The $2,367 cellphone roaming charge
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Things are different in Montreal. They speak French. They talk about Canadian things. And sometimes your Blackberry hops on the Internet without you knowing, incurring roaming charges that make your phone bill skyrocket. That’s what a Santa Monica resident found when she had a layover in Montreal last month. She made a few calls and, as best she remembers, didn’t access the Internet, but T-Mobile saddled her with $2,367.40 in roaming charges. But wait, it gets better, according to Times columnist David Lazarus:
Thierry Foucaut, 43, works as chief operating officer for a Los Angeles soft-drink company and understands a thing or two about customer service. He said that when he first called T-Mobile, a service rep initially apologized for any misunderstanding and said she’d look into the matter. ‘She came back on the line five minutes later and said the charge was valid,’ Foucaut recalled.
The Foucaut’s headache-causing arguments with T-Mobile about explaining the data charges are detailed further here.
-- Alana Semuels
