Hello I took out a two year contract with EE, in September 2016, on their 4GEE Max Plan, for £45.99 per month. That plan was £5 per month more than the one below it, as it allowed you to use your call and data allowance whilst in the EU. Awesome! Except that when I took out the contract, I was unaware that everyone would be getting EU roaming within their price plans on the 15th June 2017! Called EE and basically it's hard cheese. The only thing they will do is move me to one of their new 4GEE Max Plans and have allowance calls in USA, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand for an additional £2 per month. Personally, I think it's a bit rough. In my eyes the contract has changed significantly and I'm not getting everything I was paying for. What does everyone else think?

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/technology/roaming-charges-in-europe-officially-scrapped-from-today-%E2%80%93-all-you-need-to-know-about-using-your-phone-overseas/ar-BBCH3sE?li=AA9SkIr&ocid=ientp However, all is not as it seems... Do read the article linked above because there are still places that you will be charged and quite heavily for staying in contact whilst you are abroad.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/may/20/mobile-phone-roaming-charges-banned-europe-15-june-brexit

On holiday in Thailand, I kept my phone in flight mode throughout my holiday, or used hotel wi-fi... . Except for one inadvertent internet session in a restaurant three doors from my hotel lasting, at a guess, approximately 30 mins (thought I was still connected to hotel wi-fi, nothing on the phone to tell me otherwise until a text message arrived to tell me the cap of 50 euros had been applied, for which I was grateful). Annoyed that I'd spent £40 unintentionally, and cursing myself for a fool, I put the phone back into flight mode. Needless to say, when the bill arrived (from Utility Warehouse, but I suppose it could be anybody) it wasn't £40...it was £754! I put in a complaint and the response is to reduce the charges to £300, which I actually think is quite reasonable... But I thought I'd see what others think before I accept - any ideas?

11477428 I have just been landed with £7800 of unbilled usage for 2GB of data that was used whilst in Montenegro. The boat that I'm on moved from Croatia to Montenegro and I received no notification of the charges for phone/data use whilst in Montenegro so I (wrongly) assumed that I would be using my uk allowance. I've been with Vodafone quite a while and use my phone all the time while working in Europe with no problems exceeding my 20GB uk allowance. Average monthly bills of around £150-200. The phone reps said I should cancel my DD and wait till the end of the month to see when the bill is generated before they can do anything. What are the chances of this extortionate charge being removed from my account?

Extra costs of using a mobile phone in countries across the EU are to be scrapped, MEPs have agreed, after years of negotiations. The ban on data roaming charges from 15 June 2017 has received a final green light in the European Parliament. Roaming charges are added by mobile operators for calls, texts and internet browsing when phone users are abroad. An interim cap on charges will take effect from 30 April next year, prior to the full ban across the EU. That means telecoms operators will be able to add a surcharge of no more than: €0.05 (3.5p) extra per minute for calls €0.02 extra per SMS sent €0.05 extra per megabyte of data used The cap would make roaming within the EU 75% cheaper during the interim period, the European Commission has said. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34646434

I have a bill for circa £1.5K which is comprised of roaming charges whilst I was away in Italy. It is really odd, the bill includes for 9Gb between approximately of data downloaded between 12 and 2 in the morning. I am not even sure such speeds are feasible on a mobile data network. There is no way I downloaded this, I realise that it could have been an automatic update, but then I looked at the Mobile Data Usage on the Ipad the Current Period Roaming is 7.6Gb and that is everything from the 10 November 2013. The device is an Ipad. They have not taken the money yet, I know I can cancel the DD, but I do not want my credit rating shot to pieces by them and they hold all my business numbers so I do not want to be cut off. I have have used the Social Escalation Hub.

Hi all, here a quick overview: My fiancee went to the Philippines, and once there turned data roaming on. Apparently it was not possible to call or text with it turned off, and she wanted to be available in case of an emergency (me and our son stayed here in the UK). She got a text from Orange with information about the usage - £8 per MB. She thought it would mean 8p per MB and left data roaming on (she remembers the text saying £?8). The result were several texts from Orange about data usage which were ignored as she was swamped with other texts and busy first arranging surgery and later a funeral as a result of it. I.e. it was a pretty distressing trip for her. The result of data roaming being on and apps running in the background (they were not actively used) was a usage of 200MB = £1600. I realise that a good part of this is our fault, but I do not regard £1600 as an acceptable price to pay. £8 per MB is far removed from their costs, from the value of the service to us etc. Also, their own data packages are cheaper by multiples (the same amount of data paid by packages would be about £240). We've called Orange, but the call center didn't want to amend the bill, now we emailed them (executive office, customer service) as well, asking to amend the bill. The direct debit is due soon, and I'd prefer the issue resolved before that date... Questions: 1) Considering that there have been texts, what is the best way forward for us? 2) What is the best way to deal with the impending direct debit payment? I want to solve this as amicable as possible, and don't want to go down the route of cancelling the direct debit, getting additional charges etc.

