OOB shark has got me :( Please Help

[zamrg]

Just a little update.

I've been in contact with Jannie who's been assisting me today and we've managed to get to the bottom of this.

The culprit this time is the iPhone Podcast app. It really screwed me over here and somehow managed to download over 3G. I have it set to "Sync Subscriptions" BUT never "Use Cellular Data" is enabled. I'm thinking it either bugged out or a download started whilst I was on wifi, wifi dropped, and it failed over to 3G and continued downloading.

Whilst I've still got a fat bill to pay, I do at least know what caused this and can safely prevent this from happening again next month. I've disabled syncing subscriptions, so unless I actually want to download a podcast, the app should (hopefully) behave.

 

[Jola]

Now that really comforts me :wtf:

Just shows that you should never use data unless on Top Up or Prepaid.

How are ordinary users expected to cope with this shyte ?

 

[Ecco]

Well i think most guys knew something was eating your data on your phone - trouble is without an app to monitor your usage you at the mercy of the network to tell you that you are going out of bundle.

Agree, the layman in the street is going to be clueless about stuff like this and will get bitten by the OOB shark

 

[DJ...]

Just a little update.

I've been in contact with Jannie who's been assisting me today and we've managed to get to the bottom of this.

The culprit this time is the iPhone Podcast app. It really screwed me over here and somehow managed to download over 3G. I have it set to "Sync Subscriptions" BUT never "Use Cellular Data" is enabled. I'm thinking it either bugged out or a download started whilst I was on wifi, wifi dropped, and it failed over to 3G and continued downloading.

Whilst I've still got a fat bill to pay, I do at least know what caused this and can safely prevent this from happening again next month. I've disabled syncing subscriptions, so unless I actually want to download a podcast, the app should (hopefully) behave.

Fantastic that Jannie helped you get to identify the cause.

Awful that you're stuck with a large bill because of their greed though...

EDIT: hang on! Your notifications were delayed by 6 days, and Vodacom state that you are still liable for the bill? Jannie tried to prove that their notifications were a part of their "preventative" system, so personally I'd tell them that they need to meet you halfway, as their incompetence played a large part in this bill becoming a reality...

 

[rorz0r]

Fantastic that Jannie helped you get to identify the cause.

Awful that you're stuck with a large bill because of their greed though...

EDIT: hang on! Your notifications were delayed by 6 days, and Vodacom state that you are still liable for the bill? Jannie tried to prove that their notifications were a part of their "preventative" system, so personally I'd tell them that they need to meet you halfway, as their incompetence played a large part in this bill becoming a reality...

You wanted automatic downloading of podcasts so they would be conveniently preloaded? BACK TO THE THIRD WORLD WITH YOU! You will download manually ONLY on wifi from now on!

 

[Zenbaas]

Fantastic that Jannie helped you get to identify the cause.

Awful that you're stuck with a large bill because of their greed though...

EDIT: hang on! Your notifications were delayed by 6 days, and Vodacom state that you are still liable for the bill? Jannie tried to prove that their notifications were a part of their "preventative" system, so personally I'd tell them that they need to meet you halfway, as their incompetence played a large part in this bill becoming a reality...

Exactly. If what the OP states is true then they surely have to shoulder some of this blame otherwise this just amounts to a giant crock of ****e.

 

[jannievanzyl]

Exactly. If what the OP states is true then they surely have to shoulder some of this blame otherwise this just amounts to a giant crock of ****e.

And who said I don't plan to do this?

 

[DJ...]

And who said I don't plan to do this?

Whilst I've still got a fat bill to pay...

Seems the news hasn't filtered down to your client yet. Awesome if you're going to scrap the OOB portion of the bill entirely.

Can we consider this Vodacom setting a precedent to deal with your wholly inadequate OOB billing system moving forward?

 

[marine1]

Seems the news hasn't filtered down to your client yet. Awesome if you're going to scrap the OOB portion of the bill entirely.

Can we consider this Vodacom setting a precedent to deal with your wholly inadequate OOB billing system moving forward?

I seriously doubt they will write it off.

 

[Zenbaas]

And who said I don't plan to do this?

Well nothing was said to that effect so why would we assume VC would....?

 

[zamrg]

I'm happy to say Vodacom has come to the party here.

I received a friendly call from Candice who informed me that, due to the delay between me going OOB and receiving the SMS notifications, they're only going to charge me for a 1GB bundle instead of all the OOB data. I'll be receiving a credit for the OOB total less the data bundle so am only effectively paying R249.

Thanks to Jannie and Candice at Vodacom for assisting with everything.

 

[morkhans]

I'm happy to say Vodacom has come to the party here.

I received a friendly call from Candice who informed me that, due to the delay between me going OOB and receiving the SMS notifications, they're only going to charge me for a 1GB bundle instead of all the OOB data. I'll be receiving a credit for the OOB total less the data bundle so am only effectively paying R249.

Thanks to Jannie and Candice at Vodacom for assisting with everything.

Would actually be great if they could do this in all cases. That's a fair compromise IMO.

 

[DJ...]

I'm happy to say Vodacom has come to the party here.

