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? 

[HD1983]

This is a Three community board - staff members - anyone there? Can we gain an understanding as to why cases are being closed without being properly reviewed ?

[HD1983]

After much persuasion and persistence - the credited back the roaming charges - which were incorrect - but got the VAT wrong. What a headache . But atleast they've admitted the fault 

[atommyk]

I’ve since complained to the Ombudsman. Unsurprisingly, when attempting to make a phone call abroad despite using a go Roam pass I was unable to. 

[HD1983]

This is such a shame - Three need to get roaming right. They're pricing is great - their systems aren't. I moved from Vodafone - which is very pricey - but the difference in system and product are clear - Three have a long way to go...depending on the merger

[cinone]

Hello, are you getting charged for roaming even if in Settings, Mobile Data is off?

[atommyk]

Difficult to tell. I certainly got charged when ‘roaming’ in mobile data options was off. I don’t think I ever ran the exact comparison with mobile data completely off, as my default position, if not on a go roam pass, would be to use an eSIM for which mobile data would be activated. 

// of note, ombudsman has accepted the complaint and started the case with the network. Let’s see what happens 

[HD1983]

Yes you do get charged. Its an ongoing fault on the Three network, regardless of what device you use. Every 24 hours, it downloads between 1 and 5 kb, charging you for the entire day's roaming. even with the data turned off ands the SIM in flight mode. the only way around is to take the sim out before you travel / take off entirely. Initially customer support will deny the issue exists. After redirecting them to information online, theyll then claim you must have used some data. After continued pressure, they'll cave and admit the issue. The suggestion is that sim checks in with cell sites once a day if it is in any handset and that handset is turned on - regardless of settings. Setting your spend limit to 0 wont stop this. You'll need to set your "credit limit" to 0 - which poses a problem if you do need to use it in an emergency. This is Three's achilles heel unfortunately. Three is a great network with a value based service - but if you want reliability - you have to pay for it in the form of a backup SIM - especially where roamng is concerned.

[cinone]

If the phone is in flight mode it's impossible that the sim checks in with cell sites downloading between 1 and 5 kb, otherwise it's be the phone manufacturer problem, because when in flight mode the phone doesn't allow any connection whatsoever. I set a cap of £0 to my spend limit, but what's the "credit limit"? And where is it found?