Data roaming charges: Who is responsible?

14 Aug 2010 04:07p.m.

Brett wrote:

This is a Vodaphone network issue. From Vodaphone's point of view they did send those txt's to warn about going over the limit, but I also agree that Nicole that the txt's arr arrived in Nicole's phone at once. Myself also being a Vodaphone customer, have experienced this issue on a very small scale. I have been sent multiple txt's over a number of hours and they arrived all at one in my phone. When I checked each txt arrival date and time on my phone, to my surprise, they did not have the same date/time when they arrived in my phone, but were spread over the duration I assume when they were originally sent to me. Vodaphone should pay Nicole's phone bill, and have Vodaphone investigate further into they delay of receiving txt messages.

14 Aug 2010 12:37a.m.

stuart wrote:

what a stupid girl she deserves the bill

13 Aug 2010 05:43p.m.

Matt wrote:

Vodafone are clearly a pack of scamming liars. But when the alternative is Telecom, what can you do?

13 Aug 2010 09:07a.m.

nigel wrote:

I am going to chance my uninformed legal arm here and disagree with the majority. Terms and conditions simply mean contract and any contract must be fair, reasonable and equitable it cannot be misleading or weighted unfairly in favour of one party and remain valid. If there is “fine print” otherwise known as sneakiness, then that effectively absolves one party from any liability to the other. The trite “you should have read our terms and conditions” does not free Vodafone of their responsibility to make their terms and conditions reasonable. Since it is manifest that a few emails and a couple of web pages for six thousand dollars is completely insane Vodafone have not a leg to stand on! Don’t give them a cent!

12 Aug 2010 11:34p.m.

Paul P wrote:

Very easy to clock up big data charges. Vodafone aren't very upfront about it when setting you up for roaming. Best thing is to buy a prepaid SIM card wherever it is that you land ASAP. It'll cover talk time, SMS and data. You can even call home for less than it does when you're at home. That way VF don't reap any benefit at all. The more people do it the sooner they'll get the message and address the issue.......by being more relatistic about their billing rates.

12 Aug 2010 10:31p.m.

Alex wrote:

It's an awful lot of money. I agree with the majority that she should have understood the fees and what she was paying for. Vodafone also acted irreponsibly for allowing her to rack up so much on her bill.... if it was getting excessive they should have blocked it and asked her to verify she had paid x amount of dollars on roaming in order to continue. The negotiation for vodafone to provide half of the bill seems fair to me.

12 Aug 2010 05:26p.m.

nigel wrote:

Six thousand dollars for next to nothing is a rip off no matter how you cut it! It should be made crystal clear to consumers how outrageous the charges actually are. Hiding the facts amongst screeds of other data on websites and suggesting the consumer should have read them is sneaky and duplicitous. Vodafone know full well that any normal person aware of the charges would buy a cheap local prepay phone and pay the same or less for data than they do here! So they keep the information as good as secret, avoiding their responsibility to the consumer. I would not pay them either!

12 Aug 2010 12:22p.m.

Lin wrote:

It is always best to read the terms & conditions... Business are required by law to disclose information about the goods & services they provide. The information is available for you to search on the business websites. Often they advise to refer to the terms & conditions online or they send a brochure. If a consumer knew they will be using a particular service, wouldn't they check the rates? Try to understand how to use the service. She complains that the rep didn't inform her, she could have been proactive and asked about the charges. Fair enough the charges are way too high but check before you use. Also the roaming isn't user friendly >_<

12 Aug 2010 10:20a.m.

Benjamin wrote:

I racked up a $2500 data roaming bill from a week in London, just using maps and emailing. I knew the charges were expensive, so I checked my balance regularly to monitor how much it was costing me. However, while at the end of the balance it says "your balance updates every 2 hours", apparently when you're roaming it doesn't at all, so you can't check how much you've spent. Vodafone's data roaming service isn't user friendly. They shouldn't provide a service that's so expensive and difficult to monitor.

12 Aug 2010 09:40a.m.

lightseed wrote:

George, i'd actually say they are post from people who actually take responsibility for their actions and educate themselves on the topic. I'd suggest you take a grow up pill and stop pretending that people aren't as dumb as her or you, and realise they are people not a company posting.