£437.07 T-Mobile bill

spiro

JethroUK wrote: »

Personally I think the first step is to keep the customer informed of excessive use (maybe just a text)

VF and I guess others provide an Android/iPhone app to monitor your account, isn't that enough?

grumbler

A small problem is that to monitor something you have to be aware of it. Yes, everyone is supposed to do research, but unlike for other goods/services, without a research it is virtually impossible to guestimate the price of data roaming. The prices are so unreasonably high, that any educated guess/expectation will fail.

In fact it is extremely simple for all operators to make sure that their customers are aware of the costs before enabling data roaming. They (companies) don't want to do this and the reason is pretty obvious. They want to take advantage of the customers who are unaware of the cost and/or to profit from the customers' errors.

Guys_Dad

I am just back from Corfu. (Glad it wasn't scheduled for today, what with the Greek general strike!)

I ditched my Android and took my old Nokia instead, simply because I didn't want to take the risk of inadvertently switching my data on, even although it should have a limit of £44, being in Europe.

I also took out travel insurance, took sun-screen and insect bite spray because I had researched in the past what I needed to take for protection.

I agree that there should be some way of being notified, as per PAYG, of your costs - and roaming rates are scandalous - , but there isn't always, so I find out about and live with the system that I've got.

Others are capable of doing the same, I suggest, until things change.

Earthworm

I think fairness from the networks would mean automatically charging the OP for the best roaming bundle instead of just the price per MB. This then reduces the money networks make from such "accidental" usage. At least people would be charged £50 for a roaming bundle instead of £500. But you are still going to get people who act as though this is an outrage. Act like they are completely blameless when they return from holiday and they just assumed that they can do what they like when abroad on their smartphone.

NFH

Earthworm wrote: »

I think fairness from the networks would mean automatically charging the OP for the best roaming bundle instead of just the price per MB.

I agree. Vodafone does this to some extent on PAYG for EEA roaming. You pay 69p/MB up to 2.9MB (£2), then no more until you reach 25MB. Then it's 69p/MB thereafter. Apart from the last part, heavier users are automatically rewarded with a cheaper per-megabyte rate.

The networks should get rid of bundles and just charge for data with the rate per MB or GB reducing at certain monthly usage levels. It would be much fairer to understand and would take out all the guesswork.

Imagine if you had to buy gas and electricity with bundles in this way, guessing how much you were going to use in advance. The bundle method is no more appropriate for mobile data.

Inver1967

Up-date from me.

I have written to T-mobile requesting a bill so that I can see exactly what I have been charged for. No sign of a reply from them yet on that request.
(When you pay by direct debit they can and do just take whatever amount, there is no written communication, even when the bill is obviously high compared to the customers usual monthly charge.)
However,
they were able to write to me the same day as I phoned and asked for the PAC to change network to tell me that I would be charged a notice fee for leaving them.
A few days later I got a final bill from them for £45 including the notice fee.
They are "efficient" in billing but much less responsive in looking at what I believe is an extortionate charge for a handful of calls and texts. I do not have a smart phone and never download any data. I have used that phone on that contract on two, month long trips to Australia before, I have used it in, dare I say, Turkey and Bulgaria, I cannot see that I did anything drastically different this time that would cause that crazy bill, although I realise from reading other people's stories that it could probably have been much higher. I think the quicker the government acts to regulate these companies the better.
:eek:

Inver1967

PS thank you to everyone who has posted a response, the answers make interesting reading. I appreciate the advice offered.

robbies_gal

so youre not being charged the 400 anymore?

u can access your bill online most networks have this facility i havent had a paper bill for years

Inver1967

The £437.07 was taken by direct debit, gone!

mrcamp

There is no way in hell I will do direct debit with a mobile phone company! Just my mortgage and a few other utility bills that are constant are direct debit.