As if the J1 wasn’t expensive enough.
A Laois mother was hit with a massive phone bill of €5,626.86 for spending just 40 minutes of her data roaming in the US.
‘Denise’ took to the airwaves and expressed her surprise and anger on Joe Duffy’s Liveline and warned others about using mobile data while visiting the United States.
On Thursday, she explained to the host how her daughter had inadvertently racked up the bill while on a J1 student visa for the summer.
Her small family business used several phones, including her daughter’s, all of which are now cut off until the bill is paid.
€5,500 on Roaming Charges in the USA! And that's just for one day….
We discuss #roaming on #Liveline after 1.45pm w. @talktojoe1850
— RTÉ Radio 1 (@RTERadio1) June 8, 2017
According to Denise, her daughter had turned on Google Maps and WhatsApp in order to arrange the delivery of a mattress but then switched them off immediately.
She received a text message from the carrier that informed her that her usage appeared to be quite high but the text did not outline the implications of the high bill abroad.
Her daughter’s usage for the 40 minutes was 1.5 gigabits and the carrier charged her €10.24 for every megabit that was used, something stated on their website.
This made the charge valid and non-negotiable.
Denise has asked the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) to try and help her situation but they will only intervene after ten days have passed to allow issues to be sorted out.
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