A man hailing from Florida said he and his wife were hit with a hefty $143,000(£114,950) phone bill after the pair vacationed in Europe last year thanks to a specific T-Mobile policy.
Rene Remund, 71, originally from Switzerland, lives with his wife Lynda, 65 in Florida. The two visited Rene's home town and basked in the nostalgic environment, saying they enjoyed "magical" moments recounting the man's childhood. A large number of those occasions were documented in photos, which were transmitted via cellphone data back to the United States.
However, it seemed to have a price. When the couple got home, T-Mobile, their carrier, had charged them an astounding $143,442.74(£115,327.96) for their cell phone.
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"I'm looking at it and I say, 'Excuse me, $143,000, are you guys crazy?'' he told a local news outlet. He and his spouse used about 9.5 gigabytes of data over the three-week trip, yet they were charged roaming fees, which amounted to over $6,000(£4,823) per day on average.
For comparison, Ericsson estimates that in 2020, the average North American utilized 11.1 gigabytes of data per month. The carrier refused to budge even after I called T-Mobile to dispute the charge and then hired an attorney to pursue legal action.
Remund claimed he called T-Mobile right away and waited for an agent to go over the charges. They confirmed them, which saddened him. "She gets back. 'No, this is a good bill,'' the representative told Remund. "What do you mean it's a good bill?' he responded. "Well, this is what you owe," they replied.
T-Mobile didn't decide to eliminate the fees until after being contacted by the local news station, Scripps News Tampa, about the bill. Rene, a nearly 30-year T-Mobile user, said he made the customary trip to a store to disclose his travel itinerary in advance.
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"They said, 'You're covered.' Whatever that meant. 'You're covered,'' he told the outlet. After hiring an attorney, the couple sent a letter to the carrier's president and CEO, but they never heard back. On its website, T-Mobile states: "To avoid bill shock, check with your service provider before you travel to see what options are available."
Even though roaming fees are mostly no longer an issue, some plans still charge for them according to gigabytes. Instead, consumers are now just paid a set daily or monthly rate in many countries.
Unintentionally spending too much money when on a foreign journey is regrettably not uncommon. But avoiding it is simple. Cheema's Travel founder and travel business coach Rani Cheema explained what went wrong for Remund and how to prevent a repeat of that experience.
Although she notes that it's typical for travellers to be unaware that their phone is using roaming data, she adds that it's typically "not to that point" of accruing a six-figure bill. "First-timers or novices who believe they can use their phone anywhere at any time are usually the ones who do this," she explains.
“Number one: never go to the store,” she says. “Never, ever, ever. Because they're there to sell phones. They're there to make commissions."