Help: Charged £50 for going over download limits!!!

For the last month i've been using the parents Internet line without any knowledge of any download limits. They have just received an email from BT asking for an extra £50 for going over the limits. Is there anything we can do to resolve this? That is an insanely excessive amount to be charged from a ADSL isp!!! Am shocked

Aren't they supposed to only force you to upgrade the package if you consecutively go over the limits?

Edited by deleted (Wed 14-Mar-12 14:23:10)

£5 per 5Gb.

It's in the terms when you sign up to a package with a usage limit on it. There's no way to get out of it I'm afraid.

You must be on the 10 or 40 GB usage package. Upgrade to the Unlimited usage package for extra £11 or £7 pm.

But why should we have to pay £50 for one months usage! You could nearly get unlimited adsl on sky for that!! There must be something that can be done

Either move to Sky or do what most have done and move to an unlimited package. With so much of our media coming down the internet pipe from iPlayer and Sky who would possibly think they'd stay under such a low limit?

You went over by 50 GB. It's in the T&Cs:

In reference to bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10495/c/346/?s_cid=con_FURL...:

If you exceed your monthly usage allowance your service won't stop working; advisory emails will be sent to your BT primary email address if you reach 80 per cent of your usage allowance each month and further notification if you then exceed your allowance in a particular month.

If you exceed your usage allowance, you'll be charged for additional usage in units of five gigabytes (GB), at £5 per 5GB. Charges will apply from the second month you exceed your allowance and will be shown on your BT bill.

Your parents are remiss in not acquainting you and ignoring the warning emails.

Unfortunately, the only thing that can be done is to plead with them to let you off or discount the charges.

However, they're not obliged to - it's what your parents have agreed to pay if they use extra usage. It's all clear in the contract; more fool them if they didn't properly read what they agreed.

It surprises me that bhuk lives in a world of true unlimited, without being aware that others may not.

In reply to a post by bhuk:

But why should we have to pay £50 for one months usage! You could nearly get unlimited adsl on sky for that!! There must be something that can be done

But you aren't using Sky or on an unlimited package.

Stump up and re-grade to a more appropriate package. BT have an unlimited version as do just about every other ISP.

Methinks ye doth protest too much!

In reply to a post by bhuk:

But why should we have to pay £50 for one months usage! You could nearly get unlimited adsl on sky for that!! There must be something that can be done

give and take on low usage packages, usually they are a lower monthly base price but more costly when using them more over agreed limits.

pre purchased bandwidth on most internet services is cheaper than post usage.

What you can do is either pay the bill and learn your lesson, or upgrade the package and BT may as a goodwill waive the current usage bill when they know they going to get extra monthly income off you. You may have to do both tho if BT dont offer a goodwill.