Shock as iPhone user gets £19,000 phone bill

4:50pm Tuesday 8th January 2013 in Local News By Lucy Kirby, Chief Reporter

Man gets £19,000 phone bill Man gets £19,000 phone bill

A MAN was left stunned after being hit with a phone bill for nearly £19,000.

Chris Bovis was puzzled when his phone was cut off by Orange without warning but confusion soon turned to horror when he called the company for an explanation and was told his latest bill was an eye-watering £8,900 which was said to be due to internet usage.

He was then told next month’s bill would be for another £10,000.

Chris, 26, said: “My first reaction when I called Orange was to laugh as I just couldn’t believe it, but it stopped being funny when I realised they were serious. “I didn’t know if a bailiff was going to turn up, it was awful.”

Chris asked Orange to switch the internet off his phone, which the company agreed to do, but he says this didn’t stop his Apple iPhone from continuing to send and receive large amounts of data.

Orange advised Chris to restore the iPhone to its factory settings, but this didn’t have any effect either.

The phone company then asked Chris to make an appointment at an Apple store Genius Bar to see what was happening. Staff there were also baffled, and swapped the iPhone for a new one.

Orange agreed as there did appear to be a fault with the phone, they would cap Chris’ bill at £300.

But Chris who lives in Burns Place, Tilbury, didn’t agree that he should have to pay anything above his normal phone bill, as it wasn’t his fault.

His partner, Joanna Russo, said it was then that things turned nasty.

She said: “Chris was advised the £300 was not up for discussion and he must pay this. “Failure to do so would result in them removing the cap on the bill and sending a bailiff round for the full amount of £8,907.82. “To top it off, as neither Chris or Orange could control the data usage, Chris was advised next month’s bill was £10,000!

“I’m not quite sure how I’m sleeping at night at the moment worrying about it. “The debt would have a massive impact on both our lives as our house would be blacklisted, that’s if we’re left with a house at the end of it.”

Last week Chris got a letter from his bank saying Orange had tried to take £19,000 from his account but it had been rejected.

An Orange spokesman said: “We would like to sincerely apologise to Mr Bovis for any distress caused by receiving this unusually high phone bill.

“It does appear that this resulted from a fault with his device and we are happy to reduce the bill to zero as soon as we received confirmation of the fault from his manufacturer.”

Comments (15)

4:59pm Tue 8 Jan 13

asbo. just the truth says...

choclit wallpaper and choclit curtains. nice
choclit wallpaper and choclit curtains. nice asbo. just the truth

5:05pm Tue 8 Jan 13

Rich"Carol says...

I know someone who went to Egypt for 2 weeks and left his internet roaming on 24 hours a day and got a bill for £7,445,18p and Orange took him to court and Orange won the case and he had to pay. They did decide tho to knock 50% off the bill as a gesture. Egypt is the most expensive country in the world for roaming, calls, data, internet and charges.

Thats some bill £19,000 especially you can buy a 2 bedroom house in Mosside Manchester for £17,000.
I know someone who went to Egypt for 2 weeks and left his internet roaming on 24 hours a day and got a bill for £7,445,18p and Orange took him to court and Orange won the case and he had to pay. They did decide tho to knock 50% off the bill as a gesture. Egypt is the most expensive country in the world for roaming, calls, data, internet and charges. Thats some bill £19,000 especially you can buy a 2 bedroom house in Mosside Manchester for £17,000. Rich"Carol

5:35pm Tue 8 Jan 13

emcee says...

If this was, indeed, a fault with the device, I hope Orange and/or Apple are also going to compensate, very generously, for all the stress, lost sleep and anxiety over this situation.
If this was, indeed, a fault with the device, I hope Orange and/or Apple are also going to compensate, very generously, for all the stress, lost sleep and anxiety over this situation. emcee

5:46pm Tue 8 Jan 13

Rich"Carol says...

emcee wrote:
If this was, indeed, a fault with the device, I hope Orange and/or Apple are also going to compensate, very generously, for all the stress, lost sleep and anxiety over this situation.
Your asking a lot !
[quote][p][bold]emcee[/bold] wrote: If this was, indeed, a fault with the device, I hope Orange and/or Apple are also going to compensate, very generously, for all the stress, lost sleep and anxiety over this situation.[/p][/quote]Your asking a lot ! Rich"Carol

6:41pm Tue 8 Jan 13

Woodenspoon says...

asbo. just the truth wrote:
choclit wallpaper and choclit curtains. nice
If you are going to take the time to ridicule someone over their taste of decor at least make sure you are fault free and actually spell the "Chocolate" correctly . . . I am sure it can't be too hard seeing as it is written all over the wrappers laying right next to you as you sit there on your laptop . . . .
[quote][p][bold]asbo. just the truth[/bold] wrote: choclit wallpaper and choclit curtains. nice[/p][/quote]If you are going to take the time to ridicule someone over their taste of decor at least make sure you are fault free and actually spell the "Chocolate" correctly . . . I am sure it can't be too hard seeing as it is written all over the wrappers laying right next to you as you sit there on your laptop . . . . Woodenspoon

7:27pm Tue 8 Jan 13

supershrimper says...

What about deleting the apps which cause the problem or putting it on airlplane mode?
What about deleting the apps which cause the problem or putting it on airlplane mode? supershrimper

10:51pm Tue 8 Jan 13

artytoit says...

It might have been caused by him installing a dodgy app, who knows? Maybe he should have gone with an Android phone.
It might have been caused by him installing a dodgy app, who knows? Maybe he should have gone with an Android phone. artytoit

11:36pm Tue 8 Jan 13

asbo. just the truth says...

