The high price of exceeding a data allowance | Pricewatch reader queries

Owen Dalglish contacted us about his dealings with eMobile. He has opted for paperless billing, and he was informed a couple of months ago that “the bills were sent to an incorrect mail address”.

“As my standard bill is a mere €10.16 per month, I saw no need to constantly check on data usage, as it has never been exceeded in the past three years. Had I received the March 2015 bill for €82.51, I would have instantly ceased to use the data.”

But Dalglish didn’t. Then, in April, he was hit for a bill of €628.19; by May, this amount had climbed to €1,168.70.

“I feel eMobile has a duty of care to inform its customers when such large amounts are involved, and also, had the bills been sent out correctly, this would never have happened,” he wrote to us and eMobile. “I understand the terms and conditions, but still feel the company is partly responsible for this error.” He is seeking a refund of at least some of the high bills.

We contacted eMobile, which was unapologetic. A spokeswoman said our reader’s plan allows 13GB of data per month.

“Between March 5th and April 4th he used over 42GB of data, over 29GB more than his monthly allowance. Once a customer exceeds their allocated data allowance for the month, they are charged at the ‘out of bundle’ rate of €0.02 per MB,” she said.

We were told that customers receive notifications on their data usage once they have used 80 per cent of their allowance and again at 100 per cent.

“If a customer is using data on their mobile phones, then a text message is sent to this device. If, as in this case, a customer is using a mobile broadband dongle, a text notification is sent to his or her ‘Broadband to Go’ dashboard application. We recommend that customers track their usage using this dashboard or by logging in to their My eMobile account.”

She said the reason our reader was not receiving his bills via email “was due to a spelling error on the email address provided, but he was still able to view his bills by logging on to My eMobile. As these charges are valid for data used, we will continue working with him to recoup the full amount charged.”

The gift card that keeps on giving (but not to the recipient)

In early April, a reader called George “had a very embarrassing situation in a restaurant in Dundrum Town Centre, when a gift card for the centre that I presented for payment was declined five times”.

After the fifth attempt, George paid the bill with his credit card. “When I left the restaurant, I went straight to the gift card desk to find out why my card had been declined, to be told that the balance on my card was zero.

“I was flabbergasted to hear this, but the girl on the desk referred me to the terms and conditions at the bottom of the card, and explained that after one year, a monthly fee of €3 is deducted ; as my card was purchased in November 2012, the balance was now zero.”

George says he was given the card in November 2012 as a gift, and, as it had an expiry date of May 2015, “I was confident that I had until May 2015 to use it. I had no reason, therefore, to check terms and conditions, and should not have been expected to do so.”

He said that if the balance on the card was due to expire within a year, then an expiry date of October 2013 should have been shown on the card.

“ I can see absolutely no logic to a later expiry date, other than as an underhand method for PerfectCard to collect the monthly ‘service’ fee of €3, in the knowledge that I, like a lot of people, may not read ‘terms and conditions’.

He says his gift of €50 in November 2012 “was sitting in the bank account of PerfectCard”, the company that issues Dundrum gift cards. “I have no doubt that hundreds, if not thousands, of other unsuspecting individuals have suffered the same fate, and probably for larger amounts.”

We have dealt with this problem in the past. The card has been run by PerfectCard since 2008. It carries a monthly charge, starting in the 13th month after the card becomes valid. A company spokeswoman says this is clearly stated on the back of the card, the packaging, the sales desk and its website.

It says the admin charge after that 13th month is to cover maintaining the range of places to spend the card, the fact that all funds are protected – unlike most vouchers – the option to close your account, the lost card facility and a 24/7 customer service number.

Our top tip for avoiding the charge? Spend it quickly.