I recently read in the Metro newspaper (11/09/2023) about a young traveler who received an unexpected sky-high phone bill when she returned from her Caribbean cruise. Instead of her usual monthly bill of £30-£35, she was charged a whopping £1186.59!
When I read the story, I felt sorry for the person who received such a high phone bill. Unfortunately, something similar happened to me while I was on holiday.
I traveled to Dominica for 10 days with my older sister and niece. I was also able to spend some time with my fiancé and visit my relatives and friends. Although it rained mostly every day, we still managed to have a picnic at the beach and visit the sulfur spa.
[wptb id=1468]Me, at Tia’s Sulfur Spa in Dominica
During the time that I was in Dominica, I never used my phone to call anybody except when I was at the Airbnb where we received free Wi-Fi. And I only called people on WhatsApp. However, when I went out, I did not have access to Wi-Fi and therefore, my fiancé would call me directly. Little did I know that I would be charged for calls I received while I was abroad.
When I returned to the UK, I was expecting my usual monthly bill of £48.00. Instead, I was shocked to see that I owed £137! At first, I thought this was a huge mistake. My phone provider has never made a mistake with my phone bill, and I thought this may be the first time that they overcharged me. I was about to call my phone provider, but then I decided to check the breakdown of the cost of my bill first.
When I logged into my account, I navigated to the Bills and Payments section and clicked on my current bill to check the breakdown of the costs of calls. Imagine my surprise when I saw my fiancé’s phone number listed about nine times, the number of times he called me, and the length of time we stayed talking on the phone. I had no idea that my phone provider charged me for the calls I received from a non-UK number while I was abroad.
It turns out that my phone provider charges £2.34 per minute for making a call as well as receiving a call for roaming in Dominica. I understood that I could be charged for making a call, but I did not know at the time that I would be charged for receiving a call while abroad. Thus, the reason for my very high £137 phone bill. Well, that was a very expensive mistake that I learned from, and will never make that same mistake again!
I’m glad that my phone bill was not as high as the young traveler’s bill that I read about in the Metro newspaper, but I have learned my lesson about using my phone while I’m abroad. The next time I travel, I will switch off my UK mobile phone and purchase a cheap mobile and local sim card to use in the country where I’m staying.
If you want to use your phone abroad and avoid the sky-high bill when you get home, check out this article on the Which? Website: How to prepare your mobile phone for holidays abroad.
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