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? 

[apadley1337]

Having moved to Smarty now - I can confirm I no longer get any of these issues. I have had to get an eSIM for travel outside Europe but that's no problem (Europe data/calls are included with SMARTY).

Looking into this in more detail, the issue is likely with the roaming partner in question rather than 3 but 3 are by no means off the hook here. When you roam, you connect to the visitor network and they bill the home network. Usually the roaming network will strip out erronous 'system' network traffic that should not be billed but this is obviously not happening here. Not wishing to defend 3 but they don't know what traffic the roaming network is billing against. The issue came about because 3 decided to switch to 'trigger' billing where any traffic would initiate a charge.

Previously. international roaming was included in the rate, so I suspect, over the years, as these errors crept in, three didn't have to worry about it but with the switch, these erroneous charges from the visitor network are having an effect. The only solution I can think of is, that if 3 are not prepared to go through a round of TADIG testing with each roaming partner - to find out where the billing error is, is to leave Three for a network that doesn't offer 'trigger' charging, where this issue can present itself. This is not a new issue; roaming is notoriously complex but as its complex, companies need to spend time getting this right!

Companies like Smarty, a subsidiary of 3, likely have performed more recent testing.

[ScottC]

Hi, I ran into the same issue and not getting any solution from Three either.  Class action lawsuit?

[danielshanahan]

After a bit of a battle I've managed to get the £10 refunded. The reason given for the charges was apparently because whenever the phone connects to a foreign network it sends a small amount of data and this is unavoidable, even when Data Roaming is turned off. I was told that I could apply a spend cap, however as others have noted, this is useless in case you want to make a phone call or send a text. Apparently if I was to switch off both Data Roaming and Mobile Data the charges shouldn't happen. I go to Copenhagen next weekend and I'm curious as to whether turning off both Data Roaming and Mobile Data will indeed work, however I'm more likely to just remove my SIM for a few days as I don't want the frustration of being charged again.

I also misunderstood one thing in my original post. I mentioned that my travels to Egypt, Morocco and Albania were not charged the £5, that's because they're not actually Go Roam Around the World destinations. They're charged by the kilobyte apparently. So maybe I wasn't billed for that usage as perhaps it came to less than a penny or something.

Going forward, happy to provide any input into this as previously mentioned, however ultimately my final solution to this will likely be to just leave Three in October when my sim only contract is up. Shame, but there are cheaper deals out there from companies that are also able to circumvent this ridiculous billing anomaly.

Good luck to everyone on this. I will check in from time to time and hope this eventually gets sorted.

[danielshanahan]

Update regarding my post yesterday. I contacted the Three Customer Service Team just now via the online chat facility and clearly spelled out the timeline of what's happened in a similar, but shorter version of my post above. I was initially told that the charges were valid as I had used data, however asked the agent to re-read my message (which included a link to this thread) and reconsider the response. The case has now been sent for investigation and I need to contact them back in 48 hours for an outcome. Apparently they can't contact me with the outcome, I have to chase.

Such a shame that this issue has been going on for so long and affected so many people with no resolution.

[danielshanahan]

Clearly no one has taken this seriously. Here are the case notes from the 'investigation'...

'Kindly note as per the usage details cust have been correctly charged Daily go roam charges as per process on support it is already mentioned any cust who have joined or upgraded on or after 01-10-21 will be charged go roam charges if roaming abroad as checked cust was romaing in Switzerland NO billing error cust billed correctly Case closed SMS sent'

Needless to say the next step is to call and try and speak to someone with some common sense.

[ScottC]

I had similar response that there was no billing errors.  But I forced them to open a technical ticket instead because data roaming was not active.  Still have not heard back.

Even though Three did give me a credit but this is not sustainable as I have to travel abroad often and the issue will continue to come up.  Unfortunately, I am locked in a contract for another year.  Otherwise, I would switch to O2 with free data roaming (also saving me money having to get local eSIM).  Three!  Are you listening???

