Posted on 01/29/2010 12:36:59 PM PST by Drew68
Don't bother. All international roaming of all kinds is always horrifically expensive. Even if your US provider doesn't rape you on the charges, the network operator overseas absolutely and invariably will. Your US customer service rep has no knowledge of those overseas rates, and is under no obligation to be accurate or honest about them.
The only safe thing to do outside the country is replace your SIM card with a prepaid local SIM... if that's even an option with your handset, which between carrier locking and the US's outdated and non-standard networks it usually won't be.
Ignorance of supposed commercial agreements is not tantamount to ignorance of the law.
By allowing the girl to rack up the charges, they set themselves up to look like the bad guy and ultimately wind up losing the whole amount in the end to PR. Don't get me wrong, the customer should have paid for the use at the agreed-upon terms, however those terms should have been in writing, not via a phone call.
“As Soriano understood it from a phone call with her carrier, there would be no additional cost for that, other than the standard charges included in the family’s data plan. “
It seems she was under the impression that internet wasn’t going to cost anymore than in the states. That doesn’t make the kid a brat or the mom stupid.
Sometimes Freepers can be so hateful about people when they don’t even read the articles.
While not binding in the same minor, the charges ARE. Don’t know what you mean by ‘supposed agreement’; access of the network is ‘agreement’ enough for most localities. She KNEW that she could be charged more - she’d cautioned her daughter and made an ‘agreement’ with her. Her stupidity in not checking what her liability could be isn’t an excuse as far as I’m concerned.
True, but apparently they did contact the phone company in good faith before they went. However, they didn't ask enough questions, and the company representative didn't volunteer enough information or ask enough questions either.
I'm impressed that T-Mobile waved the charges (under duress of bad PR though). However a $15/MB data charge is ridiculous, especially in modern Dubai where high-speed internet and cell phones are the norm. There's no way their marginal cost of service approaches 1/10 of that. But that's how cell companies abuse the customer.
That’s what happened with the last case of ambushed consumer overcharge plainted on the network recently. Turns out the aggrieved party let his son download and watch movies in Mexico...how effing stupid to you have to be?
In many cases, buying an unlocked local handset (as long as you don't need anything fancy) in addition to using prepaid minutes will still be cheaper than using your U.S. handset and calling internationally. In many countries, you can buy used handsets for dirt cheap.
She still knew enough to limit her daughter with an ‘agreement’ between them that apparently wasn’t encompassing enough. She SHOULD have dug deeper.
Bunch of snakes. They of course meant “no additional cost ON TOP OF THE EXORBITANT OVERSEAS RATE.”
Now at some point one does garner enough of a sixth sense to notice commercial claims that are baldly misleading. However cell service seems to be in a league of its own and it may take a shock or two to notice that THEY DO NOT PLAY BY THE SAME RULES AS MOST OTHER UTILITIES.
She checked in good faith and the snakes misled her.
Call any provider and ask them. Enter into no agreement if they won’t offer a plan that gives you cost-certainty.
But the Mom had no reason to be concerned about roman’ charges: she thought they only applied in Italy.
Some people in this world think that EVERYONE in it should have a ‘right’ to its conveniences and that their misuse is entirely excusable - it is the fault because that EVIL COMPANY didn’t explain it to me! They didn’t tell me I’d have to pay more when I’m in a far flung country....Sure, they all, every one, DESERVE these conveniences and should be coddled and excused.
Sure it did. Taught them to find a carrier that won't be so blatant about hosing them
But, is there any sane middle ground between “nothing at all individually billable” and “any old exorbitant charge.” I.e. keeping in a budget. My housemate tried Sprint’s $800 spending limit and found that only covers “some” kind of charges, not the whole bill (in fact they threaten to cut off many weeks before that figure can be reached at the rate services are being used).
Thank you, cellcos, for giving liberal consumer advocate groups a reason to keep existing!
I've worked in customer service where every phone call was recorded and stored in a database. It's quite possible that T-Mobile has on record a clueless CS representative telling the mother that there'd be no additional charges and this had a lot to do with their decision to waive the charges.
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