Charged for roaming that we didn't use O2

Goldiegirl

My husband and myself have been on an extended holiday. We were overseas for 7 weeks on a cruise.

We both took our mobiles, and made sure that data roaming was turned off before we left. Apart from one text that I sent in Singapore, both of us never sent texts, didn't receive or make any calls and didn't turn on data roaming to access the Internet. We kept in touch with people by email and Twitter, accessing the ship's wifi network.

We are therefore suprised that we have both received bills for overseas roaming from O2. There are 40p charges for texts while we were on the ship and one for a day when we were in Fiji. There are also £4.99 O2 travel charges on some of the days we were in New Zealand and USA, although I also had a £4.99 charge on one day I was in Australia.

We have both been affected by this, and the pattern of charges is different. My charges amounted to £14.40 and my husband's charges were £37.33

Obviously, we both contacted O2, fully explaining the situation, and asking for a refund and also asked how this could have happened.

We've both had confirmation that the fees have been refunded, but the complaints have not been upheld as the charges are 'correct and valid'. They completely ignored our request for an explanation of how this could have happened

We've both emailed back to say that the charges can't be correct, as we simply haven't used our phones to incur the charges. Also, we again asked for an explanation.

We've both received a similar response - the charges are correct, and no other explanation is forthcoming. We feel stonewalled. We're going to continue with this to get a proper acknowledgement that something has gone wrong and how it could have happened. The response so far has been less than satisfactory.

However, I just wondered if anybody has any thoughts how we could have been charged, when we didn't send any text, make or receive calls or even turn data roaming on.

Thanks

mchale

Do you have voicemail

Goldiegirl

We both have voicemail, but no calls went to voicemail and no messages were left. We've checked our call logs on the phones and there is no evidence of any calls inwards, and we didn't make any calls out

System

What does your itemised bill tell you?

Goldiegirl

It gives dates for the purchase of £4.99 O2 travel - my husband has 7 of these and corresponds to days we were in New Zealand and USA. I only have two of these, one day in New Zealand and one day in Australia.


It also gives itemised charges of 40p, which is the cost of a text. I have 11 of these and the dates, times (varies from 2:50 to 20:25) and country codes are quoted . The country code is NOR. The dates tie up with sea days when I was connected to the ships Telenor Maritime network, which is based in Norway.


My husband has 6 of these 40p charges, again various times of the day. 5 of them have the NOR country code and tie up to sea days. The other has a FJI code, and the date ties up to the day we were in Fiji.


We were away for nearly 7 weeks, so these charges weren't happening every day. But we are absolutely certain that we didn't use the phones to incur these charges.

mrcamp

In order to be able to send a text you must have used the cellular network. Also, if you made or received a call, you must have used the cellular network. You can't do those on WiFi unless you did it via another app, such as whatsapp, VOIP app, etc. Sorry to say, but the charges are probably correct.

Ian011

Did you text each other while on board?

If the charges match up with where you actually were, the charges are likely correct. Something you did, even unknowingly, seems to have ended up being chargeable.

oldagetraveller

A ship doesn't have an external phone line (obviously) to receive broadband. Could these charges be because of that and the service they use?

Goldiegirl

mrcamp wrote: »

In order to be able to send a text you must have used the cellular network. Also, if you made or received a call, you must have used the cellular network. You can't do those on WiFi unless you did it via another app, such as whatsapp, VOIP app, etc. Sorry to say, but the charges are probably correct.

The only text either of us sent was me sending a text in Singapore on 11th February.


We did not make or receive any phone calls.


We also had data roaming switched off for the whole 7 weeks we were abroad so did not access the internet via the cellular network.


This is why I am disputing the charges because, apart from the one time in Singapore, we simply didn't use the phones in a way to be charged these roaming fees.

Goldiegirl

Ian011 wrote: »

Did you text each other while on board?

If the charges match up with where you actually were, the charges are likely correct. Something you did, even unknowingly, seems to have ended up being chargeable.

No we did not text each other

Goldiegirl

oldagetraveller wrote: »

A ship doesn't have an external phone line (obviously) to receive broadband. Could these charges be because of that and the service they use?

The ships cellular network is provided by Telenor Maritime. We were connected to the service, but as already mentioned, never sent any texts, never made or received any phone calls, and never used the internet via this service.


The wifi network on board is provided by satellite. It's quite expensive, so we bought a 24 hour internet package once a week, to keep in touch at home by email and twitter.


However, the disputed O2 charges don't tie up with the times we were on wifi.


Also I think it's a bit of a red herring to 'blame' this on the ship, as I also had two £4.99 O2 Travel charges (once on a day in Australia, and once on a day in New Zealand). My husband had seven £4.99 charges. None in Australia, but 4 in New Zealand and 3 in the USA


We were away from 10th February to 29th March, and all these disputed charges are mostly in the last half of our holiday. But we weren't doing anything different, and had made no adjustments to our phones.