[atommyk]

Yeah I'm getting the same. Have opened a case but nobody is actually reading the complaints and just providing lectures on how the charges are accurate. 

[LisaJH]

After my initial comment on this thread, I put a formal complaint in. When I downloaded my full bill it was glaringly obvious that Three had charged me for roaming on the days they'd sent me a text to advise what roaming charges would be....IF I were roaming. It was clear from the bill that the only usage corresponded to the receipt of messages sent by Three. So basically, £5 per text message they sent me whilst I was in the US! I received a phone call from Three within a few days. They tried to talk their way out of it but then offered me a 50% refund on the charges. I said that wasn't good enough and they escalated to a supervisor who then removed all the roaming charges. What I was also told is that when I first spoke to someone and they told me that putting a zero spend cap on my account would stop me incurring roaming charges it wasn't correct and the only way to avoid the roaming charges was to leave the phone in flight mode or remove the sim. I will be leaving Three when my contract is up. 

[slbarron23]

I’ve just checked and this is exactly when my charges were from - when they sent me a text! I’ve left Three now and gone to o2 with the free roaming!

[danielshanahan]

Hi everyone

I too have an iPhone. I’m on a Three Sim Only plan (Adv SIM 30GB Data Unlim Min24M). I seem to have incurred the same issue: 0.0009MB or 0.0019 MB of data being transmitted whist Data Roaming is off (yes, it was definitely off prior to leaving the UK each time)! Interestingly though, for me, charges have only happened with Go Roam in Europe destinations, not Go Roam in the Rest of the World. However, with Go Roam in the Rest of the World, the data usage is still showing, but no daily pass has been billed. I was wondering if there’s some kind of configuration on Three’s billing for Go Roam in Europe that’s causing the issue, however having seen previous posts I can see that others have been charged the £5 daily rate in Rest of the World destinations too for the minimal data usage.

Whilst I was in Latvia (Go Roam in Europe) I was billed once (I was only there 2 days):

Whilst I was in Egypt for a week (Go Roam in the Rest of the World) it shows data transmission on three dates but no daily pass has been billed. When I was there I bought a local sim card so these dates will correspond to me putting my Three SIM back in my phone to check for any texts on my Three number whilst abroad:

Then, in Morocco (Go Roam in the Rest of the World) it shows data transmission, but no daily pass has been billed. Again I bought a local sim in Morocco so this would have been me putting my Three Sim in my phone on one day only to check for messages:

Then, in Portugal (Go Roam in Europe) I was billed twice again during the four days I was there. What’s even more weird about this is I was charged a daily pass on 24/2 and 25/2 but not on 26/2 or 27/2 which both show 0.0009MB of data transmission:

Then, in Albania (Go Roam in the Rest of the World) it shows data transmission but no daily pass has been billed. I was there for three days and again bought a local Sim so these dates will have corresponded to me putting my Three Sim in my phone)

Then, in Switzerland (Go Roam in Europe) I’ve been charged again and these are about to appear on my next bill:

The only solution now is for me to just remove my SIM whilst abroad to stop this from happening. As others have mentioned, this is not ideal as my Three number is the only way to receive calls/texts from places like work or hospitals (or wherever) when I’m abroad, as these places will not message/call me on WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger or any other app like my friends/family would be able to.

I’ve been with Three for 10+ years now and have always liked using them. However, once my contract is up in October I’m likely to move to Smarty or another ‘piggyback’ provider as their monthly charges are much less and most include EU roaming for free. I even used to be able to use my Three sim in the USA for free. It’s probably a product of Brexit, but unfortunately the perks of roaming on Three, something that set them apart several years ago, have very much gone downhill and with this billing issue on top I’m very much likely to jump ship in October.

I hope that someone can find a resolution to this. I haven’t yet asked for the charges to be credited but am intending on doing so.

I hope that my examples above can assist with sorting this problem out. If anyone from Three @JonathanB (??!) would like to contact me to discuss in more detail, I’m more than happy to help as I hate to think of the amount of people that are being unnecessarily charged, regardless of whether this is an Apple or a Three issue.