Massive phone bill charges?!

tinow

My brother went to south africa last month for a holiday to visit a mate.

While he was there he set his phone up to use the wireless internet in his friends house - however what he wasnt made aware of was the phone was defaulted to pick up main internet in SA when wireless wasnt available, so hes thinkin hes got 'free' internet through his mates wireless (which it nearly was - a nominal fee) but the second he was out of range of that wireless the phone was connecting to the internet in SA

With me so far?!lol anyway he received a call from Orange 9 days into his stay at SA saying he was getting cut off and had to pay the £650 in 14 days. He didnt get home for another 22 days after that call.

Is there some sort of law that Orange has to limit its customers to a specific amount if abroad? You know like the dongle is £40 per month?

Obviously he cant pay it straight away and is prepared (as its a contract phone) to spread the costs over the duration of his contract (ie an extra £50 per month) to clear the bill, but he was told that there would be limits put on his phone whilst he was away - looks like they werent!!

any help on this one would be great

Gordon_Hose

There is no law. The account holder is responsible for data usage and any costs incurred due to not switching off data roaming while abroad.

It catches loads of people out.

tinow

so he has to pay for it? seems a bit excessive?!

Gordon_Hose

Of course he does. What makes you think he shouldn't?

As harsh as it sounds, as fas as Orange are concerned he could have knowingly racked up those charges and is now pleading ignorance to try and get out of it. I'm sure that isn't the case though, but like I said the account holder is responsible for switching off data roaming to prevent exactly this situation.

jhp

New EU legislation means that once your roaming usage reaches the €50 (around £41) cap, your service will be cut off, but he wasnt roaming in the EU !!!

albionrovers

Too late I fear.
I went to New York earlier this year and took a very old Nokia which doesn't do roaming plus an Ipod Touch for free wireless in the hotel lobby and Starbucks. Meant I couldn't get charged a cent.

spiro

Using a very old phrase this is another case of RFM - Read the F***ing Manual, this would have explained the settings. At £650 he is lucky, you will find threads on here were the amount is well into the thousands.