Vodafone warning

kongsdoken

Hi

New on here but anyone had this problem......in October had a nice holiday in Africa and took my Iphone but never used it once......when I got back my bill was £4000

wrote to Vodaphone 6 times asking why and for a statement .....no statement No response they have passed to debt collectors even though I have been a good customer for 4 years.......

before leaving for my holiday I rang them and asked if there was anything I needed to do to use the phone in Africa....nothing they said......turns out I should have switched off roaming feature......nice of them to tell me!!!!!

there customer service is terrible No responds even wrote to the MD and operations director!

Vodafone not a company to be trusted!!!

grumbler

I am sorry to hear this, but this has to be a warning against iPhone (and similar phones) rather than Vodafone

kongsdoken wrote: »

......in October had a nice holiday in Africa and took my Iphone but never used it once......when I got back my bill was £4000

wrote to Vodaphone 6 times asking why and for a statement .....no statement No response .......

No response is hardly a surprise for Vodafone indeed, but I don't think that statements are available at any providers for data roaming.

What's wrong with phoning the CS instead of writing?

before leaving for my holiday I rang them and asked if there was anything I needed to do to use the phone in Africa....nothing they said......

It was a correct answer to an incorrect question.

turns out I should have switched off roaming feature......nice of them to tell me!!!!!

You don't have to switch anything if you want to use. If you don't want to use something (data in your case) you have to switch it off.

there customer service is terrible No responds even wrote to the MD and operations director!

Cannot agree more.

PNPSUKNET

it a problem with any smart phone, as they are designed to constantly check for emails etc

spiro

Where have you been for the last few years. The news has had loads of stories about roaming costs and the EU introducing a cap of €50 in any one month before your network has to limit you unless you opt out.

As others have already said, Vodafone answered the question you asked. If you had said 'is there anything I need to do to avoid coming back to a large bill' they would probably said 'add passort to you account and turn off data roaming'.

I suspect that this has been going on for so long now (years) that the older stance of 'we will reduce it by x%' is now ending/ended.

The same would have happened with most/all networks, the only way to avoid it is with PAYG.

Vodafone

Hi kongsdoken,

I can certainly understand why an unexpected bill like this would cause you such a shock. If you would like us to discuss this bill further with you and explain your payment options then please feel free to contact the Web Relations Team – Vodafone UK.

(When contacting, please quote the code WRT135 in the subject line. In the main message body, please include a link to this thread and your user name.)

I am positive that we will be able to offer some help and advice and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Thanks,

Espi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

lucylucky

Perhaps the OP should have taken the time to find out how their phone worked?

Would have saved a lot of money and problems.

kongsdoken

if your into phones then maybe you would know this, I am not ..that why I called Vodafone and told them where I was going!!!! obviously there own staff do not know the implications of roaming so why should I..

Also the phone was locked in the room safe most of time and in the Masi Mara there are not many phone masts..........however this was an EU phone on a EU contact wether the £50 bar applies if outside the EU is open to debate!!!

Wintermute

kongsdoken wrote: »

.however this was an EU phone on a EU contact wether the £50 bar applies if outside the EU is open to debate!!!

No it's not, it's in black and white and unfortunately it doesn't.

beanys

I have just come back from capetown were i have been for 3 weeks and took my iphone 4 with me , i never incurred and charges at all so iam mystified ,if you never used your phone why u got such a large bill, just one point i have my phone set so i can not access the internet while abroad ,but 4k charges some ones been using yours

SnowTiger

kongsdoken wrote: »

if your into phones then maybe you would know this, I am not ..that why I called Vodafone and told them where I was going!!!! obviously there own staff do not know the implications of roaming so why should I..

You previsouly wrote:

before leaving for my holiday I rang them and asked if there was anything I needed to do to use the phone in Africa....nothing they said

The fact that you've ended up with a £4,000 bill suggests to me that Vodafone gave you correct information.

But I do sympathise with the position you now find yourself in. The iPhone is notorious for eating its way through lots of data.

Messages I've read previously suggest the network will reduce bills such as yours by about 50% if pushed, however even if Vodafone do that you'd still be left with a huge bill.

lucylucky

kongsdoken wrote: »

if your into phones then maybe you would know this, I am not ..that why I called Vodafone and told them where I was going!!!! obviously there own staff do not know the implications of roaming so why should I..

Also the phone was locked in the room safe most of time and in the Masi Mara there are not many phone masts..........however this was an EU phone on a EU contact wether the £50 bar applies if outside the EU is open to debate!!!

The amount you appear to have been charged seems excessive, however that does not alter the fact that you asked Vodafone a question to which they replied correctly.

A little more understanding of how your phone works would not go amiss.

There are many horror stories like your where people have failed to understand the implications of using a phone abroad.

Hopefully threads such as this will make people a little more wary.