Roaming charges by T Mobile

jamanda

Sorry, not sure where to put this, but wondered if anyone could advise please.

My son's friend has been on holiday to Egypt taking her mobile with her which is actually on her mother's contract. She had no idea that there was such a thing as a roaming charge, or that the function could be switched on or off.

The credit limit on the phone is £30. On return from holiday she was presented with a bill of over £800.

My questions are basically as follows:

1. Is everyone other than her aware of this switch on/off?
2. Are T mobile allowed to up the credit limit to this extent without recourse to the contract holder?

I have seen where people have been refunded for charges when the facility has been switched off, but nothing about anyone who was unaware.

T mobile have been quite rude and more or less said that she should have read the information provided with the phone, but have offered to knock off 25% off the bill as a one off.

Her mother has to pay the bill promptly as she works for a bank and cannot have her credit impaired at risk of losing her job. When she asked if she could pay in installments, they said no, but then she had a call from the collections department saying the matter had been passed to them. On querying, she was told that because she had asked to pay in instalments she had been passed to collections even though the bill is not yet due. Apparently the only way to pay in instalments is to default, when the collections department would handle it and her credit rating would be ruined.

Sorry it is so long, but I know nothing about these matters and would appreciate a little advice.

Many thanks

J

DCFC79

Yes im aware you can turn data roaming on or off although i cant say i know how to turn it off but then im yet to go abroad with the phone so not had to turn it off.

RobTang

Roaming.... whenever I enter a different country I get 5 or 6 texts telling me im roaming and how much it would cost, unless you specifically turn it off. Additionally every phone I have owned shows a icon when I am roaming (looks like a triangle) although most people have probably never seen it. I would find it hard to claim ignorance.

The roaming switch only applies for data connections and is phone specific it is not provided by your network. Generally the phones ive seen have it off by default and will always warn you about costs if you turn it on.
In europe t-mobile actullay forces you to pre-pay and internet charges which is good, I wonder why they dont so somthing similar for RoW



I really would complain about the credit limit however, it should never have exceeded the limit

jamanda

Thank you.