The roaming charge cap takes effect from tomorrow – 1 July – and will lower costs for people travelling within the EU. Under the new rules the maximum charge for outgoing calls, excluding VAT, will be 19 cents per minute, six cents for outgoing text messages and 20 cents for a MB download of data. However, the new caps only apply when you use a mobile within the EU. Worryingly nearly half of mobile users who have been abroad in the last 12 months said they didn’t know that the price caps don’t apply to the whole of Europe. If you’re travelling further afield you could still suffer from bill shock on your return, unless you plan beforehand. What should you do to avoid huge charges? For starters, don’t download films, games or music abroad. Do it through home wi-fi before you leave. But the most crucial thing is to turn off data roaming on your phone or tablet. Look up your model on the internet before you travel to find out how to do this. It will stop the automatic downloads of updates, which can really cause a huge bill. Then find out about data roaming bundles or buy a local SIM when you arrive abroad for cheap-rate calls. Ofcom, the regulator, has made a series of helpful videos explaining how to avoid racking up bills. Go to Consumers.ofcom.org.uk/2013/03/how-to-mobile-guides/. http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2014/06/30/bill-shock-new-roaming-caps-benefit-mobile-users-in-the-eu-but-not-elsewhere/

I understand the 'excuses' given by the majority of mobile companies for the high rates charged for roaming in other countries, the main one being that other companies charge punitive rates to use their networks. However, as the market becomes ever more globalised and with the constant mergers and acquisitions of the various companies, we see a company such as Vodafone in particular, with a footprint in a significant number of countries is effectively punitively charging it's own customers under the guise of 'separate corporate entities', whilst still the majority of functions are under a single roof and all reporting through one structure, the Vodafone Group. In addition, Vodafone Group also owns large chunks of the underlying infrastructure, the cabling and fibre, used to route these calls internationally across the data backbone, therefore the costs here are also negligible internally. This seems inherently unfair to the consumer and certainly makes a mockery of their public statements as to the reasons for such high charges. If the market was not a near monopoly then surely these costs would more accurately reflect the actual costs of the roaming.

Three has announced that it has abolished international roaming charges in seven countries. The service is available to Three customers travelling to the Republic of Ireland, Australia, Italy, Austria, Hong Kong, Sweden and Denmark. European authorities have been clamping down on roaming charges. But Three is the first network to abolish them altogether, albeit in selected countries, where it has sister networks. Three says customers on a pay monthly contract would be able to use their allowances of free minutes, texts and data with no extra charges for being abroad. However, those on unlimited plans will be subject to some restrictions. In a press release, Thomas Malleschitz, marketing director at Three, said: "By abolishing expensive roaming charges in select countries, we are allowing our customers to get even more value from their minutes, texts and data abroad by removing the fear associated with staying in touch while travelling." Analysts say that other operators of mobile phone networks are likely to follow Three's lead, particularly those who already have a presence in other countries. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23896896

Hi all I'm glad I found this site! Hope someone can help. Basically, for over a year, Three have been hassling me to pay £233 for calls incurred in Morocco last year. They've been sending debt collectors etc.... Most of this - 64 minutes = £190 to be exact, was due to calls to Three Customer Services when I was asking them to sort out my line which was not receiving texts from a Moroccan number. They took over a year to send me itemised bill - which just landed on my doormat this week. However, their website says that they cap all roaming costs to £49 for their customers. So why did they let me run the bill to £233? I am writing to them with this question, and also saying I'm consulting an expert. Can anyone help, please, with any more insight, or point me to an expert? Fyi, the Ombudsman said that they will only intervene if/ when there is a deadlock... Quick response much appreciated. Thank you! StephJ

Here is an overview of new mobile phone roaming charge caps with effect from 1st.July 2012 The caps apply for travel within the EU although there will be notifications for non EU Cost of mobile calls per minute will be fixed at 23p (currently 28p) and this will go down to 15p by summer 2014. The maximum operators will be able to charge for recieving a call and sending a txt will be 7p. The cost of using internet will be capped at 56p per MB falling to 16p in 2014. Customers using mobiles outside the EU will remain unaffected by the caps,but operators will be obliged to send warning messages to users approaching £40 or 50 euro of charges.

http://www.togglemobile.co.uk/local/en Largely UK style rates of 15p calls 9p texts in Australia, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. 15p per meg for data.

