Orange-horror itemised phone bill from Canada

spannerzone

Altarf wrote: »

"Currently"? As far as I am aware, there are no plans to do anything about non-EU roaming charges.

I thought I'd read something about worldwide roaming charges getting capped in the next couple of years but I may be mistaken.

Altarf

spannerzone wrote: »

I thought I'd read something about worldwide roaming charges getting capped in the next couple of years but I may be mistaken.

Nope. EU roaming charges are capped and being dragged towards zero difference due to the power of the EU.

There is no such driver for non-EU roaming, hence the networks continue to charge a fortune.

The only point they will change is when they realise that they can make more money charging sensible prices when people may actually use their phones, rather than only making money from people they catch out, as everyone else disables data when roaming.

grumbler

Apparently there is a worldwide spending cup:

There is a safety net – all mobile operators have to apply a cut-off limit once you have used €50 (excluding VAT) – around £40 – of data per month, wherever you travel in the world, unless you choose to opt out.

http://ask.ofcom.org.uk/help/telephone/international_3G_charges

Similarly to EU, buying a roaming bundle means opting out.

That said, it's not uncommon for Ofcom to publish confusing and contradicting information on their website.

NFH

Altarf wrote: »

There is no such driver for non-EU roaming, hence the networks continue to charge a fortune.

I'm not so sure that there's a lack of a driver, but remember that within the EEA, the wholesale rates between networks have been regulated in addition to the retail prices. For non-EEA use, the European Commission has no authority to regulate the amount that a non-EEA network bills an EEA network at a wholesale level, so regulation is extremely difficult.

Altarf wrote: »

The only point they will change is when they realise that they can make more money charging sensible prices when people may actually use their phones, rather than only making money from people they catch out, as everyone else disables data when roaming.

Very well put. The OP was one of those people who were caught out, albeit as a result of not taking reasonable steps to limit and monitor the amount of data consumed.

NFH

NFH wrote: »

What about system services at the bottom? If you go into that, it will give you a breakdown for each service.

OP, are you going to answer this question? You say that no app has used a significant amount of data, so this means that a system service must have used this huge quantity. If a system service has consumed 3.9GB, it could indicate a software bug in iOS 7, in which case you could pursue the software supplier (Apple) or the supplier of the goods (Orange) for the loss. However, I think this is very unlikely. The only similar widespread bug I've seen previously in iOS is where the data counter was adding phantom usage in 4GB increments but fortunately the data wasn't actually used so there was no financial impact.

lulubelle41

" All mobile operators have to apply a cut-off limit once you have used €50 (excluding VAT) – around £40 – of data per month, wherever you travel in the world unless you choose to opt out.
If you don’t opt out of the limit, the provider must send you an alert to your phone when you reach 80% and then 100% of the agreed data roaming limit. Operators must stop charging for data at the 100% point, unless you agree to continue to use data.

Ref:- http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/2013/03/check-your-phone-before-you-roam/

The problem as someone said is, that if you choose a data bundle, it automatically opts you out of the data limit - but you have to read the small print to find this out - which is not told to you when you reach your destination such as Canada.

So what actually happened is 'having just arrived in Canada, Orange sent my daughter a message recommending that she buy the £15 Daily Travel bundle allowing her to use 30MB. She accepted. They sent her a message saying that she had successfully purchased this bundle and once used would be charged £8 per MB thereafter. They OMITTED to say that having purchased this bundle she would be opted out of the data roaming limit of £42'.

I believe this could come under the Customer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 by 'misleading omissions'.

To follow on from my previous post - ' The only thing I can see is the 'use mobile data for' and the App Store is 556MB. Everything else is small amounts of KB'.

I now understand, and thanks to the Apple website, the 'apps' were turned OFF.

NFH

lulubelle41 wrote: »

They OMITTED to say that having purchased this bundle she would be opted out of the data roaming limit of £42'.

I believe this could come under the Customer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 by 'misleading omissions'.

This is a good point; Regulation 6 covers misleading omissions. However, I believe that this particular legislation is enforceable only by enforcement bodies such as Trading Standards and cannot be used by an individual litigant. I hope that someone will tell me I'm wrong on this.

lulubelle41 wrote: »

To follow on from my previous post - ' The only thing I can see is the 'use mobile data for' and the App Store is 556MB. Everything else is small amounts of KB'.

I now understand, and thanks to the Apple website, the 'apps' were turned OFF.

Please tell us what the System Services (at the very bottom) used, and then go into it and see the breakdown. Why are you so reluctant to give this information?

grumbler

One might think that your daughter wrongly assumed that there was £40 cap in place.

I amn't even sure that the information on Ofcom website is correct as I believe the cap applies to EU only, but I can be wrong.

It's unbelievable that people go abroad with iPhones (and other smartphones) without doing the most basic research first.

NFH

grumbler wrote: »

It's unbelievable that people go abroad with iPhones (and other smartphones) without doing the most basic research first.

Indeed. Using data roaming without researching the pricing first is like going into an expensive restaurant and ordering lots of bottles of Champagne without reading the menu and then complaining about the bill at the end.

lulubelle41

I am not reluctant to reveal anything.

I believe that misleading omissions can be used by an individual. If you read The Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (rather than Trading Standards) you might find that the former is related to consumers - I note below the link.

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-protection-from-unfair-trading-regulations-2008

It's screen shot of the phone. I can't see the system services let alone go into the breakdown. But was is plain is that all the viewable apps were turned OFF.

As mentioned, the phone is in Canada. I work during the day (well not today) and my daughter does the same in Canada. There is what's called a time difference which makes it difficult to communicate on a one-to-one.

I am doing everything I can including looking up legislation.