An unnamed man posted on Reddit an image of his bill from O2 for a whopping £20,973.06. He claims that the bill was issued after his phone was stolen while he was abroad.
The itemized bill shows that the man was charged £17,444.49 for calls with an additional £3,495.51 in VAT. Although he reported the phone stolen to O2 within 8 hours, the thieves were able to make over 800 phone calls to premium rate numbers and exhaust his allowance.
He has been on the phone with O2 for almost four days and has been transferred from one department to another.
One Reddit user, who worked for a mobile network for 13 years, said that the man won’t have to pay the bill and just needs to keep following up. Another user advised him to file a complaint with O2 and go to the Communication Ombudsman if necessary.
O2’s website states that customers are responsible for any calls, texts, and data transfers made until they report their phones as stolen and have the SIM card blocked.
»An unfortunate Brit has been hit with a hefty bill from O2 after his phone was stolen on holiday«