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? 

[Andreas]

Happened to me when I went to Asia. I got a few texts saying my Go roam has been activated and would be charged £5.34. I thought since my data roaming is off I wouldn’t get charged. I called three today and had to really fight for my case. It sounds like it’s a big problem just with three? 

[atommyk]

I have since complained via the Ombudsman who accepted the complaint and Three executive office agreed to waive the early termination fee, offer a PAC and provide further refunds as a good will gesture. I can only recommend that path to anyone equally disappointed. 
I did provide a vast amount of well organised evidence - chat transcripts, copy of emails, call logs. Whether that was absolutely necessary I cannot tell, but I’m sure that helped my cause. 

[TVOR1971]

Such a relief to find this thread!  I've had this issue in Brazil in February and in France just last week.  Spoke to someone in the call centre who did seem aware of it and gave the explanation others have said, that tiny amounts of data are transferred when you're in a foreign country and that having Data Roaming set to off doesn't change this.  He said the only way to stop it was to either block the service (which I don't want to do) or leave in Flight Mode, which I'll try next time I'm abroad.  Really annoying and I wish they would sort it out.  It's not so much the money, £2 a day in Europe isn't so bad, but it's the principle.  Why have a Data Roaming setting if it's useless?

[HD1983]

Now - just a thought for a possible solution- what if - you set up an unconditional divert to an alternative number prior to leaving the UK - and synch your phone with google messages online - which allows you to reply and receive text messages on your browser (laptop or phone). Then put your phone in flight mode or better still take out the sim - this may work, allow you to send and receive texts too - but as it never connects to a foreign network - there should never be a charge. This is a long term Three issue - and clearly we know more about it than 90% of their staff. I see this as the drawback for a more economical deal long term. You see if you pay for Voda and o2 - you get Voda and o2. but - if say Voda is charging you 8 times as much - you might be better off on Three - even with this headache. Another workaround is to set credit limit (not spend limit) to 0 and then set it back when you return - apparently that's a failsafe. But as this is Three's approach - it indicates there's no plan to resolve the issue int he near future. For that -there has to be clear admission that the fault exists in the first place. It is a real shame -but this is Three and not Voda. I miss Voda, but not the bills. Voda also have more international partners - but here's the think - even if you look at roaming costs - Three is cheaper. You may be better off just buying a multiple day pass - as there are additional savings to be made there too - and other networks can't compare on pricing - unless of course - you divert all calls to Smarty (run on Three) and use them in Europe - free. Lots of options 🙂 For me - after being Voda for 10 + years - the renewal price was several times higher than Three - who - have very competitive business plans. I keep a spare line on another network as a backup - but have switched multiple lines to Three as a result (apart from the few backup lines).

[atommyk]

I don’t disagree with you at all - after all, it's a personal decision and everybody needs to do the maths themselves to see where the priorities are. For me, the opportunity cost of regularly (routinely...) spending over an hour with Three customer support ranked quite highly in my considerations. Our respective families live in the EU and we can estimate to spend 4-5 weeks per year in Europe - sometimes more (my wife was recently on mat leave). At a cost of £10 for a roaming pass (yes there are third party options out there which come out a bit cheaper, but then you have the hassle of having to engage with Three support all the time when they mistakenly charge you for roaming, as is evident in this thread), this is an added cost of £50 per year. I had a plan with IDMobile previously but was keen to try Smartwatch pairing which is only available on the major networks. So if I spend £170 per year (£14 per month) for my Three plan incl roaming, I have a whole host of options. There's an O2 plan which includes roaming and 30GB for £8 via Uswitch, e.g. That's almost half of what I paid with Three - yes, renewal will come round and then it's about haggling. But if I know I'd have paid £170 with Three anyway, I can 'afford' to go to £15/mo without losing out. 

Just my 2p

[TheSolent]

You're not alone. It's happened to me twice this year in France and Greece.  Each time, they only agreed to waive the charges was when I said I would leave Three, which was not an empty threat. It's not possible to turn off your phone because you may need to receive two-factor messages or urgent texts from companies with whom you do business such as banks, credit cards etc.  There is clearly a problem with their systems but they're not listening and I guess many people just "it's only a couple of quid". Not me though.

[TheSolent]

Don’t want to count my chickens too soon, but fifth day in Greece and no roaming charge from Three. Only thing I’ve done differently is on my alternative SIM, I’ve set ALLOW MOBILE DATA SWITCHING to OFF. Or maybe Three has fixed the issue. But the trip ain’t over yet.

[TheSolent]

I can now confirm that for the first time this year, I spent a week in Greece with roaming turned off and was not charged daily roaming fee. This was after turning off ALLOW MOBILE DATA SWITCHING on my second SIM

[HD1983]

Exactly! If you use Android you can link your phone to another device and use the other device to send and receive texts - using your Three phone. Its a "G Messages" option

[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?