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Charged for roaming we didn't use

Anonymous
Not applicable

My husband and myself have been on an extended holiday. We were overseas for seven weeks on a cruise.

 

We both took our iPhones (mine iPhone 5c, husband's 5s), but made sure data roaming was switched off before we left. Apart from one text that I sent in Singapore, neither of us sent any texts, didn't receive or make any phone calls and didn't turn on data roaming in order to use the internet. We kept in touch with people by email and Twitter, but used the ship's wifi network for this.

 

We are therefore suprised that we have both received bills for overseas roaming from O2. There are 40p charges for texts while we were on the ship and one for a day when we were in Fiji. There are also £4.99 O2 travel charges on some of the days we were in New Zealand and USA, although I also had a £4.99 charge on one day I was in Australia.

 

We have both been affected by this, and the pattern of charges is different. My charges amounted to £14.40 and my husband's charges were £37.33

 

Obviously, we both contacted O2, fully explaining the situation, and asking for a refund and also asked how this could have happened.

 

We've both had confirmation that the fees have been refunded, but the complaints have not been upheld as the charges are 'correct and valid'. They completely ignored our request for an explanation of how this could have happened.

 

We're obviously pleased that the fees have been refunded,  but it's like a complete brick wall trying to get an explanation from O2.  Their position is that the fees are correct because the SIM says so, and no matter how many times we seek more information as to how we could have been charged for something we didnt use, we are completely blanked. We even asked for both of our complaints to be escalated to a senior member of staff for review. However, this request has been refused.  The complaint handlers say they are the highest port of call within O2, and there's no one to escalate the complaint to, as managers are not customer facing and just manage colleagues.

 

One part of me wants to give this up as they are going to credit our accounts with the disputed charges. This will also be better for my blood pressure.

 

But on the other hand, its become a matter of principle to get a full explanation of how this situation could have happened.  The current stance from the O2 Complaint Review Service agents is 'if you arent happy, go to the Ombudsman'.  Trouble is, there's no real evidence that we didn't use the services we have been billed for, its just our word against O2.

 

So my questions to the community are as follows

 

Has anybody any idea how we could have been charged for O2 Travel (bearing in mind data roaming was always turned off) and texts we didnt send?

 

Is there anything I can do to get O2 to look at this and do a meaningful investigation?

 

Any thoughts would be read with interest!

 

 

Message 1 of 32
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Anonymous
Not applicable

MI5 said

'As none of us were on the cruise with you it is impossible for us to know what, how or why unfortunately.
We can only offer you the benefit of our experience in such matters which may or may not assist you further.
It is however, very unusual for o2 to make a billing mistake so you can be pretty well assured that the charges are accurate'

 

I appreciate the suggestions.

 

We had nine £4.99 O2 Travel charges between us, in various ports. I can accept, that maybe an app accessed the internet on those occasions.

 

But we also had, between us, seventeen 40p  text charges (16 when contected to the ship's cellular network and one in Fiji).

 

We are 100% certain that we did not send any of these texts.  This is why I feel convinced that the charges for the texts are wrong.

 

Can anyone suggest an explanation for these phantom texts? 

 

 

 

 

Message 11 of 32
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Anonymous
Not applicable

@Anonymous turning off mobile dats just means no internet. You can still get calls & texts

Message 12 of 32
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MI5
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Put phone in airplane mode and turn back on WiFi.
Tell anyone to facetime you or WhatsApp call.
Job done.
I have no affiliation whatsoever with O2 or any subsidiary companies. Comments posted are entirely of my own opinion. This is not Customer Service so we are unable to help with account specific issues.

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Message 13 of 32
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Anonymous
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I'm not sure that turning off mobile data would be a solution in this case, if it doesn't stop texts. As mentioned we've been charged for texts we didn't send.

Message 14 of 32
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Anonymous
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I can see how airplane mode would work, so that is something I can do.

 

i don't want to keep banging on about it - but do you have any thoughts on how we could have been charged for texts we 100% didn't send? That remains my main query at this point.

 

we've looked on our bills and the texts are timed and dated, but there is no indication of the number they were aparantly sent to.

 

i've assumed that the times quoted are UK times.  I've worked out the local time based on the location on the dates involved.  Some are the middle of the night, others are times when we wouldn't even have our phones with us, like being at breakfast, dinner or in the theatre.

 

It was suggested to my husband that his phone was malfunctioning. But we feel this is unlikely, as my phone was behaving in exactly the same way in the same time period. 

 

I'm baffled about these texts. I know we didn't send them.  Any thoughts on this point.

 

Thank you

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gmarkj
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Is there any record of the texts on your phones?
Do iPhones send anything over the network in the background @MI5 @adamtemp64?
I think I remember of phones automatically connecting to networks and sending data if turned on/off and they were not set to airplane mode. Would this be something that you would have done?

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Message 16 of 32
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Anonymous
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No, there is no record of any texts being sent on our phones, during the period we are disputing the charges.

 

We turned off our phones before boarding our out bound flight to Singapore on 10th February, and turned the phones back on when we reached the terminal building in Singapore. The phones were never In airplane mode.  Then the phones were turned on all the time until 29th March, when we switched them off again to fly home from San Francisco.  Everything has been fine since we got home.

 

in any event, my first disputed charge was on 20th February, and my husbands first charge was on 6th March, so it doesn't tie up with the time we switched our phones back on.

 

 

 

 

 

Message 17 of 32
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gmarkj
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Huh.
The only other thing I can think of (and I am not sure it is still a thing) is the WiFi Assist feature on iOS.
It uses phone signal if the WiFi is not as fast or having issues.
What version of iOS are the devices on?

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Anonymous
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At the time, both phones were on IOS 10.2.1  which was the latest OS when we left the country.  10.3 came out on 27th March, and we both downloaded this after we got home (we didnt accidently do it on holiday!)

 

If it was just the O2 Travel £4.99 charges, I'd probably accept the theory that wifi may have dropped and data kicked in.  But it doesn't explain why we've been charged for the texts we never sent. 

 

All I was seeking from them is an explanation. I've tried to contact them by social media, but they claim they are unable to pass this to anyone for a more detailed investigation.

 

I've decided I'll have to give this up now, as it's taking up too much of my time and is making me stressed. 

 

I have emailed Mark Evans the CEO to express my displeasure, but like I told him, I guess I'm just going to have to 'suck it up'.

 

At least I've only got 2 months left on my contract, then I'm off. 

 

Thanks to everyone who replied

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gmarkj
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Have you tried the resolver option (found on the contact us link at the bottom of the page)?
They have a good track record with sorting complaints.

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