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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Holy Overages

So, I have a pretty funny story from our travels.  And it all starts with before we left for Italy.  I call up Sprint to inquire about some international add-ons for our plan.  We end up adding the internal calling (for emergencies) and the smallest data plan in case we need to use google or maps.  We decided on the smallest plan because I was told if and when we reached the data limit, we would receive a text message with this update and an option to purchase more data.


Well, with this security feature in mind, we really didn’t pay attention to how we were using my phone.  Once we reach Cinque Terre, there was pretty much no more wifi available the rest of trip until we reached Milan on our last night.  We had an “emergency” where one of our credit cards was declined (even though we told our company we were traveling to Italy) and we wanted to go online and make sure everything was ok (It was.  The company was just putting a block on a purchase as a precaution).  Well, we tried to use the network to get on the website and a general Sprint message came up that said we needed to purchase more data.


At this point, we thought this was our message that we reached our limit (instead of the text message as it was promised earlier to us).  Well, this clearly was not the case because when we reached Milan on our last night, we received a carazy email.  It was Sprint notifying us that we had over SIX HUNDRED dollars of international data charges on our bill.  Yes, $600 smackaroos.  At this point, there was absolutely nothing we could do, so I just went to bed.


Derek called immediately when we got back to Ohio and the email was incorrect.  I know what you’re thinking, thank goodness, right?  Well, wrong.  The email was incorrect because we now owed over $1,500.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  


I guess it takes Sprint’s system to catch up with any data.  Ergo, there is no stinkin way they would be able to notify via text message when you reach your data limit as it was explained to me before we left before our trip (liar!).  Anyway, Sprint was very understanding and removed all these excess charges for us.  Wafreakinhoo!  It is pretty funny now, but at the time this was the last thing I wanted to spend my money on!


We definitely learned our lesson for our next abroad trip...no data no matta!

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12 comments:

Faith said...

omg, crazy. i would have been freaking out! glad they took care of it. i can't even imagine spending that much on a damn phone service!

K said...

Oh my goodness, that's insane! I'm so glad they got it all worked out for you and you didn't have to pay them: I would have been so angry if I did have to pay for them!

Unknown said...

I had the exact same thing happen to me when I was living in Paris! I only used my iPhone in emergency situations, and I still got a $2,800 phone bill for one lousy 20 minute emergency call! I was floored. When I moved back home, I called AT&T. I hysterically cried to the customer service rep, and had 80% of the bill taken off. It was a wonderful surprise that they took so much off, but it was still an expensive bill. I'm so glad Sprint took off those extra charges for you!

Courtney said...

Oh.My.Word. I would be FREAKING OUT if that happened to us!!! Thank goodness they were understanding and removed the charges!

Kristen said...

That is absolutely insane!! But I'm glad it all worked out ok!

Mrs EyeCanSee said...

OMG. I would have FREAKED out! Thank goodness they removed the charges!!

Hope you guys have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Lauren said...

That is so crazy, sorry girl :-( Hope you have a great Thanksgiving!!

Anonymous said...

Holy cow! Wow yes I never ever take my phone if I travel out the state the over charge you wayyyyyyyyyyy to much! Glad you got it fixed!

Holly said...

OMG, I would have died. Literally died. My husband would have punched someone for sure! Glad it got worked out! Good to know if we ever travel overseas!

Jax said...

OHMYGOSH! I turned off my data before I went to London and I'm so glad now! I just didn't want to deal with it. It was a total pain in the arse to not have it, but I'm still nervous to see my charges from the texts and calls I made while over there, let alone what my data might have looked like! Eek! Glad they removed the charges!!! I'm with Sprint, too!

Mrs. Monica said...

OMG! That is crazy. Glad it was all cleared up.

Kristin said...

that would have sucked!!