Call charges abroad

[Rebekahapp]

I recently travelled to the US and while there, switched off my data roaming on my mobile relying only on WiFi. During my holiday I phoned my family (who were also in the US) via FaceTime audio calls, but a few times I accidentally hit ‘call’ through their contact so a regular call began. The first time I did this it rang once and went straight to voicemail so I hung up. Any time after this I hung up straight away when I realised it was a regular call being made. None of my accidental calls ever connected. 

My bill hadn’t yet been generated but I could see extra charges on my account for £2.34 per call, racking up around £20 extra charges. I contacted EE right away via the app and was assured by a guide that these charges were not the final charges and would be removed once my bill was generated. My bill is now generated and the charges remain. The call breakdown shows the call lengths, 10 calls totalling a time of less than one minute altogether. I spoke with a different guide today who told me the charges stand despite what I was told one week ago. The guide referred to the call charges noted on the website which point out calls are charged at £2.34 a minute. If this was the case my extra charges should surely be less than £2.34. The guide informed me ‘a minute’ actually means ‘per call’. So I’ve been charged £2.34 each call for 10 calls that never connected. 

I have asked to raise a complaint because of the misleading information regarding call charges and the misinformation given to me by the first guide I spoke to. Should the charges stand?

[bristolian · Accepted solution]

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@Rebekahapp wrote:

I recently travelled to the US and while there, switched off my data roaming on my mobile relying only on WiFi.

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Data roaming simply means using mobile data whilst roaming. Voice-roaming & text-roaming don't have toggle switch menu options, but are still perfectly possible whilst you are roaming.

Many users mistakenly believe that "data roaming" means "roaming". I have a vague recollection that at one stage, outbound roaming calls were charged either per-minute, or had a minimum-charge of 1minute, after which per-second billing applied - and if so, this would explain your predicament. I'd need to dig through the price guides & T&C's to verify this either way.

If you were to have had a spend cap in-place, that would have at least mitigated these charges once your cap was hit. Ultimately I fear the charges will be valid, and down to whether a CS agent wants to make an individual exemption. If you are confident you were given contrary advice on a previous call, then you should follow the formal complaints process which should lead to the call recordings, if available, being retrieved.

[Chris_B]

@Rebekahapp  A per minute call rate means you are billed for a minute even if that call is 10 secs A 1.min 55 secs  call will mean being charged  4.68.    It’s per minute rate and it’s not broken down to seconds.  

[XRaySpeX]

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@Rebekahapp wrote:

on the website which point out calls are charged at £2.34 a minute. If this was the case my extra charges should surely be less than £2.34. 

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No, there is no per sec. billing. Calls are charged per min. or part of a min.

All 10 call charges should stand. When you dialled the later 9 they went immediately straight to VM as the 1st did.