O2 claims I took some calls while being abroad and I did not

[AlexxH100]

Hi,
I am in Dominican Republic and I recently noticed I have been charged 8.90 for something. I contacted Customer Service over a chat and I was advised it’s for 3 incoming calls.
The thing is, that all I have are 2 missed calls (duration 0:00) and I didn’t take any phone calls since I got here, because I know how expensive it is. What is more, I NEVER take not make phone-calls while I’m abroad (I use wifi only, eventually mobile data bolt ons). No one used my phone as I have it with me all the time. Phone call time would be also weird (around 5:00 am). I did not call anyone and no one called me. I complained to o2 as a man (Harish) on chat was rude and suggested I was lying and he refunded the money in patronising way.
I had mobile data off (it triggers roaming off in iphone’s settings too), so I have no idea what has happened. I cancelled my automatic top up because I do not trust o2 anymore and I don’t want them to have access to my credit card. Can you please advise what happened? Has anyone had that situation? They gave me details of those 3 phone calls on chat (when, how long, cost), apart from phone numbers.
I don’t have any records of those phone calls oj my phone.

It drives me mad as I was accused of lying like I want to get few extra pounds. I hope this will get resolved as I won’t leave it like that.

[AlexxH100]

I don’t understand that. Whatever I do with my phone seems to generate some kind of fees.
I turned off roaming - didn’t help.
I turned on airplne mode - didn’t help.
I do not use facetime nor imessage.

So today I got charged because I turned on and off airplane mode? Seriously people get charged for that? Even if I had roaming off? I didn’t do that yesterday so what caused any fees yesterday?

That is absolutely shocking. What are ghost calls? Can o2 legally charge people for that? Shocking.

[MI5]

I'm just throwing some ideas into the pot as we can't see any of your account details or usage.
Facetime and iMessage will talk to Apple's servers regardless of you using them or not - it's built into the firmware of the phone.

[AlexxH100]

I appreciate it. Sorry for expressing my frustrations a bit too much but this stresses me a lot.
It’s still really strange as last year when I was in Mexico (same part of the world basically) nothing like that happened and I was constantly turning airplane mode on and off to save the battery. Therefore it is really surprising that suddenly it might cause fees...

[MI5]

Don't worry about it. Feel free to vent all you like.
I'm sure Martin will get to the bottom of it for you.

[Martin-O2]

Hey @AlexxH100 I've sen't you a message about this one so please take a look and get back to me when you have a minute. 

[AlexxH100]

I’m pasting below just if someone has a similar situation in the future.

I received an email from o2 with results of their “investigation” which didn’t answer any of my questions. It sounds like a template email, not relevant to my case. My problem is that I was told I was charged for 6 phone calls and the email didn’t mention about that at all. It only says what I could get charged for when I’m abroad. That’s a general information and not answer to my issue.
I’m pasting the most relevant bits:

“When you’re abroad, outside of the EU, you will be charged for making and receiving calls, sending texts and using data."

None of that happened. What was I charged for in that case?

“Please be aware, with regards to voicemail, if you retrieve a message, it will cost the same as a call back to the UK. If you receive a message i.e., an unanswered call is picked up by your voicemail there is no charge to the roaming customer for the message left.”

In the pdf I received it’s not written anything about those mysterious 6 phone calls that I was charged for.
Also, as I explained:
- my voicemail has been off for at least few months and it was done long before this trip
- I didn’t send any texts during my trip
- I didn’t call anyone
- no one called me
- I didn’t use any data (mobile data has been off again, at least few weeks before my trip).

So to be honest, I still don’t know what I was charged for. It still has not been clarified what those 6 mysterious phone calls were, that I’m not aware of and that i have no records of on my phone.

I have been on airplane mode for 3rd day now so I don’t k ow what my current balance is. In a meantime o2 tried to call me (no luck as I’m on airplane mode) but my gut tells me when I’m back to England and turn it off, my balance will be £0.00.

I replied to o2 over my email asking what exactly I was charged for (according to my knowledge for 6 calls that never took place) but I will paste updates here.

I will go to Apple and ask them whether they can check my phone and prove that there were no incoming/outcoming calls while I was abroad, once I’m back to England.

[AlexxH100]

Full email below

My assessment of your complaint

Complaint Review Service PO Box 694 Winchester SO23 5AP
t 0800 298 6881 e victoria.******@O2.com
Thank you for letting us know you’ve had a problem and for giving us a chance to help. To do this I have considered your complaint and all of the issues involved.
Having done so, I believe that your complaint should be upheld. I will now explain my reasons why.

My understanding of your complaint

You’ve advised us that you incurred charges while roaming outside of the European Union (EU) for voice calls. You were alerted to this as you had the Auto Top Up on your Pay and Go account and your account was topped up when you knew you had around £11.00 credit.
You contacted our Webchat service and they advised you that calls had been received to your handset. You’ve stated that you didn’t answer any calls and although the advisor refunded the charges, you’re unhappy with how the advisor dealt with your query as you haven’t made calls while you’ve been abroad and you weren’t given the correct information about how to escalate a complaint.
You’re also unhappy that when you called into us, our advisor didn’t know whether you would be charged to call us.
You’ve stated that you turned off your mobile data in the UK and by default the data roaming is switched off. You want to know why you were charged for roaming if the mobile data was turned off.

