Also "she expected it would cost more than usual". She just bought the iphone, how would she know what usual was? If she had bought it a month or so before going overseas, she could have done some of the activities she planned on doing on her phone overseas. She could have then checked her bill and see how much data she used, and then gauge that against what the pricing plan is when roaming to see roughly how much it would cost.
"Even if i had of done all the research" rubbish. By "doing all the research" she could have looked up what 1MB of data can be used for. "What can I do with 1MB" into google, first result explains it. And besides it is not vodafones responsibility to explain to her what a byte is, especially if she didn't even ask them or look up what there pricing was (as she stated she did not). How would you expect them to explain it? A Byte is a unit.. you cant break it down. Its like asking some one to explain how far 1 meter is, but they person explaining cannot reference any forms of distance. Especially because apparently this explanation on there website wasn't enough "50MB, which gives you enough data to do more than 5,000 Facebook status updates".
lol "reality check". That was a pretty good one :D haha
Firstly, you bought an iPhone to go roaming for 1 month? Error number 1. iPhones like Blackberry or any smartphone is designed for data accessibility. Secondly, Vodafone NZ are not the ones charging you for roaming, as you are not on their Network while you're roaming. Which is why you can not use your plan while overseas. The charges are from whatever network you connected to overseas, be it Vodafone UK, AT&T, Orange or whatever network it is. They contact Vodafone NZ and say 'Your customer has used our network, here's the bill'. The fact they are covering half of that bill is pretty decent off them, you just cost them three thousand dollars, and guess where they'll recover that loss? from us the customers, thanks for that. You also says that the price list is in fine print, that's not true. Look at the country you're visiting, it will give you a laundry list of everything you need to know from frequency to charges per voice, txt, pxt and data. You don't know how many mb an email equates to? none of us do, until we receive it. Check every email in your inbox right now, every one will be a different size. Websites vary on what's on the page, animated gifs or jpegs, how much text is on there, Flash videos etc etc. You can't seriously expect Vodafone or anyone else to tell you that. I agree with Tim, roaming has always been expensive. If you don't know how to use your phone safely while overseas, buy a prepay sim from a GSM Network in that country, that way it's a cheaper rate as you're using their sim card and if you get trigger happy with data connections, it will cut you off once your credit is used up and you have the option of topping up or leaving it at that. And as others have pointed out here, utilise Free Wifi connections, they're everywhere overseas. Based on what I and others have stated here, I don't think you did any research at all on roaming. I'd say you need a reality check, but I guess you just got one.
What a stupid woman. Why people choose to roam is also beyond me. Get a Prepaid sim card in each new location you go to.
This is news? Seriously? She should have done her research before she went overseas. I feel no sympathy for her whatsoever. To blame it on the Vodafone customer service person is just offloading her own laziness and ineptitude onto someone else. Whenever I have put my phone on roaming (multiple times) Vodafone have always warned me about the expense of going on roaming, and I always check the charges for every country I go to. In addition, I have ALWAYS received the warning texts within one minute of changing to a new network. If those texts weren't coming through then she wouldn't have been receiving anything else. She's lucky that they have wiped even half of her bill.
I think she should have the pay, as i'm no computer guru, but it's pretty clear on there web site the charges. i'm with 2degrees and 2 months ago before traveling away to Europe checked online and found similar charges applied with no clearer instruction than what i found on the vodafone web site. As for the welcome text messages in each country, they are very clear on their charges. This is what my mate who also traveled over with vodafone NZ iphone found, so we both bought local vodafone uk prepay sim cards for 5 pounds with 5 pounds credit. I find this part of her story of the delayed welcome messages for vodafone nz a bit hard to believe. If all the messages from vodafone NZ didn't show up till she arrived back in NZ, surely it was the same from all her messages from friends and family back in NZ. She needs to take some responsibility for her own actions and stop trying the ride out the ignorance story. It doesn't work when it comes to the law, and her exaggerated story of the hard to find details is a bit of a tall story. Should count herself lucky that she only has to pay half. Hard luck i say.
Jeff not every one knows in terms an email or using google maps how many megabites. I just did a check on vodafones website and find it is more directed at selling products or services than providing answers about using those products or services. Yes most of the information can be found but could be simpler.The simple advice still remains, let the buyer beware, or don't expect the seller to tell you everything you need or want to know. Ask or they might not tell.
Vodafone has the worst customer service I've ever encountered and I'm not surprised that they stuffed up yet again. Granted, the "victim" here should have done more on her part, but telecommunications companies prey on the naivete of you and I, using "confusion tactics" which the former CEO of Telecom Theresa Gatting herself admitted to using.
I agree Vodafones website is not altogether user friendly, but the information is there, on the same page that list all the other International Roaming charges for calls and Texts, it clearly shows Data rate on there. To be blunt part of what she was expecting to be explained to her is not feasible. How one measures a MB, can't be confirmed as Data is exactly that Data = based on the amount of data transferred or downloaded to the device. No Teleco or internet provider can look into the future and tell you what size emails or web access pages you are going to go on and how much data it will take for the information on that page to download on to your phone, that's just impossible. Also remember Roaming charges are based on the agreement Vodafone (or Telecom etc) have with the Telco's overseas, which is why it's only $2 a MB in Australia right now, that's the deal they managed to agree on there. It's a hard lesson to learn, but sadly for her she's lucky she's been offered half off - she would had the same issue if she was on Telecom.