Where has my credit gone?

[emr54]

I am puzzled as to why I have a zero credit balance on my phone.

On 20 August I added £15 to my account making the balance £39.50. I have been on holiday in the USA for the past couple of weeks. However, I was not able to make any phone calls whilst there, only used WhatsApp to make contact with a couple of friends whilst out there, and also just viewed a list of what emails I had, but did not answer them on my phone. I also only used my phone for this when in a free WIFI area.

Anyone else had this problem? 

Why is it not possible to get a statement of how my money is spent when on the Pay-As-You-Go tarriff?

[MI5]

@emr54 

You can request a SAR from O2 https://www.o2.co.uk/help/safety-and-security/how-to-get-a-copy-of-the-information-we-store-about-yo...

Your phone may have connected to data at some point which carries a cost of £7.20 per mb.

https://www.o2.co.uk/international/using-your-phone-abroad

Guide: How to find help & contact O2 

[emr54]

I did not download any new apps whilst in the USA. So could an existing app have updated without me realising it, therefore using my credit?

I took a couple of photos on my phone, and showed some photos to a friend using Album. Surely that does not use up credit?

[MI5]

@emr54 

Either is possible, especially if your photos uploaded to a cloud server.

[emr54]

I do not use the cloud, my photos stay on my phone as it is not my main camera.

It is a pity that there is not an option to reject updates to Apps if they use up credit whilst people are on holiday!

I have contacted O2 support regarding this issue, but no response as yet!

[MI5]

@emr54 

Both Apple and Android phones upload photos by default to their respective clouds, so unless you have turned off the feature, they are using data to do so.

[emr54 · Accepted solution]

Thank you very much for that information. I did not realise that my photos were automatically being backed up to Google photos. That definitely explains where my credit has 'disappeared' to. I have now switched this option off. Many thanks again, you have been much more helpful than O2 support!

[MI5]

You're welcome @emr54