A British family was pushed to the brink of bankruptcy after their daughter accumulated a colossal £42,000 mobile phone bill by watching TikTok videos during a holiday abroad. The Alty family, from Manchester, were enjoying a getaway in Marrakech when telecommunications provider O2 dispatched the first of two enormous invoices, initially leading them to suspect they had fallen victim to a hacking incident.
Business Owner Stunned by Exorbitant Charges
Andrew Alty, who owns a curtains business, was utterly shocked by the price tag, which threatened to sink his five-person company. His confusion only cleared when he learned that his daughter had spent approximately eight hours scrolling through the popular video-sharing app while overseas. Before the holiday, Mr Alty had secured a mobile contract through his small business via electrical retailer Currys, with the service actually provided by O2.
Critical Clause Overlooked in Contract
Importantly, he failed to notice that the agreement contained a specific clause opting out of data caps for roaming outside Europe, leaving the charges completely uncapped. Upon receiving the bill totalling £42,000, he calculated that he had been charged more than £5,000 for each hour his daughter spent on TikTok. "There’s no way they should be able to charge that," Mr Alty stated to The Telegraph. "They made no effort to inform us, and just allowed the charges to accrue. I don’t understand how they expect any small business to pay that sort of bill."
Initial Confusion and Frustration
When the first bill for £22,000 arrived, Mr Alty assumed it must be an error by O2. "I was on my way to the desert. I made multiple attempts to call O2, but there wasn’t much I could do. I could only assume there had been a glitch, or the account had been hacked," he explained. It was only after the family returned to the United Kingdom that they fully comprehended the cause behind the bill, and they subsequently received another invoice worth £20,000.
Mr Alty added, "It’s taken up such a huge part of my life over the past two months. It’s ridiculous. [The customer service teams] have not been helpful, the calls have just ended in frustration and despair."
Understanding Data Roaming Risks Post-Brexit
Data roaming charges can escalate rapidly when mobile phones connect to a network outside the UK to access the internet. Following Brexit, British citizens lost the entitlement to free roaming within the European Union, although many network providers have continued to offer free or low-cost roaming within Europe. However, on holidays outside the EU, customers must exercise extreme caution as these charges can spiral out of control unless a data cap is firmly in place.
While most major networks, including O2, typically provide customers with these crucial data caps, Mr Alty's business contract specifically included a clause that opted out of any such limitations.
Resolution and Ombudsman Involvement
Currys and O2 have since agreed to waive all the charges. According to Ofcom’s complaints data from July to September 2025, O2 received the highest number of complaints per 100,000 customers, alongside Sky Mobile and Three. Nearly one-third of these complaints were related to the networks' handling of customer grievances.
After spending countless hours on the phone with customer service, Mr Alty eventually contacted the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). He complained that the 'opt-out of rest-of-world data cap' included in his deal was not properly explained to him by O2. In response, the FOS ruled that while O2 supplied the mobile service, it was ultimately Currys' responsibility for "contract explanations and decisions about spend caps," meaning the FOS could not assist with Mr Alty's complaint regarding O2.
Distinction in Dispute Resolution Bodies
The Financial Ombudsman Service handles disputes concerning mobile phone insurance, but not the providers themselves. Meanwhile, disputes with mobile phone providers can be resolved through the Communication Ombudsman or the Communication & Internet Services Adjudication Scheme.
A spokesman for O2 said, "We’re aware of Mr Alty’s complaint, which the ombudsman ruled was a sales process dispute with his account provider Currys. We understand that this is now resolved, with Currys agreeing to waive all charges." Currys informed Mr Alty that it had conducted an internal review and stated the charges were waived "given the scale and circumstances surrounding the case."
