Family get charged £1,764 by O2 - twice
John and Sara Mortimer have been left furious with O2’s ‘incompetence’ (Picture: NTI)
This unfortunate family were forced to borrow money for food after O2 charged them 100 times what they owed – twice.
John Mortimer, 53, was charged £17.64 by O2 when he ended his daughter’s two-year contract at the phone store in Worcestershire on February 4.
But when he got home, he found out the company had drained £1,764 from his wife and his joint bank account, after mistakenly ‘moving’ the decimal point.

Sara Mortimer holding the O2 Invoice at her home in Little park, Droitwich after O2 puts decimal point in the wrong place on a bill. A 'Desperate' family has been stripped of their life-savings and forced to borrow money for food because of a mess-up by a mobile phone giant. See NTI story NTIPHONE. The Mortimer family of Droitwich, Worcestershire, were only supposed to pay £17.64 to finalise the outstanding balance of an O2 bill after deciding to terminate a two-year mobile telephone contract earlier this month. But instead they were charged £1,764 - exactly 100 times what they owed. But even when the money was refunded by the company, O2 made the same mistake again, deducting a further £1,764 only four days later and putting the family right back where they started.
The original O2 invoice showing the charge of £17.64 to terminate the phone contract (Picture: NTI)
The next day, John returned to the store and was told the money was refunded.
Yet just three days later, he claims the exact amount was removed from their account again by O2.
When he complained, he says he was told by the company it would take ten to 15 days to pay back the money.
John, a mental health nurse from Droitwich, said: ‘I’m really disappointed with the whole process and how O2 dealt with it. Their security measures need looking at and they need to be held accountable for this.
‘They weren’t keen to pay the money back either, even though they knew it was their error.’
Sara Mortimer holding her Lloyds bank statement at her home in Little park, Droitwich after O2 puts decimal point in the wrong place on a bill. A 'Desperate' family has been stripped of their life-savings and forced to borrow money for food because of a mess-up by a mobile phone giant. See NTI story NTIPHONE. The Mortimer family of Droitwich, Worcestershire, were only supposed to pay £17.64 to finalise the outstanding balance of an O2 bill after deciding to terminate a two-year mobile telephone contract earlier this month. But instead they were charged £1,764 - exactly 100 times what they owed. But even when the money was refunded by the company, O2 made the same mistake again, deducting a further £1,764 only four days later and putting the family right back where they started.
The Lloyds bank statement showing the £1,764 deduction (Picture: NTI)
Their bank refunded the money on February 11, but the family are overdrawn by £780 and are furious with O2’s ‘incompetence’.
Sara, 52, a home economics teacher, said: ‘It’s absolutely mad. We were left with nothing and I don’t think O2 have any idea of how much money that is to us. This has been a very stressful time for my family.

‘The company is faceless and incompetent and I think they should pay compensation. I had panic attacks over this. I was shaking and tearful. I would never get a phone contract with O2 after this.’
O2 say the money was not deducted twice from the couple’s account.
Sara Mortimer holding the original bill for £17.64 and a mini statement showing the actual amount deduced - £1,764 which is 10 times what was owed. A 'Desperate' family has been stripped of their life-savings and forced to borrow money for food because of a mess-up by a mobile phone giant. See NTI story NTIPHONE. The Mortimer family of Droitwich, Worcestershire, were only supposed to pay £17.64 to finalise the outstanding balance of an O2 bill after deciding to terminate a two-year mobile telephone contract earlier this month. But instead they were charged £1,764 - exactly 100 times what they owed. But even when the money was refunded by the company, O2 made the same mistake again, deducting a further £1,764 only four days later and putting the family right back where they started.
Sara Mortimer holding the original bill for £17.64 and a mini statement showing the actual amount deduced – £1,764 (Picture: NTI)

A spokesman for the company said: ‘Unfortunately, when the payment was processed the amount was incorrectly entered onto the system resulting in £1,764 being requested instead £17.64.
‘We have spoken to Mr and Mrs Mortimer and apologised for this situation. We explained that we would refund the amount but it would need to be back on to the card that made the payment.
‘We understand the monies have been credited back to their bank account. We will arrange to cover any bank charges incurred to the Mortimers and have sent a payment of £50 as a gesture of goodwill for any inconvenience caused.’