Never Try to Argue With A Phone Company

Was in Italy 1 week ago and brought along my O2 phone.

Before I went on the trip, I was reminded for MANY times by my hsemate for
- not to pick up any calls or
- not to make any calls using UK O2 line.

Okay, I had that in mind but I still brought along my UK line just in case anything big happened back in Edinburgh, I could be informed and kept updated.

I was told that in EU countries, O2 sms is really handy and you won't get charged by using them .
(As some of you might not know, I am currently using a O2 phone plan with 1000 free minutes and 200 free texts a month.)

And of course, I happily sms-ed some people back in the UK during my trip when I was too bored and also when I need to coordinate our meeting time with my travelmates.

During my trip, there were 2 other guys who had the same phone plan as mine and they were complaining all the while for having no receptions of mobile network.

I even teased them for using lousy phone. But I don't mean to offend them, just for the sake of teasing. ^WINKS^

But disaster has not start until I come back.

The next day after Italy trip, I log in to O2 website to check how many SMS I have left after the trip and something on my bill caught my eye. I stunned in front of my com for a few seconds...

....... £13.00 .......

What is that???

The explanation next to it was EU Roaming Charges.

I almost fainted. I did nothing with my phone but I still need to pay for the roaming charges??? What is this. I think it's those two guys turn now to tease me.

I wanted to call up O2 and ask about this. I am not trying to be a nuisance or be fussy over 13 quids. But I really feel cheated for having to pay for the roaming services.

I talked to a friend in Edinburgh yesterday and he told me his experiences with O2.

He has got the same phone plan as mine and he used it to call someone in India. Supposingly those calls are free since he has got 1000 free minutes every month. But he ended up got charged 200 pounds for all his calls. He tried to argue with O2 but was told that the particular number he called was charged because it is a premium number (something we dun understand) . Really dun understand O2.

We checked the O2 contract after that and O2 did state that we can't call premium numbers with free minutes. But how they expect us to know what number is premium and what is not. Stupid. And my fren told me, not to argue with a phone company, they will alwiz come up with stupid explanations. I totally agree.

I have decided not to call up O2 anymore.

I dun wan to hold the phone for 3 minutes, and listen to stupid explanations for 15 minutes and , got told in the end that I still have to pay.

My precious energy shall not be wasted that way.

Lesson to learn: Off my phone next time when I am on Europe trip.