Posted on 04/17/2024 8:42:40 AM PDT by simpson96
TAMPA, Fla. — Floridian Rene Remund and his wife toured Switzerland last September. But when they got home, their cell phone bill had jumped higher than the Swiss Alps.
Remund and his wife said they travel frequently and always notify their cell phone carrier before they leave the United States. In this case, Rene said he visited a T-Mobile store to share his travel plan. He's also been a T-Mobile customer for nearly 30 years.
“They said you’re covered. Whatever that meant. You're covered,” Rene said.
The couple took a trip that they described as magical. As they toured the countryside and spent time with family and friends, Rene said he never gave a second thought to the pictures and messages he was sending during their time away.
Shortly after returning home to Dunedin, Remund said he received his T-Mobile bill. He looked at it and thought it said $143. It wasn't until days later that he discovered the actual amount he owed.
T-Mobile charged him over $143,000 for using 9.5 gigabytes of data while overseas. Five to ten gigabytes is considered average for one month. But in this case, it was all roaming data which cost thousands of dollars each day of his trip.
Remund said he immediately called T-Mobile and waited on hold while a representative reviewed the charges.
“She gets back. 'No, this is a good bill," the representative told Remund.
"What do you mean it's a good bill?," Remund asked.
"Well, this is what you owe," the representative said, to which Remund replied, "You’re kidding me?”
Rene then hired an attorney who wrote letters to the president of T-Mobile but got no response. That’s when the attorney called ABC Action News for help.
We contacted T-Mobile’s corporate offices. Days later, someone from the carrier called Remund and offered to credit his account for the entire amount.
DEI hire?
Pro tip: Don’t stream movies when traveling abroad.
OMG turn off your data and everything that uses it , I had unlimited calling but every once in a while they would charge me for data that I never used got rid of that one , LOL
When in Roam, shut off the phone................
> They said you’re covered.…” <
Get it in writing. If it’s not in writing it doesn’t exist.
Never be afraid to question
‘authority’!
I use data all the time, like when I’m driving (since no one gives directions anymore 😡), but there is a thing in my data settings that warns me if I *approach* going over that limit.
The weird thing is when I go to Europe, I have to buy a European SIM card—my phone won’t allow my regular sim card to work there.
Take the pics but don’t send them until you get back in US airspace................
DEI user....................
Well, at least this time, Florida man was not inventing new ways to break the law.
My ATT service informed me that I automatically went into overseas mode when I used the phone in Mexico. I believe that the overseas service is $100 per month (but I may be mistaken). In any case, it seems that ATT looks after its customers who forget to sign up for the overseas service before they leave.
He was probably only paying for 5gb of data. He should have set up his phone to let him know when he was reaching his data limit. But T-Mobile could have looked to see how much data he typically uses on a monthly basis and warned him or upgraded his plan.
BTTT!!!
European and North American systems are different...........
If you have an iPhone, your photos are automatically uploaded to iCloud, I think.
I suppose you could maybe sign out of iCloud temporarily, but then I don’t think you’d be able to use your mail or messaging either?
Last time I was in Europe about 4 years ago I call AT&T and asked them if there was a plan for International travel, I was 7 countries and after that they gave a rate of $7/day for unlimited voice/text/data and every time you travelled to another country your provider listed on the phone changed
I thought this was easy and straightforward
This sounds like gotcha stuff to me.
I’d probably lose, because of contractual law, but I’d probably sue T-Mobile to find out how much they actually had to pay out in costs on these roaming charges.
Get a prepaid plan. They can’t charge you beyond what you prepay.
If you go over whatever your prepaid plan covers, you’ll know right away because the phone stops working.
Indeed. And how about a good (old fashioned?) digital camera with an SD card. No data charges with that.
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