£3000 Orange phone bill - another Data Roaming debacle

DUTR

Then this thread appears https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3074498

vburns85

motbofres wrote: »

Hi,

First time poster, long-time lurker...

I've had 2 trips abroad recently, one to India for 2 weeks, then to the US for 2 weeks, with about a week and a half between them.

I got back to discover Orange had taken £1000 out of my account for data charges for India, and were planning to take a further £2000 for the US.

Obviously I am much more familiar now then I was before about issues of data roaming, cost of downloads etc.
I should say though, I was not heavily using the internet - occasional email checks and google maps, enough that I expected a few hundred pounds, but not into thousands. Data roaming was left on (again, benefit of hindsight) for about 50% of the time I was there.

I complained to Orange and was told they could retrospectively apply a data bundle, taking off about £400. I said I wanted to take it further.
Executive Office called today, offering to pay half.
This leaves me with a Deal or No Deal situation. If I agree, that's the matter closed. I could take it further, but that risks not having that half on the table.

Is this as good as it gets? Other people seem to have had a full refund, and we're still talking £1500 phone bill - should I pursue it further or take it?

To be honest with you I would take it if they have offered to pay half you already admitted that you expected it to be quite high, when I have had issues with phone companies and been offered £20 or £50 I take it no hesitation as if you try to push that little bit further you may very well find that they would prefer not to have your custom.

well done to you for being able to pay a £1000 DD I can just about afford £60 lol

motbofres

Guys_Dad wrote: »

First of all a compliment. Your command of English is such that I did not guess that it was not your first language.

However, I come back to OP's original question. "Is this as good as it gets? Other people seem to have had a full refund, and we're still talking £1500 phone bill - should I pursue it further or take it?"

Now look at the replies and see how many answered OP's question and how many took the opportunity to have a pop at his mistake, which I am sure he knows only too well.

Much thanks to the posters - especially Guys Dad - who recognised that my original post was a genuine enquiry (since I am aware that I was probably an idiot for not being more careful in the first place) and whose advice was to take the money.. ..this is what I'll probably do.

Not sure why there were posters who instantly assumed I was just here to slag off Orange or that I was looking for a free ride - when I said long-time-lurker, I meant to the site generally, not this forum specifically, and the query as to whether I could expect a full credit like others was a reference to a Telegraph article I read subsequent to getting stung by the bill which stated that most users who complained got their money back (and that the worst affected got a £1500 bill, which is half of mine). I've also spoken to people who have got their money back in similar situations. If those situations came down to a technical fault and my usage was my own idiotic overuse, then fine, though I can't believe that the little I used merited a bill of 3 grand. And seeing how many megabytes I used on any given day will be fairly meaningless - I'm not sure how I could prove that I did or didn't use that many.


While I would have to admit culpability, I would still maintain that there are an awful lot of fellow idiots like myself who would not be aware of international data roaming costs. I didn't check international call charges either, since (ethically, if obviously not legally) there is a degree of assumption about how much a company that is established and which you have been with for 10 years will charge. I don't think its unreasonable to assume that a company like Orange won't charge fees of this magnitude, or at least will go to lengths to make the costs transparent. Besides which, to a layman like me, knowing how much a per/megabite cost is doesn't mean that much if you don't know that Google Maps uses x amount of megabytes. Of course I know now not to make that assumption but its been an expensive lesson...

What rankled most was that I was there with friends using their phones just as much as me but who were hit for charges a fraction of that (in the region of what I was expecting, a few hundred quid). My friend in India was on Orange and was charged £200. My friend in the US was with O2 and got texts saying how much he was accruing, over what period, and they capped it at £50. I just got texts saying I had used 'at least' 10MB since Sunday, and that to get prices, I should follow a link to their website (the irony!).

