A bloke who returned to Ireland after a trip overseas was shocked after he received a €91,000 (£77,000) bill. Check out this video of him explaining the situation:
The bloke, called Otavio, shared a clip describing the situation to his followers, writing: "I exceeded my roaming data limit while travelling in Europe for seven days, and when I came back to Ireland I got this message.
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"From Three. Your bill for account number xxxxxx now available at 3.ie/Mt3.
"Your bill due date is 29/08/2022 and your total amount due is EUR91,070.83.”
Horrified by the hefty amount owed, Otavio reached out to Three to check if it was correct.
He was told by a customer service representative that they could offer him ‘credit’ amounting to €62,800 – meaning he would need to cough up the remaining €30,000.
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In screenshots of the exchange, Otavio asked: "Sorry, is this a joke? Seven days of roaming and I have to pay 30K?
"Anyway, I'm a simple cleaner. Won't have this money even if I had another life to pay it."
The customer services agent then replied: "Otavio, our team had review and approved the credit I shared above and that's the maximum credit that can be offered."
To which Otavio wrote: "I'm saying that even with this 'tax credit' I won't pay for it.
"It's like I'm paying for 30 news iPhones. That's crazy."
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In a follow up clip, Otavio said he submitted a complaint to Three, which then apologised and cut his bill down to a much more manageable €91.19 – he was also offered a free upgrade on his phone.
A Three spokesperson told the Irish Mirror : "If a customer uses data roaming outside of the EU, which was the case on this occasion, they are subject to roaming charges. When roaming, customers will receive an SMS advising them of the applicable rates for voice, SMS and data services in the country they’re visiting.
"A text message was sent to the customer to advise that he was outside of the EU with a link to where he could access prices for his destination country. The customer was also sent a further text to state that he had reached his data roaming limit. In order to continue to use the internet while roaming, the customer was given the option to remove this limit, which the customer opted to do. Three is engaging with the customer on this matter. We are willing to remove, on a once-off and goodwill basis, these roaming charges.
"We would like to remind our customers to be aware of their usage when roaming outside of the EU and to be familiar with local roaming rates on arrival at their destination. We would encourage our customers to contact Three’s customer care team at any time if they have questions related to their data usage. "
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LADbible has contacted Three for further comment.
Claire Reid