A woman from Nottingham racked up £6,648 in mobile phone charges after calling her provider to fix a connection problem while on a trip to New York.
Hilary O’Donnell fell victim to the often extortionate costs charged by operators for usage abroad while staying away with friends – and was left thousands of pounds out of pocket thanks to one “small error”.
After arriving in New York, she noticed that her phone wasn’t making outgoing calls and tried to ring her provider, the Isle of Man-based firm Plan.com on WhatsApp, in an attempt to resolve the issue.
Several failed attempts to get through to the company in under 30 minutes cost her £6,648 after the high roaming charges saw the Nottingham native plough through 850 megabytes of data, with each MB priced at £7.75 outside of Europe.
She described the charges, which she discovered after returning to the UK days later, as “excessive and unfair”, especially because her seemingly faulty phone led her to believe she wasn’t using up any data.
“I was to blame as I didn’t have a spending cap,” she admitted to The Guardian. “[But] I didn’t realise I was even using the service as I had installed an e-sim to avoid being overcharged.”
E-sims are a popular way to limit high costs while using phones abroad by providing a set amount of data at a budget price.
In this case, however, money was taken from Ms O’Donnell’s account, leaving her overdrawn, and Plan.com said she wouldn’t have internet or signal access until the entire bill had been paid.
She tried to take her case to the Communications Ombudsman on the grounds that she had paid an unfair price for “a small error”, but the organisation ruled in favour of the mobile operator.
A spokesperson for Plan.com said: “We maintain transparency in our pricing, and our fees are clearly outlined on our website,” reports The Guardian.
They added: “While we understand that mistakes can happen, it’s important to clarify that the error, in this case, was not caused by our company.”
While Brits travelling in Europe can sometimes enjoy the same mobile phone deal they would at home, those heading further afield can unknowingly face huge charges for just a few minutes of usage.
And tourists have been warned to be more vigilant than ever as popular provider EE is increasing phone usage costs in countries including the US, Australia and South Africa.
The network operator formerly charged a flat fee of £25 per month, but has switched to a £2.47 per day fee for data usage and calls.
“Travellers should be wary of add-ons and extra fees when travelling,” mobile phone expert Airalo said.
They added: “If customers aren’t aware, costs can significantly stack up and create an extravagant bill.”
“Downlading an e-Sim for travelling, and turning off your primary SIM can significantly reduce fees when travelling, which makes for efficient roaming when abroad.”
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