Overseas orange data rip off £1000.00 bill!

GeoThermal

Guys_Dad wrote: »

Orange don't have a product that would have met his usage. So let's suppose Orange had said "Hey - we have a crystal ball and we think in 5 days you will use over 100mb data, but the most we can put on a bundle is 50mb".

You are missing the point. He asked for a product that would suit based on his previous holiday bill and they said they had one that would suit. If they had said we don't have one that suits the OP would not have bought anything from them. If you buy something based on requirements you stipulate, the item has to meet those requirements otherwise they are not fit for purpose.

Guys_Dad

GeoThermal wrote: »

You are missing the point. He asked for a product that would suit based on his previous holiday bill and they said they had one that would suit. If they had said we don't have one that suits the OP would not have bought anything from them. If you buy something based on requirements you stipulate, the item has to meet those requirements otherwise they are not fit for purpose.

Now that I CAN agree with. They could have said that he would have been better going with a locally purchased sim. Certainly they should have recommended the largest bundle that they had.

But you wrote "He asked for a product that would suit based on his previous holiday bill and they said they had one that would suit."

Well, let's be calm and objective on that. From his first post, he said he has a bill of £780 when in Spain for 21 days. His USA bill was £989 with £840 for data. Let's suppose when in Spain £720 was for data and at £8 per mb, that would be 90 mb.

Now 90mb over 21 days holiday works out at about 4.5mb per day, does it not?

So if you were the CS guy, what amount of data would you have recommended for the 5 day trip to the USA? Particularly as OP now knows he is savvy about wi-fi when, in Spain, he was not.

On that comparative basis, Orange's 50mb bundle should have sufficed for 5 days. But this time, OP used about 21mb per day - way over his previous trip's usage.

So, in defence of the network, they should say that their rep got it wrong and should have recommended the higher bundle. That would have given a cover factor of twice his previous usage rate. But OP increased his use by a factor of about 5 and, therefore, there is no way that they could have anticipated that, even studying his last overseas trip's bill.

At best, therefore, a refund based upon the higher bundle should be offered, given the increased use of the OP.

But I come back to people who use data should acquire a basic understanding of what activities use what amount of data, so that they are able to make the right choice on just what resources they are likely to need. The forum has many posts from people who didn't even take the basic step that the OP did of getting an overseas bundle and then coming back an are shocked at what it has cost them.

Edit:- No sooner had I posted this than this appeared. Iphones and Androids should not be sold to people until they pass some sort of Driving Test - for their own good. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3375066.

Edited again as I used the wrong rate per mb in Spain. Should have been £3, making about 240mb used over 21 days, so Orange's best package of 50Mb would barely have covered OP's use over 5 days on a like for like usage basis.

llyamah

Guys_Dad wrote: »

Iphones and Androids should not be sold to people until they pass some sort of Driving Test - for their own good.

The same as houses should not be sold to people until they have passed a property law examination?

Guys_Dad

llyamah wrote: »

The same as houses should not be sold to people until they have passed a property law examination?

Not a property law examination, but a financial one, as is currently done by the money lender. :beer:

But, let's put point-scoring and sarcasm away for a minute and look at the wider issue. This forum is scattered with hard-luck tales from MSE members who have come back from overseas travel and found horrendous bills for data use, just like my link above.

Apart from the steps that the authorities are taking to reduce roaming costs, just what steps do you recommend that people should take to reduce their exposure? Surely that MUST include some basic understanding of data use and how to keep a personal check on it?

You can't rely on texts from 3rd party networks to your own when certain limits have been reached. People should be taught how to set up data counters and use them. They should also use their own usage at home as some sort of guide as well and they should know about data costs per mb where they are going.

Remembering that I am referring beyond the current OP's data bundle case, if you have any other solutions beyond the personal steps that people should take, then please share them.

llyamah

Agreed, people could do more to understand the potential consequences.

Guys_Dad

llyamah wrote: »

Agreed, people could do more to understand the potential consequences.

Well at last we are in some agreement! :beer:

Any views on the analysis I did in post #53 and what you would have advised OP if you had been CS rep?

GRM

Guys_Dad wrote: »

Any views on the analysis I did in post #53 and what you would have advised OP if you had been CS rep?

Data in Spain is £3/MB not £8 so he was using roughly 12MB/day.

If I was an Orange CS rep I'd always suggest the 50MB for £61 to anyone who asked for ex-EU roaming - and explain that that next 50MB is going to cost them £400.... If the customer queries it then you can start a discussion on how little 10MB is in reality.

TBH looking at http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?pagename=PersonalIR&c=OUKPage&cid=1044131837837#data it's pretty disingenuous to say that 4MB and 10MB are "perfect for browsing the Internet on your phone"

Guys_Dad

GRM wrote: »

Data in Spain is £3/MB not £8 so he was using roughly 12MB/day.

If I was an Orange CS rep I'd always suggest the 50MB for £61 to anyone who asked for ex-EU roaming - and explain that that next 50MB is going to cost them £400.... If the customer queries it then you can start a discussion on how little 10MB is in reality.

TBH looking at http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?pagename=PersonalIR&c=OUKPage&cid=1044131837837#data it's pretty disingenuous to say that 4MB and 10MB are "perfect for browsing the Internet on your phone"

You are quite right - I made a mistake with the costs and, in the light of that, will redo my previous post.

Apologies.

chattyuk

We are missing the point here.
The OP does not know much about data and how long 10mb would last him (and why should he?)
The OP was promised that the data package would be suitable for his usage despite the advisor knowing he was using a smartphone which could potentially use a lot of data.
The OP was also promised that he would reeive a text telling him that he went over his data bundle, this did not happen. Therefore the OP not knowing much about data limits believed that he was under his data limits(and why shouldn't he?)
This clearly points towards orange as the culprit in this situation!

NatterJack_Toad

GRM wrote: »

TBH looking at http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?pagename=PersonalIR&c=OUKPage&cid=1044131837837#data it's pretty disingenuous to say that 4MB and 10MB are "perfect for browsing the Internet on your phone"

Strange, as Orange have told me that when I turned on my phone abroad it cost me £30 each time just because of the auto updates.

I think I'll be highlighting this point when they try to get me to pay the bill for £1000.

I was also advised by the poor English speaking advisor I called in Turkey about getting a package that the 4mb package would be suitable for hundreds of web pages.

I hope they have that phone call saved.