Challenging excessive charges on T-Mobile Phone Bill

seauk

I recently was in Australia & used my phone twice to check my gmail - I didn't upload or download files of any kind. I was in Australia for 3 weeks, but after the first week I could receive texts, but not send any, nor could I use my phone for any calls. It appears that my account may have been blocked once charges reach a certain amount.

I've returned to the UK to find a bill from t-mobile for £500 - all charges related to internet usage while in Australia. The charges seem to me to be excessive compared to the brief & small usage required to check my gmail, & I didn't use the phone for the remainder of my 3 weeks holiday. I've called T-mobile to query the charges & they said they will recalculate the bill & let me know the outcome. I pay my bill via direct debit & when I told the T-mobile customer service rep I didn't believe these were fair or accurate charges & wouldn't be able to pay the bill via direct debit, I was instructed to cancel the standing order & seek alternate arrangements with T-mobile.

I'd like to know how I can challenge T-mobile over this bill - could anyone share with me ways & means of challenging the bill successfully?

Many thanks,
SEAUK

Jon_01

Was the phone set to check your email acc every so often ? Even if there were no messages to send or receive the handset still has to send the log on info each time it checks, this can soon mount up...

How much data do T say you've used ?

seauk

The bill attributes the bulk of the charge to Nov 22 & says I downloaded the following in GB:MB:KB - 000.0053.0481.0471

The bill doesn't appear to itemise the duration of time online or any further info. I couldn't use my phone after Nov 22, so it makes sense in hindsight. I'm not sure where to go from here so would appreciate any guidance or thoughts you can offer.

Thx!

Sid_Harper

There is no duration aspect to this charging - it's based on the amount of data. 53Mb is a fair whack of data.

When you say you "used your phone twice to check gmail" - how is your phone set up for Gmail? If you are going in via the browser on your phone, then this data use seems incorrect. If you have the gmail application installed, then as suggested previously, it could well be polling every, say, 10 mins and syncing. Not sure how efficient or not it is, but that could soon add up.

As you say most of it hit you on 22 Nov, when you did check your gmail, did you download any attachments or view any movies or suchlike by following a link? This could have streamed an unexpectedly large amount of data, and quite quickly if your phone is 3G. This data would not be part of your email itself.

seauk

Thanks for your feedback - I have a gmail app installed on the phone, although I thought it would only load emails when I chose to connect to the internet (as opposed to it loading emails etc automatically every 10 0r 20 mins). I definitely didn't download any movies or files - which is why this is so perplexing. I do use my phone to connect to the internet via my laptop from time to time, & perhaps this has caused it, but I was extremely careful to just check email quickly & I definitely didn't download anything.

Based on this info is there anything I can do to make a case to T-mobile for reducing or waiving the charges?

Thx!

samba

seauk wrote: »

I do use my phone to connect to the internet via my laptop from time to time, & perhaps this has caused it, but I was extremely careful to just check email quickly & I definitely didn't download anything.

It's quite possible that windows update or some other automatic updater detected that you were online and started downloading updates in the background.

DarkConvict

T-Mobile state on their website they do not refund roaming charges as they are charged by another network, although i can not find any specific details on roaming data, just roaming calls.

Taking a price from Threes website, http://www.three.co.uk/_standalone/Link_Document?content_aid=1220455423498

Australia is £3 a MB. So 53mb comes to £159, that is just the one days usage.

seauk

I found this on the t-mobile website (b/cause I'm new they won't let me post with links, but there's a page on it):

WAP (using GPRS) £7.50 per Mb
Office Link 0.73p per Kb
BlackBerry 0.73p per Kb
3G (where available) £7.50 per Mb

Jakg

Everything you do on the internet is downloaded - this text, my avatar and the quote button have already been downloaded onto your PC.

If you were surfing using your PC and your phone then 53MB makes sense with flash ads etc.

DarkConvict

Flash ads are actually very efficient on data usage or atleast used to be, so file for quicker loading. Old style Gifs and jpegs take up more room usually.

But this page on my phone is probably about 500-1000kb due to images on the site. Gmail is quite low on my phone but if the phone was updating/syncing in the background the charges are quickly likely to be correct.

greyster

if this is your first 'offence', then you should be able to phone up t-mobile and get the charges removed. Just say you didn't realise how high they were.