Help, t-mobile charged me over 600 pounds roaming 3G

Physician

It's a long story. I have an iPhone 4, went on charity trip to Kenya (all work, little play). No idea that phone continuously runs on the 3g connection. I did use it to check emails (rarely as no signal) and made calls home. 4 days to return, get text that nearing credit limit, cannot dial 150. They cut off service with no further warning. Return to London after THree weeks away to find that I have no live line and I MUST pay 160 pounds on phone to t-mobile at heathrow to even get any service so I can call a taxi
Try and explain, they :"investigate" and refuse to take even a pound off. I had no idea the iPhone does this. Apparently, I "should have known" is the best advice customer (dis) services can offer. I tried to record their calls but they refused to speak to me when I told them I am recording the call. After a few days, they started calling me every few hours and saying "please call 150" then hanging up, basically harassment.
I have had smart phone for 4-5 years and never been an issue. I have had to pay them over 600 pounds now and have cancelled contract as cannot face dealing with aggressive nasty people. Anyone help? It's not the iPhone, it's the network, I think this must be illegal or at least unethical. Can anyone help please?

grumbler

Other networks sometimes apply roaming bundles retrospectively, but AFAIK, T-mobile don't offer any roaming bundles.

I had no idea the iPhone does this.... I have had smart phone for 4-5 years and never been an issue.

Does this mean that you have no idea what you average monthly data usage is?
Does this mean that you travelled abroad with a smartphone and have never been charged for data roaming?

I "should have known" is the best advice customer (dis) services can offer.

I am sure that they would have offered you a better advice if you asked them before going abroad, not after.

have cancelled contract as cannot face dealing with aggressive nasty people.

If you don't pay you will soon deal with even more aggressive debt collectors and will have your credit history trashed. Unless it was a 1-month rolling contract, what was the point in cancelling? This only increased the amount you owe them.

reclusive46

http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/help-and-support/index?page=home&cat=USING_THE_INTERNET_ABROAD

Tmobile just released world roaming bundles and it is still very expensive but could save you money if you get them to charge you as though you bought them. This could save you £400

NFH

Next time, get a local SIM card. Don't even think about using a UK SIM card outside the EEA for 3 weeks.

See: http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/kenya.html

david39

pay 160 pounds on phone to t-mobile at heathrow to even get any service so I
can call a taxi

I'm sure that in Heathrow, like other airports, there are free phone landlines to taxi companies, even if you can't just walk outside the terminal and find one.

matty538

You HAD smart phones for 4 or 5 years, unfortunately you now have an iphone, yes its constantly connected to the internet, yes you should know, RTFM applies here and yes you should pay.

NFH

I suspect that you turned on data roaming in order to continue using data (at no extra charge) while roaming on Orange within the UK. T-Mobile had a duty of care to tell you to turn off data roaming back off again when roaming outside the UK. You could try that argument with them.

grumbler

NFH wrote: »

I suspect that you turned on data roaming in order to continue using data (at no extra charge) while roaming on Orange within the UK. T-Mobile had a duty of care to tell you to turn off data roaming back off again when roaming outside the UK. You could try that argument with them.

It is not the case as the OP consciously used mobile internet.

Physician wrote: »

... I did use it to check emails

matty538

NFH wrote: »

I suspect that you turned on data roaming in order to continue using data (at no extra charge) while roaming on Orange within the UK. T-Mobile had a duty of care to tell you to turn off data roaming back off again when roaming outside the UK. You could try that argument with them.

I have an android phone on Orange and I dont need roaming switched on to use t mobile signal. To me its yet again another example of user error.

NFH

matty538 wrote: »

I have an android phone on Orange and I dont need roaming switched on to use t mobile signal. To me its yet again another example of user error.

On the iPhone, you do need to activate data roaming for Orange/T-Mobile national roaming. In your case, how does Android know that T-Mobile is free roaming, whereas a foreign network is very costly? How does it know to let you use data on T-Mobile when data roaming is switched off?

paulwellerfan

i would have just turned my phone off before the trip
and turned it back on when you returned.
you are responsible i am afraid.