Data roaming on Galaxy note 2

[Dawnietee]

I am currently abroad and when I left London I turned off my data roaming and mobile data.
I have only been using wifi in my friends apartment in the evenings and only using my phone in the day simply for taking photos .. ..
Today, I needed to check a friends flight was coming in on time so I turned my settings on for maybe two minutes at the very most whilst I checked. Then I had text after text after text from Vodafone (from two separate numbers) telling me all the charges I have incurred. I simply cannot believe that I have been charged over £60 for simply checking a flight time!!!
This has to be wrong as I've not used my phone in Well over a week.
Can someone please help? This is ruining my holiday!

[drey_p]

Hi there

When you have had data switched off for a little while and initially turn it on, all the various apps on your phone start updating, email syncing etc in the background, so yes, you will use data pretty quickly.  If you are outside of Europe, it costs £3 per MB for up to 5MB then £15 for every 5MB after. So, £60 is approximately 20MB of usage - this is not a huge amount of data to use and it's very easy to use in just a couple of minutes. 

[Dawnietee]

Thank you for replying to my query. I partly understand this.. .. However on my phone, my apps don't update without asking me first. I had a couple of updates come through the night before and I accepted the updates whilst I was connected to my friends wifi.. .. so no updates have occurred in the 2 minutes I put my data on for.
also, I had a couple of other texts from Vodafone under a different text number telling me that any data I used would be capped and this certainly hasn't happened.
Any more advice please?

[jeffkinn]

You are mistaken in that there will be a whole slew of apps that use data whether you realise it or not and whether you are using them or not.

Downlooad a data manager from the Play Store and see what apps are using data - you'll be surprised. 

[Dawnietee]

I thought that Vodafone were supposed to help/advise/answer our problems on here?

[drey_p]

They do and as you will have seen from the main page it can take a while for them to respond. TBH not much more can be said.  You turned the phone on, it used background data and you have been charged for it. Apps update all the time in the background (and no I am not referring to prompting you to download a newer version of the app) - I am referring to your email being automatically delivered, your Facebook automatically updating and giving you the latest news from your friends etc

[Dawnietee]

But receiving conflicting information from Vodafone isn't on. They can't tell you that your charges will be capped on one thread of texts and then a whole other string telling someone they've spent an extortionate amount of money.
If your charges should be capped then it's not on scaring people telling them they've spent a lot of money that they haven't!
I just want to know what I'm being charged!

[drey_p]

Where were you roaming?  Do you have any products like EuroTraveller or WorldTraveller on your account (these do opt you out of various data caps)

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@Dawnietee wrote:
But receiving conflicting information from Vodafone isn't on. They can't tell you that your charges will be capped on one thread of texts and then a whole other string telling someone they've spent an extortionate amount of money.

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This is caused by delays in getting the billing information from the roaming network.  Because of the delays it is possible to exceed any caps before the cap actually kicks in!

[Dawnietee]

So basically all im going to be told is that the cap doesn't work and they can charge me whatever they want.
This is really bad customer service.
This snt the first time Vodafone have ripped me off either.
I have been a customer for many many years but not for much longer I feel.
This really isn't good enough.

Thanks for you help and input. At least now I know what I'm going to be facing when I get home and try to sort this out.

[jeffkinn]

No that isn't what you're being told at all.

If you are in either Europe or a World Traveller Zone and you have those services active on your account, all you'll pay is £3 or £5 per day extra as long as you stay within your normal allowances.

If you haven't opted in for either of those you will be saved by the cap that applies to roaming fees.

And assuming you will be charged the network's published rates for roaming I don't see how that can be construed as being ripped off.