I've been a happy Vodafone customer for years, but have just been stung by an outrageous £668 bill, most of which comes from data charges which I'm disputing from a recent trip to South Africa. Put simply, Vodafone informed me by text message on most days when I was using data that I'd used 3MB (£9) of data. Now they've billed me for anything up to 18MB (£50) data use on these days! To make matters worse, when I called Vodafone Customer services a few days ago when back in the UK, after a couple of first line support scratched their heads about the discrepancy, an abrasive, cocky second level support had the audacity to tell me that: 1) I did use the amount of data billed (I fail to see how I could have used 18MB on basic emails with no attachments) 2) That sending me a text saying I'd used 3MB and billing me for 18MB is not misleading(!) because: i) their log of data use is not in real time (well what's the point then in sending me old data with a current date & time stamp?!) ii) under their terms & conditions, they're not obliged to send me more than one data usage text per day 3) That if I stop my Direct Debit for this disputed bill to enter into further correspondence, my account will be suspended if payment is not taken on the due date, again saying its in the T&Cs. Naturally, I do wish to take this matter further, as I feel very strongly that I've not used the amount of data suggested, that I've been misled by innacurate information from Vodafone, and my reliance upon their messages to me had led me to believe my usage and expenditure was at most around £9 per day, when in actual fact it was much, much higher. As for the threat of suspending my phone if I don't blindly hand over nearly £700 without time for further discussion / investigation... well, if that's their appreciation of a loyal customer, then I'll be off pretty quick! I would really appreciate any guidance on how best to put Vodafone in their place on this. I certainly don't want my phone suspended, or a payment default against my name, but at the same time I won't be held to ransom in such unreasonable fashion. Some further relevant info below: I received the following idential text message on my data days while away: "40506: From Vodafone: Just to let you know, you've used over 3MB of data which has cost you £3 per MB so far. Once you use more than 5MB in a day, the charge becomes £15 incVAT for each 5MB. If you'd like to stop receiving these alerts, text STOP. Sent DATE @ TIME" These warning texts always arrived immediately after using data (having used data a few times throughout the day), and nearly always towards the end of the day. I always stopped my data usage immediately or soon after receiving the above text. On no day did I receive a further message about hitting 5MB or any other level of data usage. The texts are on my HTC Android phone are grouped together in a message 'conversation' so EVERY message from Vodafone is there. The Vodafone website states "We’ll send you free texts to let you know when you’re nearing the end of your data allowance. Once you’ve used your allowance you’ll pay the standard data rates." Note: "Texts" = plural. On no day was I sent more than one text advising 3MB usage When I first called Vodafone from South Africa when the size of my forthcoming bill became apparent, I spent about £20 calling customer services (billing dept) back to the UK. I was categorically told that they could give me NO breakdown or further info about my supposed data usage until after by bill was calculated at the end of the month. Since back in the UK I see on the Vodafone website: "If you need to use your phone in the rest of the world, you can extend Vodafone Data Traveller for just £5 a day for 25MB" Why wasn't I offered this option by customer services while I was paying for the provilege of calling them from overseas, rather than being charged up to £50 per day for less than 25MB usage?! I'm no stranger to roaming charges as I often have to travel for my work. But never have I had a bill anything like this! I'd really like to know where I stand regarding the charges and also having a time period to take this matter further with Vodafone without getting my phone suspended or credit rating affected. So any help or guidance would be gratefully received!

Hi a few months ago I received a letter from Fredrickson asking me to contact them regarding a personal matter, I checked the web and found this CAG forum so binned it. the next day I received a letter saying I owed their client Arrow Global £2229.27 I figured from this board that it related to Orange, I sent them a Prove it letter and received a reply saying it was on hold. Yesterday I received another letter from Freds which says, "We refer to your recent letter or telephone conversation with this office. Please find enclosed account dicuments, provided by our client as requested. we hope this clarifies matters and look forward to hearing from you with proposals for the discharge of this account. " Attached is a statement from Orange showing payments from 2002 up to 2006 when the last payment wasn't made. (£2229.27) I have previously been chased by Moorcroft for this back in 2006 after I was cut off by Orange for non payment. The charges are for one month when I was in Munich ( my usual bill was £40 average) these charges had run up through excessive charges whilst roaming including paying for received calls and text messages. I informed Moorcroft that I would only deal with Orange and sent Orange a letter stating I was not prepared to pay these excessive charges as they should have capped my account before allowing it to run up to such an excessive amount, I offered to pay for calls made and sms sent but not received (around £500) although still very excessive) I didn't hear anything until this year although I was aware it was still on my credit file and preventing me getting a loan or finance. At no point have Freds ever mentioned Orange up to now. My feeling is that the account is still in dispute with Orange and I am still prepared to pay them a reduced settlement but I am not going to pay a DCA one penny. I have also read that the law has changed and phone companies are now required to set an agreed limit on roaming charges or cut off services at €50 This was my original argument with Orange, also roaming charges were capped significantly after this. What is my best course of action? I intend to send Freds a letter saying you have attached a statement from Orange, how is this related to arrow Global, and that the account with Orange is in dispute and has been since 2006. and also to write to Orange again. Do I need to ask for an SAR first or do I just write again with my original dispute? As the EU have been fighting to change these charges is there any way of having them cleared as they were deemed to be excessive by the European commissioners?