Samsung Galaxy S5 - Mobile data charges

[Thomasicecool]

Good afternoon Vodafone Community

I need some helps and guidance.

I upgraded from a Blackberry Bold to a Samsung Galaxy S5 in April 2014.  My local Vodafone store in Strand, London setup my phone including connecting my email accounts.

Around July/August my phone (Samsung Galaxy S5) started to re-open read email to the tune of 300/400 in any one day, and sometimes more which had already been read and deleted.  Subsequently, I was charged £151.67 & then £97.50 for mobile data usage, being over my limit.  Vodafone intially could not explain how this was happening, however i managed to eventually get hold of someone in the Vodafone technical team who went through the setting of my phone, and told me the Mobile data was switched on and i needed to delete my email accounts and re-connect to try and stop the issue happening.  The technician confirm that the email issue would have used a lot of data and hence causing my phone to exceed the data limit.

When i asked Vodafone customer services to write-off the data charges because 1. the phone was setup my the vodafone store and I just run with settings which they had use. 2. There was an issue with the phone constantly opening hundreds of emails daily.  Vodafone Customer Services only offer to re-imburse £50 even though their staff at the store setup my phone and the issue with the emails is no fault of my own.

Has anyone else had the same problem?  How did you resolve this issue?  Is there a Ombudsman I can lodge a complaint with? Or will I have to contact the consumer watchdog?

I am looking forward to receiving some help or guidance with regards to this matter, as I am fed-up of being ripped off my big companies.

Regards

Thomasicecool

[Retired-Matt_B]

Hi Thomasicecool,

I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to credit any additional charges that were added to your bill.

It's your responsibility to monitor your usage. The additional data could have been used on any number of applications and wouldn't necessarily have been caused 100% by the email application.

Thanks,

Matt B

[hrym]

I'd be very surprised if just opening emails used that amount of data, though downloading them might if they're very large - it's a while since I used the offline client, but is there an option to set a limit on how much is downloaded initially, or to exclude attachments?

If your email service has a dedicated app (eg Gmail, Yahoo or Outlook), it would be a good idea to use that.  if not, you can set Gmail to pull in messages from any other service and then to reply to and send as from that address - do this on the website, not the phone.   You can then use the Gmail app, which doesn't require any settting up one you phone's logged into your Google account, which I assume it is.

I'd also recommend the My Vodafone app for keeping an eye on your account (though it can lag up to 72 hours behind).  It's also worth installing a data monitoring app, such as My Data Manager.  This will show usage in real time, down to the hour if necessary, and is an excellent way of nailing data hogs.  You can also set it warn you when you near your limit and it can even cut you off when you reach it.  Take a few moment to explore the settings and get it synchronised with your Vodafone account.

[Thomasicecool]

Thanks for your assistance

[Thomasicecool]

Hi Matt

I understand that you cannot answer specific account questions, however, the usage went through the roof when BT change my email account from pay-as-you to free because of my broadband.  Prior to that change my data usage was ok, hence I can tight down the high data usage to the change in my email.  Receiving over 500 emails in the morning and every  is no joke and is not normal.

According to the Vodafone statement the high usage was occurring at midnight when I would have been asleep, hence my point about the Vodafone shop setting up thr phone and me just running with, and therefore Vodafone should take some responsibility on how they setup a customers phone.

If you would like to take this conversation off-line and would be happy to carry on this conversation

Regards

Thomasicecool

[hrym]

The team can certainly answer account-related queries, but they'll do so away from the public area of the forum.   I think what Matt_B was saying was that they won't credit the data charge as it was actually used, even if unintentionally.

I suspect that the change BT has made to your account is what's caused this.  Changing the status has almost certainly marked everything as unread, which would explain the massive download and I've seen this happen before - including the deleted messages, for some reason.   It should be a one-off and not happen again, but keep an eye on it.   If you can use webmail to mark everything as read, that should act as a belt-and-braces.   If it's not a one-off, then it's possible that the email app isn't marking messsages as read, but you should be able to change that in Settings (for the app).  The shop will have set the app up correctly, but there seems to have been a combination of circumstances which have led to your problem.

Data usage agglomerates on your account and doesn't show at the actual time, so the midnight timing is simply that happening.

As well as getting a data monitoring app, I'd also recommend downloading the full manual for your phone from the Samsung website.  It contains a lot more information than the Getting Started guide and will help you get the most out of it.  It'll have full information on the various email settings, too.

[Thomasicecool]

Thanks for your advice Hrym

However, the point i am trying to make (badly).  Was this is my first andriod phone and I relied on the technical staff at the shop to setup my phone, and then run with it.  However, it they had not switch on the mobile data, I wouldn't have this problem now, as my data usage would not have exceeded its limit.  Hence Vodafone should accept some responsibility and reduce the charge accordingly.  Due to my naivety relying on the store to setup my phone correctly and a technical issue with my BT email account, I believe I have been treated unfairly and will look to take this matter further.

[hrym]

There's not much point in having a smartphone if you don't have data on!  On top of which, it's normally on by default when you start the device, so the shop won't actually have turned it on.  I also don't think they could be aware of issues with your BT email account and I'm actually quite impressed that they were willing/able to set it up for you at all.

I appreciate that this is a hard lesson, but it's not typical.  It is important to keep an eye on your data usage, though as all kinds of apps can use data when you least expect it.  Some will have the option to restrict their activities to wifi only (Facebook can be set only to play videos on it, Google Play can be set only to update then - personally, I keep auto-update there off - etc).  Whenever you install a new app, always browse the settings to see what you can do and whether there are update schedules.

It's a steep learning curve - smartphones are complex devices - but you should find you get the hang of it all fairly quickly.   You migth also find this interesting.

[Ben_H]

Hi @Thomasicecool ,

We'll be happy to discuss your charges if you take a look here for how to get in touch.

We aim to reply to emails within 48 hours. If you need a quicker response, please visit our Contact Us page.

I must stress though, the advice @hrym has posted is spot on. Many of the details you've outlined are set up on the phone by default. The monitoring of your usage can be done online or by calling 44555.

Our Ts&Cs outline that it is the customer's responsibility to track this.

I appreciate it's maybe not the answer you were hoping for, but I just wanted to set some expectations.

Thanks,

Ben

[Thomasicecool]

Hi Ben

Thanks for sending me the T&C which outline the customers responsibility.  This is the first time have been sent this document.

The point I am trying to make is that there was an issue caused by a change to my email contract with BT, which caused large number of emails being downloaded on a daily basis, even though these emails had been opened i the past.  The phone was pulling through emails from 2013, and I tried to contact your technical and couldn't get through.  The problem was made worse by your team in the store that set the mobile data button to on, which led to my data usage going over the roof.  Hence, I do not agree with Hrym about keeping the mobile data on, as i can still pickup my emails, texts etc when I am in the wireless areas, with the mobile data switched off.

So, basically, I am asking Vodafone to use some common sense and realize that this issue was no fault of mine and agree to write off this data charge cuased by a technical issue with the BT emails and the store switching on the mobile data.  My brother (removed for security) is also disputing his data charge again due to technical issues as he does not use his mobile data.  Hence if this matter is not resolved in a satisfactory manner, where the data charges are written off or substantially reduced, we will have no option but to take this matter further.

Regards

Thomasicecool