Block did not work

Cell phone bill of more than 16,000 euros overnight

When he looked at the roaming costs, the man from Styria was almost struck dumb. (symbolic image)

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

A man from Styria got the shock of his life while on vacation. Overnight, his cell phone bill soared to more than 16,000 euros due to roaming charges. It is unclear why the usual block did not take effect - the vacationer was only able to sleep well again after the consumer protectors intervened.

The worst came to Mr. A. from Steyr (Upper Austria). Before leaving for the Swiss mountains, he bought a one-week package from the network provider - as he had already done for other stays outside the EU. On August 1, he sent a few messages on WhatsApp and went to bed. Overnight, the roaming costs added up to 16,413.55 euros. Apparently, the data flow was not stopped after the purchased data volume was exceeded and the legally prescribed block at 60 euros did not take effect, although the corresponding notifications were received on the cell phone at midnight.

Vacation canceled
Mr. A. broke off his vacation and immediately contacted the provider's hotline, where he was asked to send a written request by e-mail. The situation was very stressful for him and he sought help from the AK consumer protectors. On August 2, they immediately contacted the service department of the mobile phone provider by e-mail and demanded that the claim be corrected to a maximum of 60 euros, which Mr. A. was prepared to pay. A block at 60 euros or, in a second step, at 120 euros must by law prevent such charges. Only if Mr. A. had actively overridden these blocks would the claim be justified. Fortunately, the provider replied on the same day and everything over 60 euros was credited.

Stopover exceeded limit
The case of Ms. K. from St. Martin was not quite as dramatic. She spent her vacation in Madeira. Afterwards, she received an invoice for 8 MB of data transfer amounting to 67.06 euros. The consumer could not explain this, as the Portuguese island belongs to the EU. As she did not receive an answer from A1, she contacted the AK-Konsumentenschutz. On the basis of the individual interview record, it emerged that the data had been downloaded on the day of the return journey in Switzerland, during the stopover at Zurich airport. Therefore: Beware of stopovers in other EU countries. Roaming costs may also be incurred here.

Tips for protection against unexpected roaming costs

• Read the cost information in other EU countries and in non-terrestrial networks on cruise ships and airplanes carefully.
• It is best to have the roaming function switched off directly by the operator by means of a special block for "outside the EU" before your stay in another EU country or in areas close to the border.
• Alternatively, you can adjust the settings on your cell phone yourself, but this can lead to problems of proof.
• Use WLAN connections and make sure that data roaming is actually deactivated.
• Deactivate your voicemail (##002# call) before you go abroad. Otherwise, unanswered calls will be redirected to your voicemail and so-called passive roaming will occur.
• Your cell phone provider is obliged by law to inform you by text message before you reach the roaming cost limits of 60 and 120 euros. Do not deactivate these cost limits under any circumstances, otherwise you will incur unlimited roaming costs!