Seasoned travellers always stay away from data roaming because they know how expensive the phone bills can get. Sadly, this man had to learn his lesson the hard way.
According to Oriental Daily, a 48-year-old lawyer, Lim went to Maldives with his family three months ago for vacation.
Source: Trip Advisor
During the trip, he activated his data roaming for less than an hour but the bill shockingly racked up to RM5,000! As such, all his family member’s phone numbers were blocked due to the exorbitant bill, which exceeded the credit limit.
“I only realised that the data roaming charges in Maldives goes by RM38 per MB after the incident. This means that the video I sent through WhatsApp had cost me a few hundred ringgits!” Lim said.
Source: Oriental Daily
Lim travels frequently for business and he uses data roaming all the time, but the usual charges he faces are RM38 per day.
“I wasn’t aware that different countries have different rates. I’ve always thought that the charges would be RM38 per day,” he added.
He admitted that when he switched on the data roaming, a reminder message was sent to him, but he only noticed the ‘RM38’ and overlooked the ‘per MB’. Yikes!
“I’ve made a complaint but the company maintained that the bill must be paid. I then mentioned that my credit limit is RM1,600, and that I’m willing to pay RM1,600 to settle the bill. However, I’m not willing to pay anything that is beyond my credit limit.”
When the case was referred to the Malaysia Mobile and Communication Association, the chairperson said that all telcos in Malaysia would never hide their data roaming charges from consumers. It is the traveller’s responsibility to make clear of the rates before using data roaming overseas.
Here’s the data roaming charges in different countries from different telcos.
Source: Oriental Daily
Lim will bring his case to the Tribunal for Consumer Claims Malaysia for further action. Good luck!
So guys, make sure you know the charges of data roaming before switching it on, otherwise prepare to be surprised by an exorbitant phone bill!
Also read: Malaysian Man Shocked To Receive Phone Bill That Amounted To RM42,500