I didn't post with the intention of slagging off Orange, just enquiring whether 50% was as good as it was likely to get, which certainly seems to be the consensus. But its true that I've not left the experience with the best impression of Orange, because I think the 'read the small print' argument isn't great for a company's reputation. Ultimately Pizza Hut could charge £800 for a pizza and then demand the money off someone who had erroneously assumed what a margherita cost and not checked the menu but I don't think that subsequently pointing out that the cost could have been researched necessarily justifies it in the first place if it's grossly excessive.

MissKeith

Maps cost a hell of lot of money whilst roaming as it uses a lot of data, I doubt your bill would have been so high if you had just browsed. Did your friends use their gprs or did they just browse? That could explain the difference in cost.

motbofres

MissKeith wrote: »

Maps cost a hell of lot of money whilst roaming as it uses a lot of data, I doubt your bill would have been so high if you had just browsed. Did your friends use their gprs or did they just browse? That could explain the difference in cost.

I wondered the same thing, but no, friends used GPRS in the same way.. even if I had used it a little more, it wouldn't have been 10 times more, as reflected in the cost...

mrcamp

Yeah. I think half off is a good deal. Some carriers will not even cut a deal! As mentioned, any kind of map uses a lot of data and that's probably the reason for most of the bill.

macman

50% reduction is as good as you'll get. Take it.

DUTR

motbofres wrote: »

Much thanks to the posters - especially Guys Dad - who recognised that my original post was a genuine enquiry (since I am aware that I was probably an idiot for not being more careful in the first place) and whose advice was to take the money.. ..this is what I'll probably do.

Not sure why there were posters who instantly assumed I was just here to slag off Orange or that I was looking for a free ride - when I said long-time-lurker, I meant to the site generally, not this forum specifically, and the query as to whether I could expect a full credit like others was a reference to a Telegraph article I read subsequent to getting stung by the bill which stated that most users who complained got their money back (and that the worst affected got a £1500 bill, which is half of mine). I've also spoken to people who have got their money back in similar situations. If those situations came down to a technical fault and my usage was my own idiotic overuse, then fine, though I can't believe that the little I used merited a bill of 3 grand. And seeing how many megabytes I used on any given day will be fairly meaningless - I'm not sure how I could prove that I did or didn't use that many.


While I would have to admit culpability, I would still maintain that there are an awful lot of fellow idiots like myself who would not be aware of international data roaming costs. I didn't check international call charges either, since (ethically, if obviously not legally) there is a degree of assumption about how much a company that is established and which you have been with for 10 years will charge. I don't think its unreasonable to assume that a company like Orange won't charge fees of this magnitude, or at least will go to lengths to make the costs transparent. Besides which, to a layman like me, knowing how much a per/megabite cost is doesn't mean that much if you don't know that Google Maps uses x amount of megabytes. Of course I know now not to make that assumption but its been an expensive lesson...

What rankled most was that I was there with friends using their phones just as much as me but who were hit for charges a fraction of that (in the region of what I was expecting, a few hundred quid). My friend in India was on Orange and was charged £200. My friend in the US was with O2 and got texts saying how much he was accruing, over what period, and they capped it at £50. I just got texts saying I had used 'at least' 10MB since Sunday, and that to get prices, I should follow a link to their website (the irony!).

I didn't post with the intention of slagging off Orange, just enquiring whether 50% was as good as it was likely to get, which certainly seems to be the consensus. But its true that I've not left the experience with the best impression of Orange, because I think the 'read the small print' argument isn't great for a company's reputation. Ultimately Pizza Hut could charge £800 for a pizza and then demand the money off someone who had erroneously assumed what a margherita cost and not checked the menu but I don't think that subsequently pointing out that the cost could have been researched necessarily justifies it in the first place if it's grossly excessive.

If this is the case, then get the bill re-checked by orange, if you are using say 10mb per day at £6 per meg that would put your bills up a few hundred, so unless you have a handset that is constantly chewing data even after you have closed the application then there must be a billing error, do you have the same type of handset as your friends?