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? 

[LondonMan]

I used to have this every time I went abroad. I turn off data before leaving the UK then get random charges for tiny amounts of data even though data roaming remains off for the entire time abroad.

The only way to stop this is to reduce your cap to zero so that they can’t charge you for the extra roaming they are illegally pushing through each time. Then, when you return home, set your cap back to where you had it before (assuming you have set one originally).

I recently forgot to change my cap to zero before going abroad and received a £7 charge the moment the plane landed as the text message arrived congratulating me on kicking off my Go Roam for the next 24 hours (that I never asked for). Reset my cap to zero and was fine for the next two weeks.

3 has a glitch in the system that they refuse to acknowledge. I suspect the text messages are setting this off, but they completely deny it, saying receiving texts is free. Apparently not if you have any credit in your account!

[LL63]

This didn’t work for me. Told by 3 they were charges of foreign telco & zero cap doesn’t apply. Only thing that works is Airplane mode on from moment you leave UK. Then this messes with 2FA/MFA. 
3 knows this is an issue, refused to fix it & has gone on far too long! 
They need to be held accountable. 

[Hunain1983]

It's still ongoing years later! This and now the voicemail issue (personal greetings wiped every few weeks :() Come on Three!

[Occupied_Vacuum]

Exactly the same problem whilst on holiday in Turkey last year. Checked my bill when I got back and saw tiny exchanges. Jumped through hoops of fire to complain but complaint was refused - it was an additional £20, so the battle wasn’t worth fighting. 
I have a further afield and longer trip coming up so it could be much more expensive. I may just have to take the sim out of the phone.

[LondonMan]

Turkey for me too. Check my other reply - set your cap to zero before you go, then try can’t push the erroneous charge through. 

[Hunain1983]

This isn't right. Is there a Three Customer Service Rep on here that can have a look at this and arrange a refund please? This is a known issue and any such highlighted case on her should be queried and credited?

[PeteG]

Hello there. 

As this a customer forum, no one here can your account to see what's happening on there. The Support Team by phone or chat are who you would need to speak to in relation to any charges you have on your account. 

If you'd like to register a complaint, you can also do that through the dedicated Complaint Page and the team can investigate for you. 

Pete. 

[Hunain1983]

Hi Pete, I'm asking Three Customer Service to resolve this issue for the poster @Occupied_Vacuum above. I can see in the past, customers have been able to liaise with you or colleagues directly by private message to have the issue investigated further and resolved on a case by case basis. This is a known issue that Three has been unable or unwilling to resolve. Three has admitted the issue, but have not trained the majority of their staff on how to resolve this which is compounding the poor customer service. Can you or a colleague look into this - if the poster is able to share account details with you privately?

[HD1983]

Do contest the bill - of you push and push they will admit the fault and re-imbourse you. I have moved all my Three lines to Three Business - but use another network for my main line - to avoid issues like this int he future. I use the Three SIM purely for data in a handset or as a hotspot - and hopefully will have some other provisions for roaming. Let's see - i'm not looking forward to having to query the bill again the next time 🙂