published17. April 2024, 21:21
us-touristYou have a “magical” vacation in Switzerland – then the cell phone bill arrives
An American tourist sends pictures of beautiful Switzerland to his friends in Florida. After returning he faced expensive cell phone bills.
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An American tourist traveled to Switzerland. When he returned, he found a huge cell phone bill.
The tourist also informed T-Mobile about the trip.
Thanks to his lawyer and apparently due to media pressure, he ultimately did not have to pay the bill.
René Raymund lives in Florida, but is originally from Switzerland. Last September he and his wife traveled back to Switzerland, as they have done many times before.
The couple visited family and friends and traveled to rural Switzerland. He described the trip as “magical” and shared it through photos with his friends in Florida. When he returned, Rene received a bill from T-Mobile for $143,442.
travel arrangements made
Rene says he had already informed the network provider about his trip. “As always,” he assured. He even visited the nearest T-Mobile store to inform them about his trip. The employee told him that as a loyal customer he was covered. He has been with T-Mobile for 30 years.
When he gets the bill after his trip and reads it, he thinks to himself that $143 is a lot, but certainly reasonable. At first he didn’t even notice that there were still a few spots left before he went into a coma.
“Yes, it’s a good bill”
Only when he takes out the bill again after a few weeks does he realize the true amount and thinks to himself, “Sorry? Are they crazy?”
He immediately called T-Mobile. The employee at the other end made him wait for some time. Then he said: “Yes, it’s a good bill.” When asked what he meant by this, he explained that the bill was genuine. Apparently René used 9.5GB of data in Switzerland.
Media pressure helped ensure a happy ending
After confirming that he would indeed owe more than $143,000, Rene hired a lawyer. He wanted to point out that he was told before the trip that he was covered. The lawyer wrote a letter to the president of T-Mobile, which initially received no response. Only when local media pressure on T-Mobile increased markedly was the bill waived.
The media also received an email from the network provider advising that “customers should always check their plan’s travel features, such as international data roaming, before departure.” If a customer has an older plan that does not include international roaming for data and calls, they will need to ensure that they use airplane mode and Wi-Fi when using data to ensure that the device Do not connect to any international network.
Raymund said he is completely relieved that he no longer has to worry about a six-figure phone bill.
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