A small business owner from Manchester was left facing a £42,000 bill after his daughter used TikTok while on holiday in Morocco, incurring data roaming charges of more than £5,000 an hour. Andrew Alty, who runs a curtains business, initially thought the £22,000 bill from O2 was a mistake, but upon returning home, he received another £20,000 bill.
Alty had taken out a phone contract through his business via retailer Currys, provided by O2. The contract contained a clause that left data roaming charges outside Europe uncapped. Alty complained that the 'opt-out of rest-of-world data cap' was not explained to him.
The Financial Ombudsman Service ruled that Currys was responsible for contract explanations and spend caps, not O2, and thus could not help. However, after the Telegraph intervened, both Currys and O2 agreed to waive the charges.
An O2 spokesperson said the ombudsman ruled it was a sales process dispute with Currys, and the matter is now resolved with Currys waiving all charges. Currys stated the charges were removed given the scale and circumstances of the case.
