Beware of Travelling Internationally!!!

[Phillippa]

I was just billed $250 on my phone statement for "roaming" charges when I travelled in Israel. I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but you barely have to touch the top right corner of a Droid Incredible before it turns on again. So my lovely phone turned on by itself in my bag, auto-updated, and charged me $250 for it. 

I made no calls, received one text that was backlogged and when I called Verizon Wireless I was told that I

(1) should have left my phone in the US. Oh yes, because I never need my phone when I land to do things like arrange to be picked up from the airport.

(2) should have taken the battery out to make sure it wouldn't turn on... you can't take the battery out of an Incredible.

(3) should have actually left the phone on the entire time but in Airplane mode. ... Oh right, like I would have thought to constantly have my phone on in a country that I didn't have a dataplan for, didn't want to use it on and oh wait, if I had accidentally let it lose power, it would have rebooted when I charged it and, not remembering it was in Airplane mode, cost me $250 of roaming charges before I could switch it back to Airplane mode. Oh yes, that was the first thing I thought of.

(4) should have bought an international phone plan for $60... just in case my phone decided to turn on and update itself on Israeli phone towers of its own accord. 

Now, after an hour on the phone with customer service they've very kindly agreed to only charge me the $60 for the phone plan, even though they acknowledge that I made no phone calls, sent no texts, did nothing on the phone, and could, in no way, have stopped the phone from updating itself after something tapped the top right corner. Thanks so much. Glad the poor design of the phone you built only cost me $60. Oh, but don't try to make that point: that's HTC or the Android system fault, and clearly no reflection on Verizon Wireless who endorses them. Cheers!

[budone]

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Phillippa wrote:

I was just billed $250 on my phone statement for "roaming" charges when I travelled in Israel. Roaming charges are for CALLS, not data, so calls had to have been made. What does your call detail show?I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but you barely have to touch the top right corner of a Droid Incredible before it turns on again. It has never happened to me. Nor I believe anyone else. In fact you have to hold the power button for a bit to power the device. So my lovely phone turned on by itself in my bag, auto-updated, and charged me $250 for it. 

I made no calls, received one text that was backlogged and when I called Verizon Wireless I was told that I Texts would not be billed as Roaming. However to even have ANY data come through YOU and only YOU has to call Verizon to have international calling and data access turned on. maybe you travelled out of the country and had it turn on another time, but it is off unless requested to be turned on my the phones owner.

(1) should have left my phone in the US. Oh yes, because I never need my phone when I land to do things like arrange to be picked up from the airport. That I agree is a silly response

(2) should have taken the battery out to make sure it wouldn't turn on... you can't take the battery out of an Incredible. Taking the battery out is easy and is used as a fix for many issues. iPhones you can not take the battery out

(3) should have actually left the phone on the entire time but in Airplane mode. ... Oh right, like I would have thought to constantly have my phone on in a country that I didn't have a dataplan for, didn't want to use it on and oh wait, if I had accidentally let it lose power, it would have rebooted when I charged it and, not remembering it was in Airplane mode, cost me $250 of roaming charges before I could switch it back to Airplane mode. Oh yes, that was the first thing I thought of.

(4) should have bought an international phone plan for $60... just in case my phone decided to turn on and update itself on Israeli phone towers of its own accord. So is it data charges, or Roaming charges??

Now, after an hour on the phone with customer service they've very kindly agreed to only charge me the $60 for the phone plan, even though they acknowledge that I made no phone calls, sent no texts, did nothing on the phone, and could, in no way, have stopped the phone from updating itself after something tapped the top right corner. Thanks so much. Glad the poor design of the phone you built only cost me $60. Oh, but don't try to make that point: that's HTC or the Android system fault, and clearly no reflection on Verizon Wireless who endorses them. Cheers!

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What does your detailed call and data log show while you are there??? There has to be data use being shown for them to add data and backdate the bill to cover the charges.

But I am also confused. You stated ROAMING charges, yet you ended up paying $60 for a 'plan'. That plan is for data.

I live an 1/8 mile from Canada. As soon as I moved here, I shut off the option to allow  roaming on calls and data.  HTC has a phone that has simple toggles you can uncheckmark that can protect you from such things. You really need to take time to learn your phone and all the options.  As for the phone turning on on it's own..... I have never experienced or heard of the issue from anyone since this phone came out in April. 

An FYI, also be sure (if you are not traveling out of the country anytime soon) that the $60 monthly charge is removed for the current month going forward.