Vodafone have allowed my 11 year old to lift data cap to the tune of £200!

[SarahStew1973]

Even though I have placed a cap on my daughter’s data useage and they know the phone is in her possession, they have repeatedly asked via text message if she would like to add more data and her natural response was yes! I’m so angry. We have phones with other networks and it is only Vodafone that do this. We now have a £200 bill which they say we are completely liable for. Who can I go to and get help with this? Has anyone else had a similar thing happen? 

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @SarahStew1973

The caps are there to help but I assume she knows account passwords etc to allow the cap to be removed, which to add can also be done via the myvodafone too. 

I'm in no way judging your decision to allow a young person a contract and as such a Payg SIM card account with allowances may be better as that way no bills can be run up. 

Myvodafone App and myvodafone online options are in place to self monitor usage as well as data monitors on the phone itself. 

Some phones such as Android phones have warning alarms in them so when a pre set amount of data is reached it warns you. Limits can also be set so data stops but that can be overridden in the phone. 

As the data was used then the charge for the data would I assume stand and would have to be paid. If you ask for a Payment plan that can be logged on your credit file or alternatively make a promise to pay with Vodafone Customer Services on 191. 

[AnnS]

Hi @SarahStew1973

Giving an 11 year old the use of a contract phone is asking for trouble, at that age they are not deemed responsible.  Far better to give a cheap PAYG phone with a limited amount of credit to take care of the essential call and text and the occasional data use.

If you have applied the data cap online by logging into the online account or through the My Vodafone Application on the phone, the data cap should be there in place to prevent going over usage.  If Vodafone have sent texts to the phone asking if further data is needed and therefore cancelling the data cap, that is wrong. 

A good way to stop any further data usage is through the online account.   Under bars, there is a restriction bar for data usage, this can be enabled by you and will immediately stop any further data usage until you decide to lift the restriction.

The best thing to do is to wait for one of the Team to get to the thread, they will be able to access the account and find out the reason for the text messages offering more data when you had the cap applied.

[donnyguy]

I can completely see why you're annoyed when you put a data cap in place. But that's there to stop you (by you, I mean the user) going over without your knowlege. It doesn't stop the upsell texts being offered. I get why you're annoyed and I'm on board but part of this needs to be the 11 year old being responsible for saying yes to the texts. The price points would have been in the texts. 

But back to the network side of this, it might be worth checking out BT Mobile. They offer sims with a cap (so perfect for your situation) and when you hit the cap, you are cut off till the renewal date with no option to go over the limit unless you sign into your username and password protected account and up the limit.