MSE news: Complaints over erroneous iPhone data roaming charges

northern1979

I visited Jersey, Channel Islands in June 2010 and when I received my mobile bill from Orange I had nearly £20 worth of data roaming charges. Orange refunded them without question. I'm I the only one who is suspicious of this? Orange tried to tell me that data roaming switches itself on automatically when connecting to wifi or if the Facebook application is used which is a function of the iPhone (I have a 3GS). Now I don't know all the ins and outs of wifi, 3G etc but I'm not an idiot. Apple also confirmed this information was incorrect. I'm now waiting on a response from Orange with a more truthful explanation. I'd like to hear if anyone else has had this problem with Orange and it's not just exclusive to O2

enviro

I've had an iPhone for 18 months and travel abroad fairly often. Up until my last trip I haven't had any problems but this time, when I returned from Norway, I noticed 3 data charges on my account. They were only for a few pence but, like many posters here, I ALWAYS have data roaming turned off. O2 have said they will refund them but I'm now going to be very wary whilst I'm abroad.

Trying to think of reasons why this has suddenly happened, I have updated the iPhone to iOS4 and I notice (what I am fairly sure is) a new option in the Network settings to allow me to switch "Cellular Data" off. I don't recall that being there before, but I could be wrong! The charges were attributed to "idata.o2.co.uk" which is the cellular data connection.

Also 2 of the 3 instances happened at Oslo airport, so I could have been switching "Airplane" mode on or off. The other one may have been at a time when I received an MMS. These seem to tie in with other people's experience.

So from now on I shall make sure the "Cellular Data" option is off as well as the roaming!

caroline2103

I have come back from 2 weeks USA and orange have charged me £274 for roaming charges on my iphone, i triple checked my roaming was turned off etc and did not use my mobile, as my husband used his phone, did not even take it out with me in the days. I have waited 2 weeks for Orange to send me through a itemised bill, i know that i had roaming off all the time, Do you think i should persue my issue? any help would be of assistance

masterofimages_2

Same story here. I was charged for data roaming in Cyprus with data roaming switched off. When I contacted O2 customer service I was initially told that the charges would be refunded. But, they've only gone and phoned me today and said that the charges would now NOT be refunded. What a load of muppets! :mad:

I've just sent off an email to their customer complaints department. I'll post on here again when I get a reply.

potfish

Adding a "me too". Data roaming is set to "off" yet I got data roaming charges on today's bill. Luckily only a couple of quid.

O2 say they've refunded the money, but all they could tell me was set your data roaming to "off". Thanks, it already is. Their only other suggestion was "don't use internet abroad at all".

Apple need to fix this.

adsteps

Hey guys, just wanted to share some good news...I got £46 of roaming charges refunded today, but it wasn't exactly easy.

Here's how to do it if you spot charges on your bill for roaming that you thought were incorrect:

1. Contact them via 402 from your iphone (it's free) and speak to the billing department.
2. Explain you switched your phone's roaming function off the second you landed and did not use it for the trip, and only ever used the 'free' wifi.

*at this point the advisor may try the first fobbing off attempt and say the data charges are correct but don't stop here, insist*

3. Request a 'network investigation' to be done. They basically look at the data to see if it has been downloaded and they advise that this take 5 working days and they text the result.

*they didn't get back to me in the agreed timescale so i had to call them back again to question this, they then emailed the department and i had to call again the next day to get the result*

4. They will read the report, which basically says the data was downloaded but there isn't any way to tell if it was done wrongly or not, so insist again you only used wifi.

*there were 2 further fobbing off attempts here, but on my third insistence she put me through to the technical team*

5. If you don't get an agreed refund here, ask to be put through to the iphone technical team to discuss it and advise them this is now a known problem that 02 is investigating and that should be it, they have the power to refund you on your next bill.

*this is not an official policy from O2 yet, as the techie advised me they are aware of the problem and are 'investigating' and there is no official line that customers always get a refund BUT insist, in total took about 25 mins but worth it*

Other tips include asking to speak to a 'team leader' as they call their managers there, to take it further, and always take the names of the advisors if you want to complain in writing later,

Don't be fobbed off and good luck!!!

X Adam

adsteps

Just wanted to add, they may also try to get around it by saying the 'push email' facility may have run up the charges, but cut them off and insist you stopped this. Also, they did mention someting about a £40 limit on the roaming charges, but i'm not sure about this but it did add weight to my claim as it was over this.

In my opinion, writing a letter/email complaint is not as good as speaking to them directly as calmly and politely as possible. They have time to respond and fob you off via letter whereas if you are polite but insistent on the phone they may be more likely to help as it's totaly at their discretion.

Hope this helps...

X Adam

j5alive

Reading about this problem it prompted me to call o2 to check if I had incurred any data roaming charges whilst on a recent holiday in Greece.

Sure enough, they reported I had almost £5 of international roaming charges on my bill. I always make sure the international roaming setting is turned off on my phone. I didn't use any apps that consume data whilst away, so this must have all been the phone's background chatter.

Luckily I did not have a signal most of the time, otherwise the bill could have been a lot higher. o2 did not admit to me they had heard of this problem before and they said they will not do anything to address the problem until the almighty Apple admits that the bug exists. Let's hope Apple do the right thing.

From reading other people's posts it looks like I should call o2 again and hassle them some more.

Quaff

I am a regular traveler abroad, mainly EU and have been using iPhone for about 4 years. I noticed the increase charges in Data Roaming this year and contacted O2 who quickly credited me £212 for all data charges back to 1st April.

I wasn't entirely happy with this, so decided to check all my Bills back to 2008. What I noticed was that prior to Jan 2010 my Data Roaming charges from 7 trips abroad was max £28 min £1.89.

Now suddenly from 3 trips in 2010 my Data Charges have totaled over £350. One of these trips was a one day visit which incurred £114.19 in charges.

Anyone who has Charges for Data Roaming whilst abroad, should claim them back from O2 now. This is an issue with either the iPhone or the O2 Billing. What it isn't, is your fault. So contact O2 and insist on a refund.

Quaff

sporedude wrote: »

Thats why you should be checking your bills, 4 years worth back? Good luck, No chance.

I do check my Bills and if you read my post further down you will see that this charging issue has only recently started.

Companies are liable for illegal charges and I can claim back as far as I want to. I have just got off the phone to O2 again and they have refunded me a further £131 to add to the £212 already received. Once I get copies of my Bills from prior to 2008, I will get refunds for any other anomalous charges.

If you have a negative attitude to a problem, then you get exactly what you expect "nothing". Me I'm claiming back and getting back my money, you have no chance.