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16 Mar 2009
A skiing holidaymaker has been hit with a huge mobile bill from Vodafone after using its services in France, in a stark reminder of the potentially high cost of mobile data charges while abroad.
Will Pierce was bored with French television and downloaded some British programmes using his Vodafone data card. But during a five-day holiday he managed to run up a bill of £22,000, without any warning that he was doing so.
Pierce downloaded shows including Top Gear and Kavanagh QC at a cost equating to roughly £300 a minute. One show, lasting only 18 minutes, cost him as much as £5,132, according to reports in the Daily Mail.
"I am amazed that Vodafone could allow an individual to run up such a huge bill without any warning or agreement of a credit limit," Pierce told the newspaper.
"I nearly fell over when I saw the bill. It was just unbelievable. I never imagined it would cost so much to watch a few TV programmes.
"There's no warning when you log on how much it will cost a minute, or a counter on the screen telling you what it is costing. If you ran up such a bill on your credit card while overseas you'd get a call checking that it is you who is spending so much."
Vodafone has agreed to waive the bill.
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Do you agree?
Just Trying It On
People like this annoy the hell out of me. It is complete and utter rubbish that a 42 year old man can not take responsibility for his own actions. Its complete ignorance and inability to research something first, or he should have done what he agreed he would do when he signed up to the service and read and abide by the terms of service. His statement says it all, "I never knew a programme would cost so much". That says it all, that he doesn't even understand what he is doing when using the service. You wouldn't go out an buy a car without asking, how much it costs to run, insure, tax and maintain. You do your homework and find out the fundamentals first. It has become common knowledge that going abroad is expensive and any customer who denies that they didn't know, didn't read their terms of service when they agreed that they would. They should be penalised for their stupidity, and Vodafone are suffering because of the bad press. With the guy saying he had no idea that it would cost so much, he obviously knew it was costing something and wouldn't be included in his allowances so why didn't he ask first? Some people! .
Posted by: Mark 27 Apr 2009
Data Bill!
I had the same problem with Carphone Warehouse - in this country with a faulty 'phone! My spend limit was set to £100 p/month, to ensure I didn't overspend. When a bill of £1200 landed on my door I went berzerk with the company. They told me "the limit was ony a guide, and if I exceeded it, that was my fault!" Needless to say, I switched suppliers!
Posted by: Mark Rodwell 18 Mar 2009
What a plank
illegally downloading multiple GB of copyrighted content he was surprised to find out he had a big bill... Wait until the copyright charges hit. The download software provided by Vodafone does advise you how much data you have downloaded and allows you to set a limit if you want. Familiarity with a tariffs pricing should really rest with the user. Finally, international use is usually prevented at point of sale unless specifically requested - I would suggest he knew what he was getting into and was a plank.
Posted by: ebana 16 Mar 2009