O2 fined £10.5million for overcharging 140,000 customers – are you due a refund?

TELECOMS giant O2 has been fined £10.5million for overcharging more than 140,000 customers.

The issue affected customers who left the provider between 2011 and 2019.

O2 has been fined £10.5million for overcharging more than 140,000 customers

Telecoms firms are required to issue a final bill setting out any remaining fees and charges the customer has to pay before their account is closed.

An error in the way O2’s systems calculated the final bills for pay monthly mobile customers meant many people were billed for some charges twice.

Regulator Ofcom opened an investigation into the potential issues in 2019.

It found that in total, over 250,000 customers were billed for these incorrect charges, amounting to £40.7million.

However, only around 140,000 customers actually paid the extra charges, paying a total of £2.4million.

O2 first identified issues with its billing processes in 2011, but efforts to address the problems failed and customers continued to be overcharged.

Since then, O2 has refunded affected customers in full, plus paid an additional 4%.

If you think you’ve been affected by the billing error and you haven’t been refunded, make sure you contact O2 directly.

The provider has committed to making a charity donation of the value of the refund for the customers it hasn’t been able to reach.

Gaucho Rasmussen, Ofcom’s enforcement director, said: “These billing issues continued for a number of years without sufficient action from O2, and thousands of customers were overcharged as a result.

“This a serious breach of our rules and this fine is a reminder that we will step in if we see companies failing to protect their customers.

“O2 has refunded the customers who were affected, and we are satisfied the company has taken action to prevent this happening again.”

HOAR has contacted O2 for comment.

More to follow…

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