£3000 Orange bill. please help.

Jon_01

I have to agree with neas, data should always of off when you leave the UK.

One of the problems I can see reading the replies is purely the fact she was sold a Blackberry when it appears she's didn't need one and therefore had no idea what a smartphone was doing and was unable to take the proper precautions when she left.

marleyboy

It sounds like someone "piggy backed" onto her phone via Wifi or Bluetooth (if left open these apps open the phone to hacking), all it would take is a hacker with a laptop or smartphone, to find an open and unsecured wifi or bluetooth, and they can log online using her phone and download anything they want for free.

Fifer

Can I suggest CAB might be able to offer some assistance? It sounds like the woman was missold something she didn't need and didn't understand and has been hit with an astonomical bill for something she didn't even know she was using (or perhaps didn't even know she could use) which costs 300x what it would have in this country (I get 10x the data she used plus free calls, free texts and a subsidised smartphone for a tenner a month. £3000!).

If Orange don't have a legal obligation here, I suspect they have a moral one.

NFH

Olesya wrote: »

Last month data usage was 6.8186 megabytes.

This points to a billing error, which I have seen happen myself.

My data usage is usually around 200MB to 400MB per month, but one month my Orange bill showed that I had used 916MB when my iPhone had recorded that I had used only 404.5MB (370MB downloaded and 34.5MB uploaded). Orange's customer service system showed that I had downloaded large quantities of data during short daytime periods on two days in the billing month, which if true would have severely drained my battery, but it hadn't done so because I didn't use the data. Also there's no way that my iPhone could have physically downloaded the alleged high quantity of data in the short periods stated. The difference between your case and my case is that my case was fortunately in the UK and just within the 1GB fair usage allowance so there was no cost or other implication. Nevertheless I asked Orange to investigate several times and made sure that copious notes were made on my account in case the same thing should happen in future when I'm roaming, but they failed to investigate. I'm sure Orange know all about these data billing errors but won't admit it. If these errors can happen in the UK, they can of course also happen when roaming which is when they become more obvious.

Your mother should check the data counters in her Blackberry. If the Blackberry shows a very low amount of data used (probably zero given what you've already said), then don't give up until Orange reimburse you in full. This has happened to other Orange customers in this forum.

Jon_01

Olesya; Call the billing team, tell them your mother is disputing the data usage. Ask them to manually check the 'TAP files' from the network she roamed on. (There are the usage records from the network that she used). They may have to wait awhile for them to come through, but they should help you (and them) work out what's going on here. . .

baza52

did she use skype or anything while out there to make or receive calls?

MissKeith

marleyboy wrote: »

It sounds like someone "piggy backed" onto her phone via Wifi or Bluetooth (if left open these apps open the phone to hacking), all it would take is a hacker with a laptop or smartphone, to find an open and unsecured wifi or bluetooth, and they can log online using her phone and download anything they want for free.

Actually, this is damn near impossible with a Blackberry.

Guys_Dad

Fifer wrote: »

Can I suggest CAB might be able to offer some assistance? It sounds like the woman was missold something she didn't need and didn't understand and has been hit with an astonomical bill for something she didn't even know she was using (or perhaps didn't even know she could use) which costs 300x what it would have in this country (I get 10x the data she used plus free calls, free texts and a subsidised smartphone for a tenner a month. £3000!).

If Orange don't have a legal obligation here, I suspect they have a moral one.

1. If customer asks for a particular article, then they are not being mis-sold if they are sold what they asked for.

2. Something is amiss if her previous data usage was a fraction of what she clocked up overseas.

3. If data charges are from a non-Orange source initially, then Orange can hardly be held to blame. If they had cut her off overseas for over use and she had, for example, been trapped in a lift or building and could not make a call, then there would have been all hell to pay.

4. It's not the network or shop's fault if someone doesn't take time to understand the device they are using.

5. I agree about the inter-company network charges being extortionate, though !

ShugMonkey

GD, not sure I agree with point 3.
Data can surely be blocked without blocking the phone signal.
I would assume that Ukraine was 2g anyway.

This data thing does worry me when I'm abroad, and I like to think I'm quite clued up on how to use my phone.
I could see my old Dad getting caught out, pressing the wrong button etc when he's abroad, as he's done the same in the UK, and moaned about his £1 extra for data cost.

Data roaming needs disabling on ALL phones unless the user requests it.
We have to ask for roaming on our account, so why not data roaming as well.

Jon_01

The Ukraine is fully 3g and has been since 2009 on MTS Ukraine, they even support fully the Blackberry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTS_Ukraine