£6400 mobile bill for 6 day honeymoon

400ixl

Local Sim's are by far the cheapest way to get calls and data in Morocco. Bit late for the OP though.

As mentioned, always put a spend cap on your contract, especially if going abroad as a back stop, but finding the best way to get the services you need  before you go is always advisable.

mr_stripey

Yes, wise to check especially if travelling outside the EU. I suppose it is easy to get complacent. In the last year I've traveled to Norway Slovenia, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Each time I cross a border I get a text from Sky Mobile detailing what the charges are (generally £2 euro per 24 hours I think) 

Would be interesting to see what the OP message received from EE actually said? Did it detail a cost? £5 per MB is probably meaningless to most people.

DullGreyGuy

mr_stripey said:

Would be interesting to see what the OP message received from EE actually said? Did it detail a cost? £5 per MB is probably meaningless to most people.

I'm conflicted on that...

I fully agree that if you ask them how much data watching a YouTube video took or 30 minutes of watching TikTok BUT I think most will know 1GB = 1,000MB. They will probably know they get, for example, 20GB of data a month and that they normally use say 75%.

Its below GCSE maths to therefore know you are normally using 15GB of data a month so 15,000MB. If you continue normal use on a 6 day holiday that would be 3,000MB or £15,000. Some may think they're going to use it a 1/10th what they normally do whilst on honeymoon but thats still £1,500 which is enough to make me turn off roaming anyway. 

Probably most just dont think if they're not seasoned travellers... still Morocco is still less than what ferries charge in international waters. 

saajan_12

zeph24 said:

Went to Morocco on honeymoon. Incurred £6400 bill for data roaming. Only received one text from EE when I landed - no other communication or warning that I was incurring fees. No option to buy data roaming package. EE insisting the charges are correct - please someone help!!!

Was the text upon landing in Morocco or back home? If the former, then that's before you incured the charges, so that was your prompt to read the message, or check their charges online if not fully detailed on the message (via wifi). 

Your option was then to switch off the data and find an alternative or use EE if you agreed with the charges. You can't just blindly use hte data without checking the charges even when prompted, and then expect to argue that you didn't like the charges for the data you used. 

Its not up to them to remind you again of charges to reduce their income - that's their business and they were clear from the start. 

QrizB

mr_stripey said:

DullGreyGuy said:

mr_stripey said:

Morocco seems to be one of the most expensive places for data roaming charges - about £5 per GB I've seen.

Thats very cheap for Morocco, Three charge £6/MB not GB, O2 is £7.20/MB

sorry - that's what I meant! £5 per MB! Got my megas and gigas mixed up!

Maybe OP did the same, thought it was £5 per GB? That might explain their surprise if they were expecting a £6.40 bill.

matelodave

As suggested earlier on, why does anyone need to use heaps of data or make loads of phone calls when on holiday and especially on honeymoon. Its difficult to have much sympathy and perhaps its a bit of a salutary lesson.

Surely there are more interesting things to do and see than gazing at your phone all day and all night - you might just as well stay at home.

Just my opinion you understand but TBH my spouse would feel pretty cheesed off if I spent time on my phone. A couple of years ago we went out for a posh meal on Valentines Day and, I kid you not, we were the only ones who didn't have their phones out - madness.

oldernonethewiser

There could have been a lot of use in the background.  Many people don't seem to appreciate that their phone can be constantly updating, and using data, while the screen can be blank.

zagfles

Tucosalamanca said:

How much do you expect EE to reasonably do?

It took me 30 seconds to find roaming costs for Morocco and I'm not even an EE customer.

Get unlimited minutes, texts and 500MB of data for 24-hours while you’re away. You can only buy roaming passes when you get to the country. We will send you a text when you land.

This service appears to be £7.50 per day, if only you'd taken a minute to check before leaving...

Roaming Costs | Help | EE

So where does that say what the cost is if you don't buy a pass? 

zagfles

Frozen_up_north said:

mr_stripey said:

DullGreyGuy said:

mr_stripey said:

Morocco seems to be one of the most expensive places for data roaming charges - about £5 per GB I've seen.

Thats very cheap for Morocco, Three charge £6/MB not GB, O2 is £7.20/MB

sorry - that's what I meant! £5 per MB! Got my megas and gigas mixed up!

It's eye wateringly expensive, but I presume it is outside the control of networks in the UK/EU

Oddly enough, 1p Mobile (EE virtual network operator) charge 20p/MB

https://www.1pmobile.com/international-and-roaming

Yet GiffGaff (O2) charge £5/MB

https://www.giffgaff.com/roaming-charges

Must remember to pick some place other than Morocco for a holiday!

It's nothing to do with Morocco. It's predatory pricing, pure and simple. 1pmobile haven't got some specially negotiated deal only available to them where they can get data 25 times cheaper than other operators. They just don't mark up foreign roaming by obscene amounts. This is what comes of having an utterly useless regulator. 

OP - suggest you write to some newspapers, email the MSE news team. Dispute the charge. They'll almost certainly at least reduce the charge massively, that's what usually happens in other cases, they are unlikely to want it to go to court.

And switch to PAYG. PAYG is generally cheaper than contract if used sensibly with bundles etc, and you can't run up a stupidly high bill. 

zagfles

DullGreyGuy said:

mr_stripey said:

Would be interesting to see what the OP message received from EE actually said? Did it detail a cost? £5 per MB is probably meaningless to most people.

I'm conflicted on that...

I fully agree that if you ask them how much data watching a YouTube video took or 30 minutes of watching TikTok BUT I think most will know 1GB = 1,000MB. They will probably know they get, for example, 20GB of data a month and that they normally use say 75%.

Its below GCSE maths to therefore know you are normally using 15GB of data a month so 15,000MB. If you continue normal use on a 6 day holiday that would be 3,000MB or £15,000. Some may think they're going to use it a 1/10th what they normally do whilst on honeymoon but thats still £1,500 which is enough to make me turn off roaming anyway. 

Probably most just dont think if they're not seasoned travellers... still Morocco is still less than what ferries charge in international waters. 

Data usage is usually measured in GB not MB so it would easy to confuse the two. Maybe networks should be obliged to spell out the charges in the usual units for buying data, ie per GB. A £5000/GB charge may get peoples' attention. But they probably don't want that.