How we racked up $5000 in phone bills

TRAVELLING companions Olivia Cotterill and Cindy Sambola’s sixweek European trip of a lifetime ended in heartache when they returned to Australia.

The pair had racked up nearly $5000 in phone bills between them.

Bill shock is familiar to many jetsetters, who learn the hard way about the excessive costs when using their mobile phone overseas.

Ms Cotterill and Ms Sambola, both 29, notched up bills of $3500 and $1100 each.

“When I was overseas I was checking my phone app and it wasn’t updating,” Ms Cotterill said.

“I was using Wi-Fi so I wasn’t too worried about my data usage.

“But when I landed back in Sydney, as soon as I touched down at the airport I got an influx of text messages saying I had gone over my data. I was left with a $3500 bill.”

This fear of an excessive phone bill is familiar, with a new YouGov Galaxy poll of 1000 Australians finding that:

• are concerned about returning home with a big bill.

• have been hit with international roaming fees.

• international roaming fee per person is $290.

Customers can get hit with charges of between 50c and $3 per megabyte of data when abroad.

Turning off your data roaming is one of the easiest ways to stop this. Also, stick to using Wi-Fi.

Ms Cotterill and Ms Sambola both disputed their bills with their telcos and managed to negotiate discounts on the amount to be paid.

63 per cent 41 per cent The average

“I thought I was just being charged a certain amount each day but when I got back my bill was through the roof,” Ms Sambola said.

Vodafone chief commercial officer Ben McIntosh said customers could easily get stung by excessive charges “because there’s a lack of awareness out there” about the fees involved.

“People think they will be OK,” he said. “But they don’t realise their iPhone is always working in the background, apps are always updating and using data, and they can get caught out.”

Vodafone has one of the most competitive roaming deals on offer, charging customers $5 per day to use data, call and text inclusions on an associated plan.

Australian Communications Consumer Action Network spokeswoman Melyssa Troy said to avoid bill shock when travelling consider “buying a local SIM card when you arrive at your destination”. Users can often get cheaper local rates and the credit on the SIM can easily be topped up.