Major screw up at work :(

[Pinky1986]

Hi Guys,

 

Need some advice/help.

 

I'm employed as an office manager - each employee is given a phone and they are expected to have it with them them at all times.

 

An employee left the company over Christmas period and during that time we had agreed she can keep the phone. When i came back from holidays i forgot to cancel her phone contract (i generally never forget things and i am good at what i do - my father was going through chemo that time during holiday period etc and i forgot).

 

 

Turns out this month she ranked up a phone bill of £12k as she was using the phone while she was travelling internationally. I cancelled her phone contract asap and asked the phone company if they can get some money back but with no luck. We also have no employee liability insurance so we cannot get anything from that.

 

It gets worse - Just before i found out about this i went travelling as well - my understanding was there was some sort of cap/bolt on for us - turns out I have billed the company another £5k (barely used the phone - a few emails here and there!)

 

In total due to my mistake we need to pay £17,000!!

 

Our director is currently on holiday and without access to internet - she will come back in a few days - how do i go about telling her all of this?! Should i prepare myself getting fired?

 

Massive screw up - i need help

[Wolfshook]

I dont know about the rest,but I'd like to give you an advice for future about technology.

 

" a few emails here and there!)". Emails are the least of your problems here,it's the roaming and your phone using data to "cold run" that is an issue here. And roaming is really expensive stuff. So it's clever thing to turn off your mobile data internet when you travel outside your country and use wifi instead.

[Scoe141]

I would be blunt with her. Take responsibility and don't try and diminish it. What's done is done. I wouldn't blame shift or make excuses. If she asks how could this happen, you could tell her your mind was preoccupied, but I wouldn't initiate that.

 

Mistakes happen. You can ask her how you can make it right. But I would definitely sit down and be professional about it. Anything else and it's going to make things look worse.

 

Good luck.

[happyfrank]

Hi, I would contract phone company. Their usually really helpful. Mistakes happen all the time. Maybe they could help lower the cost.

 

Good luck.

[Matt3939]

I agree with 141. Be blunt and let the cards fall. Nothing else you can do.

[Mavrik]

Contact the telecommunications ombudsman and explain this to them and ask if they can step in on your behalf to speak to the phone provider