Data Roaming Charges

[sp1814]

I can't help feeling that Orange are not to blame here:

http://metro.co.uk/2013/07/11/done-roaming-girl-runs-up-3800-bill-using-facebook-on-holiday-3879684/

What are your feelings?

[Octavius]

My feelings are that her holiday must have been pretty poop to spend that much time on Facebook. People take technology for granted, and then it becomes someone elses fault. Easy to blame the corporate entity than to have some self discipline?

[Baldric]

Funny how it's always someone else's fault,
Looks like self-inflicted injury to me!

[friedgreentomato]

Entirely the girl and parents fault.

I can understand the need for a teenager to keep in contact with her friends but she is not daft, she knew what she was doing!!

[Old_Geezer]

I think it would be good customer relations to send warning when a non-usual pattern is racking up a bill is noted. That said I don't think it is obligatory and if someone is thick enough to deliberately send data over the world whilst on holiday having not checked the costs, then they deserve to get hit with a large bill.

Now they complain. And get a newspaper to create sympathy for their plight. How many are expecting to get away with their provider paying their bills for them ? I'd suspect they may come to an arrangement in the hope of being seen as a caring organisation, but it seems to me that if you use the service you should pay for it. I'd be surprised if Orange was such a soft touch they wrote it off.

[Kevink]

Yep, I agree, I don't think your own stupidity is a reason to blame someone else.

[Old_Geezer]

Ah have now read to the end, turns out a warning was sent at £320. So what is their complaint ? Looks to me to be an attempt to bad mouth off the company ithe hope of getting off their bill.

[sp1814]

Perhaps this is a product of me being a massive tightwad, but prior to going away on holiday earlier this year, I disabled my phone's ability to use any 3G network by switching it to 'Airplane mode'.

There have been way too many stories of data roam charges hitting phone users abroad, and whilst I feel sorry for anyone who has to swallow such a large bill, to call it 'extortion' is going a bit too far.

[friedgreentomato]

but the daughter claims she never received anything!!

[Sharingan]

Huge memorable conversation with my father when he was paying my phone bills on the subject
Him: ' When you take a UK phone abroad, don't use the fecking internet, it costs a fortune!"
That conversaiton has stood me in good stead.

[ichkeria]

Orange are not to blame IN THIS PARTICULAR CASE but data roaming charges in general are ridiculous and, in my opinion, not enough is done to stop these bills being run up. We are ripped off by mobile phone charges in this country. Most phone contracrs for example seem to offer you "free" stuff you'lll never fully use but charge extortionate amounts for other services to compensate. Often dressed up in misleading language - e.g. stating a daily rate which of course sounds reasonable until you realise it's only payable monthly :-)

[sp1814]

Old_Geezer

The cynic in me wholeheartedly agrees with you. I have a feeling that they think that if they can generate enough negative publicity, they will get the bill reduced.

[friedgreentomato]

I turn my data roaming off whilst still in the UK and only use the net on the hotels wifi - as 99% of hotels these days have free or reasonable wifi rates.

[ichkeria]

It should also be borne in mind that the so-called "arning" texts often get "delayed" depending on the reliablility/availability of local carriers.

[Old_Geezer]

Well she would wouldn't she. It could be traced. But even if she didn't since texts are not guarantied, It isn't obligatory anyway. You are responsibly for running up your own bill not expect the seller to act as Big Brother for you.

"Mrs Snook, a catering assistant, said: ‘I wouldn't understand what a data cap was and I don't think a lot of teenagers would." Sums it up I think. I'm trying to find sympathy, really, it is a large bill, but it looks as if some folk are too challenged to be allowed to use a phone.

[ichkeria]

"warning" (!)

[meglet]

Actually as a slight aside, does anyone actually know what, say, 10Mb of data usage on a phone is in real terms? How long would you have to be browsing for to use that up? How many pictures would you have to upload? I am reasonably tech savvy and I have no idea. I stay away from data roaming abroad for precisely this reason but have used it when lost in a hire car on occasion. You might have the GPS switched on for 10 minutes and the bill is an eye-opener when you get home (although I'm talking £30 or so).

[friedgreentomato]

Oh Meglet I know what you mean - even being careful I have ended up with a bill for £130!!

[Baldric]

Looks like the EU is doing something
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/8616769/EU-forces-cap-on-data-roaming-charges.html

[ichkeria]

That's a good question meglet. I certainly have no idea.
I believe strongly that mobile phone companies do NOT do enough to restrict usage. Sky threatened to block our phone number once as we had an unusually high phone bill one quarter. That seemed a bit odd, but surely it would not be unreasonable to expect mobile providers to do something similar. It is very easy to rack up huge bills without realising it, warnings or no warnings.

[Gromit]

As with those idiotic parents who give yheir child the credit card password and are then surprised that their dim offspring have max out their credit card, this is exactly the same.

This girl was not paying the bill, so there was no incentive for her to use the phone responsibly. If you are too thick to have a phone, you shouldn't have one.

And I am getting sick of seeing photos of scowling brats and their stupid parents whenever these incidents take place.

Her iPhone can send photos and make sky calls over wifi for next to nothing and there are thousands of free wifi spots in the US.

I am sure she would have found that valuable information out a lot sooner, if she was paying her own bills.