O2 bill shock: how I was charged £20 for one text and three voicemails

A travel bolt-on could see O2 customers racking up charges unexpectedly, writes Emma Lunn.

O2 mobile users travelling outside Europe should check if they’ve been automatically signed up for a travel bolt-on that could see them charged £4.99 to send a single text or listen to their voicemail while overseas.

Previously, O2 Travel was only available in Europe and cost £1.99 a day for unlimited data, 120 minutes of calls and 120 texts.

O2 extended the service in July, adding 30 more countries worldwide and upping the cost to £4.99 a day outside Europe.

As soon as an O2 customer uses their mobile while abroad, the fee is added to their account for that 24-hour period – even if they only send one text message.

This can result in shock bills for customers who use their phones occasionally while travelling.

I know because it happened to me.

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£20 for one text and three voicemails

I’ve spent the past couple of months in Australia. When my plane landed in Sydney I received a text from O2 informing me calls would be 80 pence-per-minute to make or receive, and texts 40p to send.

As I was going to be down under for a while, I bought a local SIM, put it in an old handset and barely used my O2 phone.

In fact, all I used it for was to listen to voicemail three times and reply to a text, all on different days. By my calculations, based on the roaming text I received on arrival, this would cost £2.80.

So imagine my surprise when my August bill arrived and was twice as much as usual. I’d been charged £19.96 in mysterious ‘adjustment services’.

It turns out, because I’d previously used O2 Travel in Europe, it had automatically been applied to my account when the service was extended to Australia in July.

This meant that every day I used my phone I was charged £4.99.

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O2 Travel

If you’re on holiday in Europe, O2 Travel at £1.99 a day isn’t a bad deal.

It negates the need to get a local SIM if you’re only on the Continent for a few days.

But the service isn’t so useful if you’re travelling further afield for longer.

People rarely visit Australia for a weekend, for example. If you were down under for a typical month-long trip and sent a single text a day, O2 would charge an eye-watering £150.

Despite this, O2 sneakily adds O2 Travel as a default to travelling customers’ accounts if they previously opted in to the service in Europe.

O2 claims customers were told this – but I disagree.

Admittedly, I received a text from O2 on 4 July saying the following: “We’re extending our O2 Travel service.

“From 14 July 2016 you can now get all the minutes, texts and data you need in 30 countries outside Europe for £4.99 a day (£3.99 in Turkey). And we only charge you for the days you use it.”

There was also a link to find out more. I was busy and didn’t click on it. Why would I? The text didn’t say the new charges would automatically applied to my account.

The wording “you can now get” simply suggested it was something I could opt in to if I wanted.

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What does O2 say?

I used O2’s live chat service to air my grievances. It initially refused to refund my money, claiming I should have visited the website during my trip to read its latest terms and conditions.

I disagree. O2 should have told me I was automatically opted in to the new service in a clearly worded text and given me the option to opt out.

Customers can opt out of O2 Travel by texting NOTRAVEL to 23336. They will then be charged O2’s standard roaming rates.

After taking my complaint to a higher level, O2 eventually refunded the extra charges.

An O2 spokesperson told me: “In July we advised our Pay Monthly customers with O2 Travel that the service would be extended to other countries outside of Europe.

“Our customers can opt in and out of O2 Travel at any time, giving them flexibility and control on their spend when deciding how they’ll use their mobile phone overseas.”

Despite the refund, I still think it’s a sneaky ruse that others will surely have fallen for. What do you think? Am I right to be annoyed, or is O2 in the right? Let me know in the comments section below.