My investigation

I should like to apologise for the poor customer service you’ve received when you contacted us about the roaming charges made to your Pay and Go SIM and I uphold your complaint with regards to this.
With regards to the data roaming being turned off, this only prevents data being used when abroad, it doesn’t affect calls or texts.
When you’re abroad, outside of the EU, you will be charged for making and receiving calls, sending texts and using data.
When you’re abroad, you’re not using our network. Our systems take the information sent to your SIM from the host network and bill appropriately. The charges applied to your Pay and Go SIM have been for calls received while you’ve been out of the EU. Even if you don’t answer the call, there can still be a connection made.

Please be aware, with regards to voicemail, if you retrieve a message, it will cost the same as a call back to the UK. If you receive a message i.e., an unanswered call is picked up by your voicemail there is no charge to the roaming customer for the message left.
I’ve checked your account and I can see that further charges have been incurred on 20 September 019 for receiving calls, totalling £7.37.
My actions
As a one off goodwill gesture, I’ve credited back £7.37 to your Pay and Go SIM, Please be aware we shall not refund for any further roaming charges as our systems are correctly billing for calls received to your handset.

Next steps

I hope my actions have resolved the matter for you. If not, please get in touch. You can find our full complaints code online at www.o2.co.uk/how-to-complain, or let me know if you’d like a copy. My details are at the top of this letter and I’m available Monday, Tuesday and Friday 8am until 1.00pm.
If I don’t hear from you within the next 28 days, I will assume that my actions have resolved the matter and close your complaint.
You will be entitled to ask the Communications Ombudsman to consider your complaint if you reach the end of our complaint handling procedure and remain dissatisfied. You can also approach them if your complaint is still ongoing after eight weeks. They resolve disputes between communications providers and their customers. It is free to use their service and they’re totally independent.
More information about the role of the Communications Ombudsman can be found on its website at
www.ombudsman-services.org/sectors/communications

[AlexxH100]

If I was charged for access to something then I would understand that. But you are keep telling me I was charged for 6 phone calls, which I am telling you - did not happened. I’m wondering what if in the future someone gets unintentionally involved in some kind of crime , and then o2 comes with a “proof” of some kind of calls records that never happened but it will be used as the proof in court? That’s horrendous. You assigned to my number calls that did not happened, I honestly have no other words for that.

[AlexxH100]

One more thing, I would even understand, if I got charged for missed calls.
6 missed calls (there were 2 but whatever) = 6 equal charges.
But o2 gave me exact duration of those phone calls and o2 assured me they did take place... one call 34 secs, other one 2 mins 27 secs...
I hope Apple can confirm all of this is an absolute rubbish.

Other thing - is it possible, that I got charged because a number I blocked called and was hanging there for 2:27 mins? Does this make any sense? I’m really trying to understand it here. If not, then your systems are unsafe and allow serious bugs. From the other hand if I block someone I should not get charged for attempts of phone calls.

[Anonymous]

@AlexxH100 

Number blocking takes place on your handset so the network would deliver the call to your phone but as the number is on your block list the phone simply doesn't ring or give any indication the blocked number has tried to call you.

As soon as you switched off airplane mode I suspect your phone will have registered on a local network (switching off roaming in the software is supposed to prevent this but this isn't a guarantee and I certainly wouldn't put money on it).

When the home network is not available the phone will look on the Preferred Roaming List stored on the SIM to see if any it can detect appear on the list, if there is more than one it will select whichever has the strongest signal and begin a registration process.

At this point the network it is trying to log onto will request some data from the SIM, this will indicate you are a customer of O2 UK so the servers will contact O2's servers to authenticate this information and ensure a billing arrangement is in place so they can bill O2 for your use.

At this point O2 will begin to forward calls and texts and keep a billing link open with that network until one of two things happen;

1) It receives an authentication request from another network in the same country or elsewhere.

2) It receives an authentication request via the UK network (as happens when you switch on or restart in the UK) indicating you have returned home and that it should revert to delivering calls and texts as normal.

If someone calls you when you are roaming, they hear the ringing tone generated by the local network while your phone is ringing and, depending on local regulations, business practices and the roaming agreement between O2 and the network you find yourself on, it can be possible that you are charged for the remote network even attempting to connect your call.

In short, if you want to exclude the possibility of this happening, buy a tablet or remove the SIM from your phone and keep it in a safe place BEFORE you switch on your phone when you get off the plane as without a SIM inserted the phone won't be able to log on but as I said above, once it logs on, the roaming forwarding can remain in place until your phone logs back on in the UK, even if it is switched off.