orange - whopping big bill after 10 days in Italy

Burp_2

I'm on a pay monthly with Orange

My normal data usage each month (28 days) is never above 191MB and obviously whilst in the UK data roaming is left switched on 24 hours

I went to Italy for 10 days... got a text from Orange to say text back 'travel' for 30MB each day for £3 each day, which I did ... and it also recommended downloading Data Man so as to be sure not to go over 30Mb a day.

It said if you did go over 30MB a day it would be charged at a rate of £3.07 per MB

So switched Data Roaming off and only ever switched it on when I needed to use it, I dont use it for work so never get attachments on e-mails etc, only read about 2 e-mail, accessed FB a couple of times etc .... but only really used the data roaming about 15-20% of the time compared to what I usually would in the UK.

Kept checking data man to check I never went over 30MB each day, at one point it said I had used 26MB in a 3 day period, so felt pretty safe I wasn't.

Have just got home to my bill which says whilst in Italy I used 269MB (that they can account for so far, there may be more to come!) at a cost of £314 ... but then they said that I may get more in the next month or 2... so bill could be even more! And that the charge would be £8 per MB!

It just doesnt make sense,

- data roaming was off the majority of the time unless I needed to use it.

- I used the phone about 15% of the time compared to what I would in the UK

- I paid £3 a day for 30MB per day

- I only usually used 191MB or less in a normal UK MONTH, Data roaming switched on 24 7 ... and accessing it all of the time! So god knows how I managed to use 300 MB in just the 10 days alone with data roaming switched off!

- data man app was watched very carefully to make sure I was well within my limits!!

Have phoned Orange and they agree that the usage is highly abnormal compared to my usage over the last 18months.... but basically that is what the bill says and there is little they can do about it!?

Any advice!?

Burp x

grumbler

I don't know how Data Man works, but if it proves what you say, demand investigation.
And it is pretty clear to me that you have to pay £3.07 not £8 for extra data.

That said, 15% and switching data roaming on and off don't mean anything. E.g., if the apps are set for auto-update even 5% will suffice for them to do this when you switch the roaming on. The same applies to, say, e-mails.
You 'normal' usage in UK is pretty much meaningless too because you almost definitely use WiFi at home and may be not only at home.

NFH

You're one of the unusual cases in this forum who has done all the right things for data roaming - buying a data roaming bundle, carefully monitoring data usage, and turning data roaming off when not in use.

My data usage is usually around 200MB to 400MB per month, but one month my Orange bill showed that I had used 916MB when my iPhone had recorded that I had used only 404.5MB (370MB downloaded and 34.5MB uploaded). Orange's customer service system showed that I had downloaded large quantities of data during short daytime periods on two days in the billing month, which if true would have severely drained my battery, but it hadn't done so because I didn't use the data. Also there's no way that my iPhone could have physically downloaded the alleged high quantity of data in the short periods stated. I was just within the 1GB fair usage allowance and was not roaming at the time so there was fortunately no cost or other implication. Nevertheless I asked Orange to investigate several times and made sure that copious notes were made on my account in case the same thing should happen in future more excessively or when I'm roaming, but they failed to investigate. Unfortunately many other customers end up significantly out of pocket when the same thing happens; I was one of the lucky ones. I'm sure Orange know all about these data billing errors but won't admit it.

Burp_2

I have demanded an investigation which she said they would... but she said all the investigation would show is when the MB were used e.g. date and time and wouldn't show on what etc...

she pointed out 2 days when there was a usage of 75MB (additional to the 30MB @ £3) at 7pm and that there was another day where 63MB (again additional to the 30MB @ £3) but other than that the investigation couldnt tell us on what etc how can I prove that it wasn't me?!

Not that I've ever heard of it ... but is there such a thing as somebody else being able to use your phone and its data allowance e.g. hacking!?

Burp x

Burp_2

Oh and the ironic thing is that my 24 month contract is up for renewal today bl*dy typical

teffers

Burp wrote: »

Oh and the ironic thing is that my 24 month contract is up for renewal today bl*dy typical

Use it as a bargaining tool - hope you get to the bottom of it.

reclusive46

Do you have to make the travel text every day or just once?

Burp_2

Just once, I even rang them in Italy (phonecall was itemised on my bill) to check!

Basically if you tried to text it again after activating it it just said 'technical error phone Orange on 150'. It runs while you're abroad and then when you are back in the UK it returns to your normal tariff.

Altho even if you do activate the travel package it will send you that text everyday so it makes you think that you should re-activate it everyday, thats why I phoned them to check!

Burp x

reclusive46

Ah right. SO its basically just an opt in thing? Once you've opted in once, you don't need to again. I have to say, I wish they did it like T-Mobile did it. Once you hit your limit, you can't browse anymore.

Burp_2

reclusive46 wrote: »

Ah right. SO its basically just an opt in thing? Once you've opted in once, you don't need to again. I have to say, I wish they did it like T-Mobile did it. Once you hit your limit, you can't browse anymore.

So do I!

Altho I don't even reach 30MB at home so god knows how I am possibly meant to have whilst on holiday - I hardly had it on!

Buzby

What data did the monitoring s/w provide? Totals or a daily breakdown? The latter would be ideal, but even if not sending Orange the breakdown and comparing with the bled amounts would be a good negotiating point.