Tourist horrified after receiving $143,000 phone bill for three-week vacation to Europe
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: ABC Action News/Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
A man was left horrified after receiving a whopping $143,000 phone bill following a three-week vacation to Europe.
While some mobile phone network companies will allow you to use your data, texts and calls allowance as normal when aboard, sometimes there are data roaming costs you should be aware of.
And unfortunately, Rene Remund, 71, found this out the hard way.
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Rene and his wife Lydia, 65, live in Dunedin, Florida.
The 71-year-old is originally from Switzerland, and in September, the couple decided to take a short vacation to the town he grew up in.
Ahead of the trip, Rene went to a T-Mobile store to update them on his travel plans.
“They said you’re covered. Whatever that meant. You're covered,” he said.
And the vacation was a truly wonderful time for the pair, as they enjoyed 'magical' moments with family and friends.
When having a great time and creating memories, a lot of us will take snaps to remember the occasion.
Well, Rene claimed he didn't think twice about sending these photographs during his time away - something that came at an unexpected cost.
Over the course of a three-week trip, he used around 9.5 gigabytes of data.
Rene was charged a roaming fee and received a heart-dropping bill when he returned home.
His carrier, T-Mobile, sent a bill that amounted to $143,442.74.
"I'm looking at it and I say, 'Excuse me, $143,000, are you guys crazy?''' he told local news site Scripps News Tampa.
Rene said he immediately called T-Mobile to try and resolve the issue, with the hope that the bill would be revoked. However, a representative validated them.
"She gets back. 'No, this is a good bill,'' the representative reportedly told Rene.
"What do you mean it's a good bill?" he replied.
"Well, this is what you owe," they reportedly responded.
Rene decided to take action and hired an attorney who penned letters to the president of T-Mobile, however, they received no response.
The attorney subsequently reported the bill to Scripps News Tampa, which seemingly led to T-Mobile waiving the charges.
T-Mobile told UNILAD: "We were able to work with Mr. Remund to resolve this issue last month. There were many factors at play here, but we always recommend that customers double-check the travel coverage in their wireless plans to understand their international data roaming terms and if their destination is included in is included in our Simple Global list.
"If they use free calling apps, they must switch to airplane mode and use Wi-Fi to avoid their phone hopping onto an international network where they may be charged for roaming. We will notify customers before roaming charges start and if they are excessively roaming on international networks."