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