Roaming charges whilst data roaming turned off

[bcracknell]

I was on holiday in the US last month and had data roaming turned off before I even left the UK. At no point did I turn my data roaming on. Three texted me randomly at 3 points during my trip saying hello and welcome to the USA, outlining the costs associated with using my phone whilst in the USA. These texts were not telling me I was using my data, just letting me know I could. I've just received my bill to find I've been charged 3x £5 plus VAT for roaming services whilst in the USA. I can see on my bill that these supposed usages were really tiny amounts of data, <10MB. When I tried to dispute these charges, stating that I had my date roaming turned off the entire time,  I was told there was no way the system could be incorrect. However, clearly, the system is wrong if I can be charged tiny amounts of data usage whilst my data roaming is turned off. Please can you advise what I can do in this situation? 

[Gurj]

I agree. I travel a lot too so if this isn't fixed by my next renewal it will be the same for me and my family.

[Mmm]

I started having the same issue in September 2023 as well. Also on iPhone, I get a text message on random days (not every day, sometimes it's every other, sometimes it's once in 4 days). The text message usually comes at night, but also arrived at midday one day. Mobile data and roaming are both switched off on my iPhone. I have contacted customer service about this problem twice by now. Both times they offered £10 voucher against my bill. That's all lovely but very temporary solution that doesn't solve anything. I have also been advised for my spending cap to be set to 0 which obviously prevents from any phone calls being made in case of a possible emergency. And another solution offered was to remove the sim card from my mobile device whilst being abroad - outrageous! They of course also ensured me it will not happen again because they put a note on my account that I shouldn't be charged, LOL! I am travelling with my partner who has exactly the same phone and same configuration as myself and is also a Three customer yet doesn't have this issue, why that is a mystery. I don't think the billing customer service quite understands it is a technical issue and most likely suspects I am secretly using mobile data despite me stressing multiple times that I have them switched off. I have requested to speak to a technical support, I highly doubt it will change a thing for me. Good luck to you all, I might be leaving Three if this continues.

[Gurj]

Out of interest does your partner have WiFi Calling turned off while you have it turned on?
Just wondering if we can narrow this down to s setting we can use to avoid the charge.

It's also possible (perhaps likely) that this is just an issue with Apple software and how it manages network access.

[Mmm]

We have just checked and we had wifi calling both on. I have now switched it off and will see if it'll make any difference. Needless to say none of the three different customer service people I spoke to today were able to resolve (or even understand) my issue. 

My partner has iOS 17.0.1 and I am still on iOS 16.7.2 - upgrading now. 

[apadley1337]

In my case, had wifi calling on one phone and off on the other. Had issue on both. 

[JonathanB]

Thanks for confirming this @apadley1337, Wi-Fi calling isn't supported whilst connected to a Wi-Fi network that is outside the UK, but as this is unexpected behaviour definitely good to test every setting that you can.

I'm still trying to narrow down the root cause, but so far it's all iPhones, but as @Mmm mentioned it's not even necessarily all iPhones so it's proving difficult to isolate what triggers the data use.

Thanks,
Jonathan

[JonathanB]

Hi @Mmm,

I'm sorry to hear you've been affected by this issue, we're still looking into what may be causing this, but I'll PM you some details to get you in touch with some colleagues that can collect some information for our investigation.

It may be helpful to be able to gather info from your partner too if they have the same phone and set up, but aren't experiencing this.

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

[bronxboy]

@JonathanB please read my post above which I have copied in part here:

I was in New York City last month. I am on PAYG so I do not get charged the daily roaming fee. I have my mobile data switched off as WIFI hotspots are plentiful in NYC. When I do need to use mobile data, I manually turn it on, then turn it off when done.

Between 7 October and 14 October, each day sometimes a bit before 00:00 and sometimes a bit after 00:00 (UK TIME i assume) my usage shows that small amounts of data - as little as 7 KB and as much as 865 KB - did come off my data allocation. 1000% sure I was on WIFI only at those times.

So I fully understand why people are getting charged - total rip off !

I have also noticed here in UK, if I remove a 3 SIM, put in another SIM (say O2) for a few minutes - then re-insert the original 3 SIM, a small amount of data (12 kb) will be used.

I logged into my account this morning - I know without a doubt that this week I did not use any mobile data - all my usage was on WIFI 

However, every day small amounts of data have in fact been used.

Whether this is an iphone issue or not, I do not know - but definitely data is being used. In UK it just comes off the monthly allocation - but when travelling, even that small amount would trigger the daily roaming charge.

A VERY BIG ISSUE THAT NEEDS FIXING OR THREE WILL LOSE MANY CUSTOMERS 

[apadley1337]

No need to shout. I've already left 3 because of this issue and taken my three other family members with me. Was actually quite quick - but get your PAC code via text - don't bother calling. Hopefully 3 will get this fixed. Only reason posting is because I quite liked the 3 service over the years, when go-roam was included in the pricing and disliked some of the competitors but markets change and hopefully 3 will too. That being said, I've only moved to SMARTY, which is owned by 3 so they still get my money, but it's a different plan so won't get affected by these issues with legacy 3.

[JonathanB]

Hi @apadley1337,

Thanks for continuing to check in with the community in spite of switching I do appreciate your feedback. From what we're gathering this small amount of data is triggering in the UK too, it's just that it won't be impacting the bills.

Have you noticed the same behaviour on Smarty, or when testing any other SIM out of interest?

Thanks,
Jonathan