Charged for not answering calls whilst abroad

prof_frink

I've just got my mobile phone bill which covers the time I was on holiday.

I did send some txt msgs and was prepared for the 40p per msg, but what I did not expect was £15 of international phone calls. I didn't make any calls and I did not answer any calls.

People did try to ring me though whilst I was on holiday, however I either left the call ring out or I swiped on the phone to ignore it.

Looking at the call log it seems each unanswered call is matched against a mobile number (one I have never seen before) on my bill. Each one no more than 3 seconds, but enough to trigger the £1.50 per minute.

I'll be having a chat with my mobile network operator this morning, but I wondered if this has happened to anyone before?

Silk

Did you turn off your answer messaging before you arrived abroad ?

rfowler

Its your voicemail, if you did not turn it off before going aboard then you will get charged and that's what seems to have happened here.

grumbler

EE: Ways to save>

Turn off your voicemail
You may pay to receive and retrieve your voicemails while abroad, so the easiest way to save money is to switch your voicemail off. You can do this by clearing your call diverts on your phone.

I guess other networks have similar warnings on their websites.

Thi changed recently for EU, but guessing by your £1.50 you were outside of EU:
MSE article: Mobile Roaming

Switch voicemail off
EU regulations mean if you're travelling either within the EEA or outside it, your provider can't charge you when someone leaves you a voicemail.
However you can be charged if you listen to a voicemail message. This will be the equivalent cost of making a call to the UK, capped at about 19p/min. Speak to your provider before you go to see how much it charges.
Outside Europe it's a whole different story. The amount you'll be charged to make a call is not capped, and can cost up to £3/min. So listening to a voicemail message of a couple of minutes could cost BIG.

prof_frink

Ah that sounds like what I missed then. I didn't listen to any voicemails, but by the looks of things I've been charged for the voicemail picking up the missed call.