Mobile phone giant was going to charge for its billing clanger
I.B. writes: A text message from O2 advised that my regular mobile phone bill credit card payment had been rejected. If I did not settle the bill within four days I would face a late payment fee. I called O2 and paid the bill but I also called my card company and was told no previous charge had been made against my card and no charge had been rejected. The card company said it had been inundated with similar enquiries. O2 and its parent company Telefonica confirmed to me you always pay your monthly phone bill in full, by way of a continuous authority to charge the bill to your credit card.
I was told: ‘We sent our payment request for Mr B’s bill as normal but unfortunately this was not processed correctly. As a result, this triggered the text message Mr B received regarding a late payment. The issue has since been fixed’.
O2 did not tell me who slipped up, or how, but it did explain: ‘We have been working with our payment solutions partner who process our continuous card payments as part of our investigation.’
This suggests that O2 billed you correctly but an outside contractor failed to charge your card. O2 has apologised and credited your account with £25 for the inconvenience. I hope lots of O2 customers did not receive similar texts or pay the penalty fee.