MSE News: iPhone users still hit by surprise data roaming charges

Triffid276

I have been contesting £400 of data "downloaded" in one day by an iPhone3 in France. VF simply inform me that the charges are "correct" and that I must have downloaded a video.
I did not such thing but I did attempt several times that day to access my e-mail but the phone failed to get a clean connection.
I have since been using a data counter and the iPhone 5 has its own counter which also shows whether it is up / down load. Interestingly enough similar attempts to access e-mail which have failed show a high rate of data UP-load during the process: I assume that this is the network trying to establish the identity of the phone.
On several occasions when the phone has failed to get a "clean" connection it has also failed to disconnect and significant data transfer has continued which makes me wonder if this could be a technical glitch when connecting to foreign network which could be inflating our bills.
Is there anyone who has had a similar experience as I intend to take this matter to OFCOM and if necessary to the Small Claims Court on the grounds that I have been charged for something which I have not received.

Many thanks

slybuy

In August Orange overcharged me by £914, due to a Roaming Angel glitch. They conceded the charge was erroneous and agreed, in writing, to credit the amount. Every month since, the £914 is added to my bill again. My service is repeatedly cut for non payment and they threaten my credit rating. All for something which they agreed is 100% their fault. 150 and 178 shunt me from pillar to post, always promising that this time it is sorted out.

I bought a £129 data bundle with their roaming angel. The bundle wasn't added to my account, so they have billed me on the standard data charge. I sent them screenshots from my phone which show the bundle was purchased and added to the roaming angel. And, according to the roaming angel, I only used 50% of the bundle!

NFH

Two points to make in response to the last post:

• If Orange falsely reports to credit reference agencies non-payment of a debt which they agree does not exist, then you can claim against them for libel. I have done this in two instances where companies falsely reported that I had not made payments on time. I asked them for a small amount (around £100), representing the amount I would have to pay to a credit reference agency to monitor my credit file actively, and both paid up. It's easier to claim damages when the amount claimed represents an actual or theoretical loss.
• Why should anyone have to buy a bundle in advance anyway? Why can't Orange apply the most appropriate bundle after the usage has taken place or even better just simply charge a reasonable unit rate to all customers from the outset? Its standard non-EEA charge of £8,000 per gigabyte is extortionate and designed only to catch out those who are unaware of the magnitude of the price.

m0912329

Can I ask how accurate is mobile data usage information on iOS7?

It's on Settings > Mobile > Mobile Data Usage (Current Period)

Basically it says since 4th November that I've used 289MB on that section, my T-Mobile usage allowance resets on 5th of each month when I am given 500MB mobile data, and yet in two weeks I was surprised to hear that all 500MB allocated has been used when in fact my iPhone is saying I've used only 289MB!

NFH

m0912329 wrote: »

Can I ask how accurate is mobile data usage information on iOS7?

In my experience over 18 months of data, iOS over-reads by 10% to 20%, although I haven't had enough months of iOS7 to say yet whether this is consistent. This is on Orange (EE), and it could be that the network is giving me some benefit of the doubt for dropped connections etc which are frequent on this shambolic network.

suwinter

I know that posts in this thread are old but could not find a newer one. Is anyone having a recent problem with this issue? I have an 18 month old iPhone 5 on O2 pay monthly which I have taken abroad about 8 times since I purchased it. I have never had any issues, my data roaming has been set to off since I purchased the phone. I have just had my bill following my latest holiday and have been charged for data roaming 3 times in the 6 weeks that I was there - two of the times were when I was at the airport so I guess I was using the airport wifi.
I have IOS 7.1.2, which I'm pretty sure that I updated to during my hol. O2 have refunded the charges, but why is this happening? O2 just tell me to put my phone on airplane mode when I'm using wifi abroad but that turns everything off and it seems a bit pointless having a phone that can't even receive text messages!
Has anyone had this problem lately?

Frozen_up_north

suwinter wrote: »

O2 just tell me to put my phone on airplane mode when I'm using wifi abroad but that turns everything off and it seems a bit pointless having a phone that can't even receive text messages!
Has anyone had this problem lately?

We are with 3 and I asked them to turn off data roaming in the network, which they did for both our contract phones. You could ask O2 to do the same, you may be able to turn it off via your own account, although with 3 it looks like customer services can only do that for some silly reason.

We visit relatives in Spain regularly and use their WiFi for data and Skype.

Incidentally, if you turn on Airplane mode on the iPhone you can then turn on WiFi without enabling anything else. However, as you mentioned, with Airplane mode selected you won't receive text messages.