I received a friendly call from Candice who informed me that, due to the delay between me going OOB and receiving the SMS notifications, they're only going to charge me for a 1GB bundle instead of all the OOB data. I'll be receiving a credit for the OOB total less the data bundle so am only effectively paying R249.

Thanks to Jannie and Candice at Vodacom for assisting with everything.

While that's great, and the principle should be commended, why on earth are you even liable for the R249.00 to begin with? Had it not been for the cock-up with their delayed notifications system, you'd never have gone out of bundle in the first place. In fact, if their notifications are to be believed, you'd have known from around 50% use, or minimum 75% use already. You'd still have data as opposed to paying in R249.00.

Did they explain why you're still liable for the R249.00? Is that a penalty for you not using a data monitoring app?

Don't get me wrong, this is great that they're setting a precedent for dealing with OOB bills, albeit quietly behind the scenes, but it's still not good enough. They're still nailing you for going OOB after they did less than nothing to protect you. They claim that their systems are adequate; that it is your fault for going OOB; that it is your decision; yet when their own systems fail a customer, they make out as if they're doing you a favour by charging you less. Still not right...

 

[DJ...]

Would actually be great if they could do this in all cases. That's a fair compromise IMO.

For all OOB charges, I'd say yes. In this case it was Vodacom's own systems that let the user down. The user shouldn't be financially liable for their stuff-ups. They've clearly admitted fault; continually state that the notifications are pivotal to managing usage; yet still charge the user when it doesn't work.

A lawyer would take them to task on that basis...

 

[kripstoe]

For all OOB charges, I'd say yes. In this case it was Vodacom's own systems that let the user down. The user shouldn't be financially liable for their stuff-ups. They've clearly admitted fault; continually state that the notifications are pivotal to managing usage; yet still charge the user when it doesn't work.

A lawyer would take them to task on that basis...

Yeah, you're right.

On things legal, how that this work between the operator and the client currently? What does the clause in the contract say? How does the user agree that they're liable for costs incurred in the case that they don't get notifications.

 

[KleinBoontjie]

Just a little update.

I've been in contact with Jannie who's been assisting me today and we've managed to get to the bottom of this.

The culprit this time is the iPhone Podcast app. It really screwed me over here and somehow managed to download over 3G. I have it set to "Sync Subscriptions" BUT never "Use Cellular Data" is enabled. I'm thinking it either bugged out or a download started whilst I was on wifi, wifi dropped, and it failed over to 3G and continued downloading.

Whilst I've still got a fat bill to pay, I do at least know what caused this and can safely prevent this from happening again next month. I've disabled syncing subscriptions, so unless I actually want to download a podcast, the app should (hopefully) behave.

Now, wouldn't it be great if there were a default thingamajig that would stop the download if your data bundle were finished?

 

[AfricanTech]

I'm happy to say Vodacom has come to the party here.

I received a friendly call from Candice who informed me that, due to the delay between me going OOB and receiving the SMS notifications, they're only going to charge me for a 1GB bundle instead of all the OOB data. I'll be receiving a credit for the OOB total less the data bundle so am only effectively paying R249.

Thanks to Jannie and Candice at Vodacom for assisting with everything.

and

Well, I'm hoping someone can help me.

My daughter's iphone 5 went out of bundle in June (not sure why yet - just see that data usage starts ticking out at shark rates from the 7 June onwards - no sms notification).

What I want is very simple - she has a 150meg data bundle - I want to hard cap her phone to 150 meg of data usage until I buy a Top-Up and then that must be hardcapped as well.

Please, with tears in my eyes, if a prepaid data bundle can be hard capped why can't I hard cap a bundle on a contract?

@Jannie or Ockie, please advise how I go about doing this. It is a Smart Standard 229 contract.

Desperate.

 

[DJ...]

Last I heard they don't offer data caps on the phone, but instead cap the line in its entirety, including voice calls...

 

[jannievanzyl]

Last I heard they don't offer data caps on the phone, but instead cap the line in its entirety, including voice calls...

Yes, it's called Call Limit Lock and locks the account on Rand-value. So you set CLL to say R50 and it'll soft-lock at that point. Think you can set it up on the portal.

On TopUp (and Prepaid) it's easier as you can only use services that you either subscribe to (like the voice minutes or data bundle) and if there is no money in the purse, you cannot go OOB on either.

The thing that catches too many people with smartphones is the hotspot feature. Because it's automatic, once configured, it can account for very high data usage. So please check that's it's not enabled if not explicitly needed.

 

[Ockie]

and

Well, I'm hoping someone can help me.

My daughter's iphone 5 went out of bundle in June (not sure why yet - just see that data usage starts ticking out at shark rates from the 7 June onwards - no sms notification).

What I want is very simple - she has a 150meg data bundle - I want to hard cap her phone to 150 meg of data usage until I buy a Top-Up and then that must be hardcapped as well.

Please, with tears in my eyes, if a prepaid data bundle can be hard capped why can't I hard cap a bundle on a contract?

@Jannie or Ockie, please advise how I go about doing this. It is a Smart Standard 229 contract.

Desperate.

Best I would be able to do is load a call limit . Once this limit of usage is reached the system will lock the line for all outgoing transactions. This is a best effort service. Minimim limit is R50.00