Telstra $6000 International Roaming Charge (2GBs)

AircraftFreight on 19/07/2023 - 00:17

Welp, kinda screwed up…
Forgot to turn of my international roaming on my personal phone before boarding a flight. Landed in Doha, and my phone started to download my Tidal playlist that wasn’t finished downloading and my emails.

(Was using my work phone to answer emails ect)

Just before boarding my next flight I look at my personal phone and pops up a message and that “You’ve used $100 on internatiomal roaming” about 4 hours ago when I landed and before all too long, walking down the jetway - logged into my Telstra account to see a $6000 for 2GBs of roaming charges added to my account.

Thoughts and any advice?

Financial

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Comments

  • lachhelix on 19/07/2023 - 00:31
    +2

    OOOOOF 🥶
    Call them and explain - see what they can do. Similar thing happened a long time ago with a mobile call for 20 hours to an international mobile, they ended up dropping the charge down to around $500 instead of $3k

    Secondly though, strange Tidal doesn't have a config to disallow downloads when roaming!

    Edit: why would somebody report this post as "inaccessible to Australians" - OP is asking for advice lmao

    • shxhshzhz on 19/07/2023 - 00:41
      +3

      they must've thought it was a $6000 deal from Doha.

    • AircraftFreight on 19/07/2023 - 02:50
      +1

      Well they are kinda right, inaccessible to Australians to get a $6000 international roaming charge 😂😂

  • Hybroid on 19/07/2023 - 00:35

    Generally for genuine errors, you can contact them and they'll either waive or reduce it for you. $6,000 for only 2 GBs of data doesn't seem reasonable in the first place, something has gone wrong there.

    Also see if you can setup a spend limit on your account so cannot go above +$50 out of contract spend or whatever you see fit. That way limits your cost exposure.

    • lachhelix on 19/07/2023 - 00:39

      Apparently PAYG for data on Telstra anywhere overseas is $3 per mb!!
      Day pass equivalent is $20 for the day for 2GB… If OP is unsuccessful, could perhaps try and convince Telstra that's what you tried to sign up for but it didn't seem to work

    • AircraftFreight on 19/07/2023 - 02:38

      Unfortunately the standard rate for Telstra is $3 per mb overseas. Going to switch on my VPN and get into contact now.

    • thatonethere on 19/07/2023 - 07:43

      Generally at work we found if you hadnt done it before Telstra will waive it as a guesture of good will. But only once.

      However they have a lot more consumer warnings now so you will have to carefully navigate getting the refund.

  • jv on 19/07/2023 - 01:47
    +1

    Thoughts and any advice?

    Get an extra job?

    • bobbified on 19/07/2023 - 02:23
      +1

      Or give an extra "job".

      • pharkurnell on 19/07/2023 - 13:15
        +1

        I'd say there'd be several required.

  • Muzeeb on 19/07/2023 - 06:54
    +6

    Tell Telstra that your tenant broke the toilet bowl and you just don't have the cash anymore to pay the bill.

  • Ocker on 19/07/2023 - 07:39
    +5

    As a shareholder of Telstra shares - thank-you

    • jv on 19/07/2023 - 08:57

      As someone who sold Telstra shares - thank-you

  • Uncle Roger on 19/07/2023 - 08:18
    -1

    Keep us updated haiya

  • mrkorrupt on 19/07/2023 - 08:33
    -2

    I never understood this, It is not like you accidentally ended up on a flight during your morning walk. Every time, I or someone I know goes overseas, I look into local sim cards, and If I am travelling myself, turn off data / remove sim card when leaving Australian Airspace until I get the local one.

    • lachhelix on 19/07/2023 - 08:55
      +3

      Obviously a mistake! These things happen

    • AircraftFreight on 19/07/2023 - 22:53

      Well I travel a lot for work that does include international sectors.

  • dixy on 19/07/2023 - 09:01
    +2

    Best to be on prepaid all the time. no stress

    • leiiv on 19/07/2023 - 09:23

      And the standard charges for postpaid need to paid upfront too nowadays. For example, if you are on $30/month plan, and it starts on 1 Jul, they will charge you $30 on 1 Jul. AKA, it's not "post" paid anymore.

  • Protractor on 19/07/2023 - 10:50
    -7

    Sounds like(a) you can afford it and (b) you're savvy enough to have avoided this.
    Time to cough up.

  • prisonmike on 19/07/2023 - 11:01
    +1

    Tell them that you dog ate all that data

  • muzzamo on 19/07/2023 - 12:23
    +1

    To me it seems obvious that you should be able to negotiate it down to $20.

    This is what they charge for the 2x 1GB international day passes, and that includes Qatar.

    Anything unreasonably more than that (personally i'd pay $100 or even $200 to make the problem go away immediately) and take them to the ombudsman. Be patient.

  • try2bhelpful on 21/07/2023 - 11:10

    More and more I’m happy I have Prepaid. I buy a SIM overseas and only put my old SIM back in if I want a two factor SMS.

    As others have said contact Telstra and see if you can get a once off good will reduction. Frankly the charges are outrageous.

    • AircraftFreight on 21/07/2023 - 22:19
      -1

      Well I’ll have to wait for the bill to be issued - can’t do anything till they see the bill…

      Hopefully anything under $100 - preferably $0

      • try2bhelpful on 21/07/2023 - 22:32

        Best of luck. The thought of something like this makes me queasy.

  • AircraftFreight on 10/08/2023 - 22:27

    Update: Got it reduced to $500 after many phone calls and messages

    • try2bhelpful on 11/08/2023 - 08:09

      At least you got a reasonable discount. An expensive lesson learnt.

    • Pippenn2K on 27/08/2023 - 13:56

      That's still ridiculous for 2GB. International roaming charges are borderline criminal. I wonder what the cost to Telstra is for using that 2GB overseas.

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