Monumental mobile internet charges when abroad

oodles441

I've just picked myself up off the floor having received a monthly phone bill from Orange that includes a charge of £800 for internet use whilst on a recent holiday in Turkey. Before going I purchased a bundle for 30mb for £15 from Orange, and whilst away I invariably accessed the internet via WiFi if various restaurants and cafes. Orange are saying the charge may have been levied because the internet access wasn't switched off on my phone. I didn't even know about this. Has anybody else encountered something similar and were you able to argue that this should've been made clear? The phone bill was more than the holiday!

Hammyman

The terms and conditions and data roaming costs are on Oranges' website. EU law requires mobile phone companies to tell you when you are reaching a limit however that only applies when in the EU and Turkey is not in the EU so Orange are not required to tell you and in fact, have no way of being able to know as they get billed retrospectively from the Turkish Telco.

Has anybody else encountered something similar and were you able to argue that this should've been made clear?

Its hardly like they hide the information:

http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?c=OUKPage&pagename=PersonalIR&cid=1121947450627

And from that page, you go to the costs and services abroad link which is the second one down in the middle of the page and it takes you to a page where you select the country from a drop down list which then takes you to this page where it tells you it is £8.00 per 1MB.

http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?pagename=PersonalIR&c=OUKPage&cid=1123171273258&mid=1123171272053&extarg4=1123171272053&extarg1=PAYM&extarg2=1126544428467&extarg3=

Also, Orange are not responsible for teaching you how to use your phone. Just how did you think it connected to the internet when you didn't have a wifi connection, magic?

spiro

When in Turkey did you set your phone to Roaming = Off, Wifi = On?
If it was set to Roaming = On, Wifi = On, that was your problem.

Also if you look at what Orange give you for your money in their overseas bundle its cr*p compared to the likes of VF. A quick search on this forum will bring up loads of posts about Orange and massive internet bills. :wall:

oodles441

Thanks for the info Spiro. The settings were fine when we were using WiFi. When we weren't, we changed the setting etc. Orange are claiming we used 121mb which, for the limited use that was made other than when using WiFi, seems extraordinarily high. They've given no details or breakdown.

Hamyman. Your rather unfortunate tone leads me to believe you must work for a mobile company!

oopsadaisydoddle

Unfortunately we cannot give a breakdown of which specific sites you have accessed and when due to data protection. In our billing system we get a breakdown of when you connected and how much data you used.

If you want a breakdown of specific sites etc them you can request this in writing to our Data Controller. Address can be given by customer services.

DUTR

oodles441 wrote: »

Thanks for the info Spiro. The settings were fine when we were using WiFi. When we weren't, we changed the setting etc. Orange are claiming we used 121mb which, for the limited use that was made other than when using WiFi, seems extraordinarily high. They've given no details or breakdown.

Hamyman. Your rather unfortunate tone leads me to believe you must work for a mobile company!

I don't know why so many throw that weak accusation around, if data is on and wifi, then the handsets will choose the data channel layer before wifi, but Spiro is correct the amount of threads with people whinging about data roaming costs is getting a bit much now, and beyond sympathy, for £15 equivalent you could have got a local payg sim whilst you were away, I went to Bodrum last year and my roaming bill was £0.00 , simply used the wifi at the hotel or there free internet connection :T At least you know for your next holiday.

drbesty

If Orange are saying you used 121mb then there's a good chance you did, the billing systems don't make mistakes, you can only really appeal to their better nature and try to get a reduction on the bill.

ford_prefect_3

You will find that Orange charge you a full MB even if you only download 1 byte, ah the joys of rounding up. Roaming data typically costs orange between 1pence and 40 pence per meg depending on the network and they are loathe to warn you if you exceed those limits. I left Orange after 13 years and took our entire corporate account to Vodafone, now I get 25mb per day roaming included for less money after a catalogue of misbillings over Data (we run data logging apps so we know the traffic) VF have also just launched a new business roaming tariff for dongles which is way cheaper than even the best deal that Nothing Nowhere could come up with. Vote with your feet and go to a provider that actually charges a reasonable price.

Gordon_Hose

Something really needs to be done about this though. Yes, people are responsible for their phone settings and usage abroad, but not everyone is tech savvy or sits on the internet reading up about data roaming. Orange don't openly advertise that to avoid high charges you need to switch off roaming, instead it's "somewhere on the internet"... yeah easy to find IF you know what you're looking for.

I'm with O2 and every time I have left the country they switch off roaming for you. I get a text message saying data roaming has been switched off and how to switch it on if I need to.

Guys_Dad

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

Something really needs to be done about this though. Yes, people are responsible for their phone settings and usage abroad, but not everyone is tech savvy or sits on the internet reading up about data roaming.

I agree totally and cite a precedent. The

In April 1934 it was announced that driving was soon to be regulated by the introduction of a driving test in order to ensure that each licence holder had safe driving skills. It was stipulated that, from 1 June 1935, a driving competency test was to be introduced, which required candidates to show competent driving skills before they could obtain a driving licence. This first driving test included some elements that still take place in today's test, such as turning in the road and reversing. From this time, 'L' plates were required to be displayed on cars until the driving competency test was passed

simax

ford_prefect wrote: »

You will find that Orange charge you a full MB even if you only download 1 byte, ah the joys of rounding up. Roaming data typically costs orange between 1pence and 40 pence per meg depending on the network and they are loathe to warn you if you exceed those limits. I left Orange after 13 years and took our entire corporate account to Vodafone, now I get 25mb per day roaming included for less money after a catalogue of misbillings over Data (we run data logging apps so we know the traffic) VF have also just launched a new business roaming tariff for dongles which is way cheaper than even the best deal that Nothing Nowhere could come up with. Vote with your feet and go to a provider that actually charges a reasonable price.

Orange quote a price in Megabytes, but is charged in kilobyte units. It's never rounded up.