Woodenspoon wrote:
asbo. just the truth wrote:
choclit wallpaper and choclit curtains. nice
If you are going to take the time to ridicule someone over their taste of decor at least make sure you are fault free and actually spell the "Chocolate" correctly . . . I am sure it can't be too hard seeing as it is written all over the wrappers laying right next to you as you sit there on your laptop . . . .
choclit orange. is your name terry by any chance?
[quote][p][bold]Woodenspoon[/bold] wrote: [quote][p][bold]asbo. just the truth[/bold] wrote: choclit wallpaper and choclit curtains. nice[/p][/quote]If you are going to take the time to ridicule someone over their taste of decor at least make sure you are fault free and actually spell the "Chocolate" correctly . . . I am sure it can't be too hard seeing as it is written all over the wrappers laying right next to you as you sit there on your laptop . . . .[/p][/quote]choclit orange. is your name terry by any chance? asbo. just the truth

5:05am Wed 9 Jan 13

Brunning999 says...

Orange used to be good now not only is their signal truly useless, t
Heir customer care is not good either, a phone call to their care service is received by an operator in India many of which cannot be clearly understood, this followed up by a text that asks you to rate their service, my rating was -10 which was ignored.

Orange have joined the ranks of TalkTalk who really do not care!
Orange used to be good now not only is their signal truly useless, t Heir customer care is not good either, a phone call to their care service is received by an operator in India many of which cannot be clearly understood, this followed up by a text that asks you to rate their service, my rating was -10 which was ignored. Orange have joined the ranks of TalkTalk who really do not care! Brunning999

8:45am Wed 9 Jan 13

Shoebury_Cyclist says...

Should have gone with Giffgaff. Pay as you go and unlimited internet for £12 a month.
Should have gone with Giffgaff. Pay as you go and unlimited internet for £12 a month. Shoebury_Cyclist

9:06am Wed 9 Jan 13

mikepaterson says...

Internet charges are a joke unless you have an unlimited plan.

My kids are with T-Mobile approx £4.80 per month gets them 300 mins, 300 texts plus unlimited internet.

I am with 3 and the unlimited internet addon is only £3 per month.
Internet charges are a joke unless you have an unlimited plan. My kids are with T-Mobile approx £4.80 per month gets them 300 mins, 300 texts plus unlimited internet. I am with 3 and the unlimited internet addon is only £3 per month. mikepaterson

9:08am Wed 9 Jan 13

mikepaterson says...

supershrimper wrote:
What about deleting the apps which cause the problem or putting it on airlplane mode?
Unfortunately airplane mode also stops calls coming through so the only option (if it had worked) was to turn mobile dat off in general settings.
[quote][p][bold]supershrimper[/bold] wrote: What about deleting the apps which cause the problem or putting it on airlplane mode?[/p][/quote]Unfortunately airplane mode also stops calls coming through so the only option (if it had worked) was to turn mobile dat off in general settings. mikepaterson

10:37am Wed 9 Jan 13

Shoebury_Cyclist says...

mikepaterson wrote:
Internet charges are a joke unless you have an unlimited plan.

My kids are with T-Mobile approx £4.80 per month gets them 300 mins, 300 texts plus unlimited internet.

I am with 3 and the unlimited internet addon is only £3 per month.
How much is the monthly tariff on top of that though? I pay £12 for a monthly 'Goodybag' to Giffgaff, for that I get:

Free Giffgaff to Giffgaff calls and video calling.
Unlimited texts
Unlimited internet
250 minutes

http://giffgaff.com/
goodybags/12pound-go
odybag
[quote][p][bold]mikepaterson[/bold] wrote: Internet charges are a joke unless you have an unlimited plan. My kids are with T-Mobile approx £4.80 per month gets them 300 mins, 300 texts plus unlimited internet. I am with 3 and the unlimited internet addon is only £3 per month.[/p][/quote]How much is the monthly tariff on top of that though? I pay £12 for a monthly 'Goodybag' to Giffgaff, for that I get: Free Giffgaff to Giffgaff calls and video calling. Unlimited texts Unlimited internet 250 minutes http://giffgaff.com/ goodybags/12pound-go odybag Shoebury_Cyclist

10:23pm Wed 9 Jan 13

echoforum says...

Should have rebooted the primary subroutine this would have realigned the processors protocol..next!
Should have rebooted the primary subroutine this would have realigned the processors protocol..next! echoforum

10:39am Thu 10 Jan 13

J_blond says...

echoforum wrote:
Should have rebooted the primary subroutine this would have realigned the processors protocol..next!
You're forgetting the binary loop feedback though which needs to be purged through the matrix processor...

Anyway, be careful with 'unlimited' internet - they often have a fair use cap. When I was looking around, I found lots which claimed unlimited, but in reality had a 3gb fair usage policy, after that you're charged.

I'm on Three, crap at times, but completely unlimited, no cap, data, I even manage to run my laptop and iPad from my phone when out and about!
[quote][p][bold]echoforum[/bold] wrote: Should have rebooted the primary subroutine this would have realigned the processors protocol..next![/p][/quote]You're forgetting the binary loop feedback though which needs to be purged through the matrix processor... Anyway, be careful with 'unlimited' internet - they often have a fair use cap. When I was looking around, I found lots which claimed unlimited, but in reality had a 3gb fair usage policy, after that you're charged. I'm on Three, crap at times, but completely unlimited, no cap, data, I even manage to run my laptop and iPad from my phone when out and about! J_blond

Comments are closed on this article.

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