MSE news: Complaints over erroneous iPhone data roaming charges

wacko911

Hmm, I travel abroad a lot with my iPhone and have never got stung. I turn airplane mode on, then turn wifi on (while still in airplane mode) to use hotspots. If done right, you will still have the plane symbol instead of signal strength and a wifi connection

If you do this YOU CANNOT BE CHARGED, as you are not receiving a GSM signal. Obviously you will not be able to makes calls or send txts, but then again it so expensive I never do anyhow.

a6v

a6v wrote: »

I have sent a complaint letter to O2 quoting Apple case ID. Awaiting their response now. I will come back to update once I hear back from O2

Ok, finally O2 called me and apologised then offered a full refund of the data roaming charges. The O2 staff read out an internal email to me which basically acknowledged the billing issue that some of the O2 subscribers are having related to data roaming which is related to incorrect O2 billing.

So if any of you gets a data roaming bill and no joy with their customer service team over the phone then do not hesitate to write to O2 as it will surely result in a refund. Let me know if you need the sample letter..

...

jimbms

Quick tip for you all that I use , get a PAYG sim card from your provider usually free, this you can put in your iPhone then set up your voicemail on your pay monthly account to ask people to ring the PAYG number, only have a quid or two on the sim, this way anyone who wants to contact you can ring the PAYG number and if the iPhone does try roaming connect the most you can lose is what is on the PAYG sim, if you need to make a call just slip your other sime in make the call then swap them again.

footman

I have been charged for data roaming and Ii have contacted o2 who have refused to refund me. So any help regarding this is appreciated!

*UPDATE*

I called O2 again and they said its nothing to do with them (!) and I should contact Apple. She also said I was at fault and I probably didn't turn off roaming (how stupid does she think I am?)

O2 then said as a gesture of goodwill they will refund the charge on my next bill. The person I spoke to was adamant that it isn't an O2 problem

eddmac2

i have hundreds of items on my bill all beginning with 7802146
mostly charges of 11p each.
some are made every consecutive minute for periods of up to 2 hours.
o2 say they are roaming charge calls made from my phone.

i have been based in europe for a few months and pay the o2 roaming fee

has anyone else experienced this?

eddmac

Cloakedrat

I am currently travelling and this issue with dodgy roaming data charges has now happened to me three times. At first it was only for a small amount and I let it go, then it was for around £20 so I complained and recieved a goodwill refund. This time I have just got a bill for £100 of data roaming charges. The data roaming function has always been set to off since I have started travelling.

One thing I did notice on the day it claims I have been using it was I scanned for wifi and tried connecting to one. It connected and I used it but the wifi symbol did not appear in the top bar (on going in to settings it named the wifi network next to the wifi setting though indicating it was connected). Again data roaming was off. I have contacted o2 about the error but have not recieved a reply as yet.

aimmax

Hi all MSE Users,

I had same issue too, before travelling to Dubai, I had follow the O2 Online instruction to turn off data roaming on my iPhone.
But check on my online bill there is a data roaming charge of £31.32.
Ring O2 they refused to investigate & refund, refused my request to speak to any supervisor/manager on duty.
They blame that I definately have my roaming on, thats why the charges occured.
As I explain to them ,if I have data ON, my pass 6 months daily usage is average 1.5mb
The data roaming from dubai there twice a 24kb and 29kb, which doesnt make sense.
I will attach my bill to show everyone
I request them to bar data roaming on my account , they said cannt.
They can only bar UK & Roaming Data, I ask whats the point of having iPhone, if data banned in UK.

av6: can you please me out, forward me the mail from O2, appreciate it.

aimmax

I cannt attach any photo as error meesage said
"Sorry as a new user you are not allowed to post with links. This is done to stop spammers clogging up the site. Please edit your message below to continue"

aimmax

No news from anyone ? I am still waiting for O2 Call Back which was promise week ago

Elphinwhite

Reassuring to know I'm not alone, but also horrified to see how many people are affected and for how much & how long.
Me too!
O2 were cooperative at first & believed me when I explained that data roaming and 3g permanently switched off. But now saying they want to look at my phone. So I asked my head of IT at work about it. Not only had he suffered this too but he had an explanation as well.

I can't post a link as I'm a new user so this won't make much sense but the gist is.......
Our sleeping iPhones are continually sending usage data to O2 via their cellular network (when sleeping the phone no longer connects to any wifi to preserve battery life.) At home in the UK we don't notice it on our unlimited tariffs. But when it happens abroad it's expensive.... for US!!

So there is a reason why it just keeps on happening & it's pretty breathtaking. I would suggest that it's up to O2 to prove that this isn't the case.

The biggest scandal of it is that this data is for THEIR use & is sent when we users think our phones are sleeping (hence the wifi being turned off).

I don't think O2 are revealing the scale of the problem, maybe just hoping that their customers won't notice..... that WE are being charged for sending them details of our iphone usage while abroad to O2!