Should I have been charged?

marmitepotato

I recently had to fly out to South Africa as my sister passed away. Whilst I was out there my dad rang me (he was in SA with me but was at the funeral parlour) whilst I was with my brother in law at the local shopping centre .

I didn't pick up dads calls as I knew it would be expensive and he knew we would be back to collect him in the next ten minutes. I have now received my bill from virgin media and have been charged over £3 for a call I didn't pick up! I have also been charged for roaming texts. What does this mean? I thought roaming was data and I deffo had my data turned off.

gjchester

marmitepotato wrote: »

I didn't pick up dads calls as I knew it would be expensive and he knew we would be back to collect him in the next ten minutes. I have now received my bill from virgin media and have been charged over £3 for a call I didn't pick up! I have also been charged for roaming texts. What does this mean? I thought roaming was data and I deffo had my data turned off.

My condolances on your loss..

You should not have been charged for not picking up the call but if it went to voicemail that would incur a charge.

Recieved texts should be free but if you made any they will be chargable. Texts are different to data, data roaming on or off should not affect text sending / delivery.

marmitepotato

Thanks for your help. There was no voicemail left. I will contact virgin and find out why I have been charged.

SnowTiger

marmitepotato wrote: »

Thanks for your help. There was no voicemail left. I will contact virgin and find out why I have been charged.

That doesn't mean the call wasn't transferred to voicemail. Perhaps your Father simply didn't leave a message?

NFH

This is one of many reasons not to use voicemail. If you're abroad and you don't answer an incoming call (e.g. out of coverage, engaged on another call, or simply don't answer when it rings), then you will be charged for a call from the UK to the country you're in and then for a divert back to your voice mailbox in the UK. If the caller then leaves a message, you get charged for a third call when you listen to the message. Voicemail is expensive, unnecessary and just a way for the networks to make extra money; disable it completely.

jd87

People should always deactivate their voicemail before travelling abroad. Unfortunately most people don't realise this.

NFH

jd87 wrote: »

People should always deactivate their voicemail before travelling abroad. Unfortunately most people don't realise this.

Good advice; however, this is no longer necessary within the EEA because the EU have outlawed this practice and you can now be charged only if you choose to listen to voicemail messages that callers leave. In any case, I'd advise to disable voicemail altogether wherever you are, as it still results in callers being charged for unconnected calls. Voicemail should be disabled by default and there should be an opt-in as opposed to the current opt-out. Voicemail serves primarily to allow the networks to charge for unconnected calls rather than serving any useful purpose for the customer.

marmitepotato

I didn't even realise I could turn off my voicemail........

Bogof_Babe

marmitepotato wrote: »

I didn't even realise I could turn off my voicemail........

Nor me. How do you do that then?

grumbler

Check your network's website?
This is what Orange's website says:

switching off the Answer Phone

Sometimes you might not want callers to be able to leave a message on your Answer Phone. To switch off your Answer Phone call your usual customer service number.

If you want to switch off your Answer Phone for a short period of time, say for example, you’re going on holiday, then you can set up a temporary greeting and stop messages being left for you.

To do this:

1. Press and hold 1 to access your Answer Phone menu.
2. Press 2 for Greetings.
3. Press 3 to set and temporary greeting and follow the prompts.

Bogof_Babe

Thanks. Pity you can't just do it yourself (permanently) but have to go through the rigmarole of phoning them.