O2 Customer Billed £150 for Unmade Call to Armenia

A retired customer from Hampshire has raised concerns after being charged £150 by O2 for a mobile phone call allegedly made to Armenia at 5am on June 25. The customer, who claims to have been asleep at the time, insists that there is no way they could have made the call, as they rarely use their phone and do not have any international contacts. Frustrated by the lack of resolution, the customer reported difficulties in communicating with O2's contact center, which is located outside the UK. Upon investigation, O2 attributed the charge to a "Wangiri scam," where fraudsters call from premium or international numbers and hang up, hoping victims will return the call. However, the customer remains skeptical of this explanation, given their circumstances at the time of the alleged call. O2 maintains that charges cannot be applied without a call being made, but the situation raised questions about the reliability of their billing practices. Fortunately, after intervention from a journalist, O2 has agreed to refund the £150 charge as a gesture of goodwill. The customer is relieved but still feels that their treatment by the company was unfair. To prevent future issues, it has been suggested that the customer implement a spending cap on their account, limiting charges to a manageable amount. This case highlights the challenges consumers face when dealing with billing disputes in the telecommunications industry.