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? 

[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

[apadley1337]

Not anything specific as I haven't travelled overseas yet. I have been looking at 'Wi-Fi Assist' which is in 'Settings->Mobile Data' and at the bottom is a setting called 'wifi-assist'. If this is on, it automatically uses mobile data when wi-fi is poor'. I checked on my phone and this was set to 'on'. It shouldn't work but unfortunately I'm not able to check it now as I'm not overseas. Perhap others who have been seeing this problem, could see if it's enabled on their phone? 

May be some sort of race condition that the phone can't see wi-fi, switches to cellular before it has a chance to check roaming settings... just speculation here for now.

[JonathanB]

Hi @apadley1337,

Thanks for getting back to me, and though it is speculation, your logic is sound. WiFi assist certainly could cause this. I've seen scenarios in the past where slow Wi-Fi abroad has triggered charges, like the sort of capped connections you get in hotels/public transport for example. So it may be something similar here too.

Thanks,
Jonathan

[antinbath]

I've replied elsewhere but have the same issue. Within 2 minutes of landing in Japan I had a text saying I'd used 100% of my roaming allowance. Roaming is off. I'm using an eSIM for data, not Three.

A few hours later a text that I've maxed out my spending. When I log in to my account I have zero roaming data usage. 

Online help didn't resolve the issue, just kept repeating I'd used my data. 

having had issues when in France I screenshotted my settings when I landed so I can prove roaming was off. 

[rossmac100]

I am also suffering from this same issue! It turns out it has been happening since February, using up my GoRoam passes unbeknownst to me...  Wild, considering I was in South Africa and GoRoam doesn't apply there. And then I get hit with a bill which is £40 higher than expected for October. To add insult to injury, upon being text to say I was being charged £5/day to be in Australia, I spoke with the support team via chat who assured me there were no additional charges on my account. Oh, and, of course, when I raised the issue on the phone and via support chat (both first level and complaints, then with an escalation to the billing team for 'investigation') I was told that the billing is all correct. I'm tearing my hair out with frustration and have no idea what to do. I've done nothing wrong! Extract from one of my previous bills shown for reference.

[JonathanB]

Hi @rossmac100,

Thanks for sharing this earlier bill, so it looks like the small amount of data was still happening back in May, but didn't trigger a Go Roam charge? Just to check have you upgraded at all since this bill generated in May 23?

Thanks,
Jonathan

[rossmac100]

Sorry for the slow response. No SIM upgrades since May. I was on an iPhone 13 Pro Max in May and an iPhone 15 Pro Max in recent weeks - same issue with both devices. It seems that whilst a GoRoam charge wasn't applied, the 0.0009MB of data usage used up one of my 56 GoRoam passes (odd, considering I wasn't in a GoRoam destination), and once those ran out I started being charged. 

[JonathanB]

Hey @rossmac100,

No need to apologise. I appreciate you taking the time to reply. Just to clarify you lost a number of roaming passes on the April/May usage you shared before, or was that a more recent situation? Just checking as most reported instances of this only started in September.

Thanks,
Jonathan