topic Re: 0.0009mb roaming charges when Roaming switched off in Account and services

0.0009mb roaming charges when Roaming switched off

KevinL — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 18:02:32 GMT

While abroad for 2 weeks I received 3 random days worth of Roaming Service Charges (£5.83 a day). My bill shows these were each for 0.0009mb of data, but I was using a Truphone eSIM for the country I was in and had my Data Roaming switched off the whole time. I tried ringing Three customer services but just went around in a circle and was unable to speak to anyone so in desperation I opened an online chat through the website. The agent that I chatted with was unable to help at all and said he would escalate this issue to the next level but within a couple of hours the support call was closed and I had a text message saying ‘we’ve recalculated your bill and haven’t found any errors’ which to my mind is ridiculous and very poor customer service.

I’ve researched this issue of a 0.0009mb data being charged as a roaming service and it seems that there is a known issue with the way that the network tries to establish a connection even when data roaming is switched off and therefore sometimes manages to register as a data roaming charge but I can’t get anyone to do anything about it. My contract has expired and is now on a 1 month rolling basis so if this is the sort of service I can expect from Three, then I’m going to change to a new provider after being a loyal Three customer for more years than I can remember. I’ll also change the rest of my family away from Three as soon as their contracts expire this year.

Re: 0.0009mb roaming charges when Roaming switched off

MZone — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 09:59:33 GMT

It might be worth your time raising a complaint via this page https://bit.ly/3RaqpvS

Re: 0.0009mb roaming charges when Roaming switched off

KevinL — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 09:17:26 GMT

Thanks @MZone - I have submitted a formal complaint as you suggested so will see if that makes any difference.

regards

Re: 0.0009mb roaming charges when Roaming switched off

KevinL — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 16:36:39 GMT

I meant thanks MZone - my autocorrect changed it to Maxine before I noticed and submitted the reply.

Re: 0.0009mb roaming charges when Roaming switched off

MZone — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 17:27:20 GMT

Let us know the outcome.

Re: 0.0009mb roaming charges when Roaming switched off

JonathanB — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 09:18:53 GMT

No worries @KevinL, I've corrected this for you now. Please let us know how things go when the team are in contact with you.

Re: 0.0009mb roaming charges when Roaming switched off

KevinL — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 09:44:34 GMT

Had a reply from Customer Services as follows:

“We take the security of our customers seriously and can only correspond with the registered account holder or authorised contacts.

In order to assist you, please ask the account holder to contact us directly to add you as an authorised contact to the account. Just to let you know, certain changes such as upgrading can only be done by the account holder.”

Not sure why they think I am not the account holder as the phone is registered in my name and I pay the monthly bills. I have responded to this effect but so far my perception of Three Customer services is that they are absolutely useless!

Re: 0.0009mb roaming charges when Roaming switched off

PeteG — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 18:55:38 GMT

Hello.

Normally they would use the details within the complaint for to match up with what's on the account. It's possible there was an error on the form, or is it possible that the account holder is someone else, like a partner or other family member?

Pete.

Re: 0.0009mb roaming charges when Roaming switched off

KevinL — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 21:05:35 GMT

Hi Pete,

Nope - I am absolutely the account holder, so all I can put it down to at this time is their incompetence.

Re: 0.0009mb roaming charges when Roaming switched off

TheSolent — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 05:15:42 GMT

The only solution is to request a pac code so they know you’re going to leave. Result: refunded.

I’ve written to watchdog at bbc co uk If more of us do this, they’ll pick it up. Three are just not taking this seriously.

Re: 0.0009mb roaming charges when Roaming switched off

KevinL — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 11:14:20 GMT

I have now received a response which is basically offering me a £10 credit as a ‘good Will’ gesture and asking me to drop the complaint.

i have just responded to say that I will not accept anything less than a full refund of the roaming charges which have been incorrectly added to my bill, and if I do not receive a full refund then I will be taking this matter to the Ofcom Alternative Dispute resolution service.

Re: 0.0009mb roaming charges when Roaming switched off

KevinL — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 12:13:30 GMT

Thanks - an excellent suggestion and I have now sent this in to BBC Watchdog and likened it to the Post Office Horizon scandal where the Customers are being told it’s their fault, and nobody else is affected.

Re: 0.0009mb roaming charges when Roaming switched off

JonathanB — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 11:22:13 GMT

Thanks for updating the Community @KevinL. That's disappointing to hear that we didn't reach an agreeable solution for this. I'll send you a PM now to get you in touch with some colleagues I work closely with. They'll take a fresh look at this and do their best to help.

To view your private messages on the community, click on your avatar image in the top right of any community page, then "Messages".

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: 0.0009mb roaming charges when Roaming switched off

KevinL — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 12:18:01 GMT

Hi Jonathan,

I have now had a response from the Complaints team advising that they will credit the roaming charges in full against my next bill, which is all I wanted them to do in the first place. It’s a pity it’s taken so much of my time and effort in persuading them that it’s not my fault and clearly an issue with the Three systems that are involved in this service.
Thanks anyway for your offer of help, it thankfully common sense has now prevailed.

regards

kevin

Re: 0.0009mb roaming charges when Roaming switched off

KevinL — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 12:22:11 GMT

Full amount of roaming charges now credited back to my account after I refused the £10 good will gesture and threatened them with going to the Ofcom Alternative Dispute Resolution service. Shame we have to go to such lengths to get Three to sort out a problem which is a direct result of their own Systems inadequacies.

Re: 0.0009mb roaming charges when Roaming switched off

JonathanB — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 09:29:37 GMT

Hi @KevinL,

Thanks for updating me and I'm glad we managed to resolve this in the end. We've passed on feedback about your experiences, so hopefully this helps others obtain the right help too.

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: 0.0009mb roaming charges when Roaming switched off

KevinL — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 16:48:56 GMT

Could you drop watchdog another note please as I think they may have misplaced your original email?

Anyone else reading this should also send an email to watchdog@bbc.co.uk, as I have a feeling they may be interested. 😉

Re: 0.0009mb roaming charges when Roaming switched off

tonymudd — Sat, 28 Sep 2024 10:58:27 GMT

What we really want is a way of turning off "Go Roam", so it doesn't charge you the full £6/£2 for a days roaming, when it's only a bug in the phone system - I had 3 lots of £2 (the lower rate for Go Roam) charged when I was using an eSim in Croatia - Took 2 phonecalls to get that back.

If you could disable Go Roam, and just pay-by-the-GByte, then paying for 0.000009Mb wouldn't be an issue, you'd live with a few pennies. After I'd had this refund, I asked for it to be turned off, so they disabled roaming completely, not just data roaming, so I couldn't even receive a text while abroad the next time (so I couldn't login to my Three account).

Re: 0.0009mb roaming charges when Roaming switched off

JonathanB — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 15:39:05 GMT

Hi @tonymudd,

I'm sorry that it was a frustrating experience in terms of getting this corrected on your bill. I have received word back that the underlying issue should now be solved though, and we've not seen any new instances of this issue for a couple of weeks now, so you ought to be able to reactivate roaming again if you need this for occasional use.

Hope this helps,
Jonathan

Re: 0.0009mb roaming charges when Roaming switched off

MH3 — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 12:34:35 GMT

This is not accurate - I have just been discussing with Three customer service because I have been charged roaming services in USA on 2 occasions - 17 Oct and 19 Oct. My data roaming has been switched off at all times, but a ‘funny’ 0.0009MB appears on my bill for both of those days. So you still have this systems issue ongoing. I was also offered a good will credit - I refused the idea of “good will” as this is a mistake on Three’s side, not a favor to me.