Koodo Mobile charging me Roaming even though my roaming was off

You can find out why you were charged for easy roam by following the steps in the article below.  If you are having trouble understanding please let us know back here

• Why was I charged for Easy Roam? Tutorial

Hi there ​@Arefin Mohammed Shamsil 

We verified and found only one Easy Roam fee on the latest invoice. It was triggered by sent text messages while Roaming. You can check the page that ​@Dennis  shared for more details on how to verify. 

Hi ​@Darius Koodo 
I reviewed the page ​@Dennis suggested. I don’t think these scenarios apply to my case. I travelled overseas in February and got back in March. I turned off my cellular network and roaming while on the plane. The plane had a stopover in Turkey. Didn’t even get off the plane. And somehow, an automatic text message got through to my phone. I was not even aware. As I turned off my data and cell network, I did not expect a text to get through. And besides, Koodo sent me a text message. I did not send any text. 

I just got back to Canada and only learned that I had been charged the roaming fee already. And I was not even aware of that. Also, apparently there is another bill of $54.24 due on April 7. That doesn’t even make sense. I only started with Koodo in January. And I have been already falsely charged with roaming twice even though I did not use, nor was I even aware. This is extremely disappointing.

This needs to be addressed urgently, otherwise I will have to switch to a separate provider.

How does it not apply in your case? 

You were charged for roaming.

If you follow the steps in the article do you see which day and time you were charged for roaming? Do you see the corresponding roaming text sent in your usage? 

Do you see that the roaming charge was for text in your koodo account? 

Hi,

Please read over my posted comment. If the Koodo sim in my phone still connects to roaming even after I turned off the data roaming and cell network, am I still responsible? The text is an incoming one from Koodo saying that I am in Turkey.

I did not turn on the roaming service. My plane landed in Turkey for refuelling and I was still inside the plane. My phone was inside my bag and I was completely unaware that Koodo was sending me text messages somehow. What could I have done to prevent this? And how come Koodo vendor did not tell me this when I signed up? As a new customer, how am I supposed to know the hidden policies?

Hi there,

So receiving texts messages is always free as long as it doesn't require data to do so. If you received a message, then you must have connected to a network other wise they wouldn't come through.

As Darius mentioned, the charge was for sending texts. Is there any other messages done that day, not just during the travelling and layover? The page Dennis mentioned should show this.

Some guaranteed ways to prevent this going forward are removing the sim all together if you have a physical sim, airplane mode........which i suggest you do if you're travelling by plane going forward but works in general everywhere else or by turning off the eSIM line if you have an eSIM. 

Hello there,

Thank you for your insights. I am only just learning now that apparently the Koodo sim did indeed connect to a foreign network, even after I turned off the data roaming and network. I don’t know how. I switched off roaming while travelling with my previous providers as well and never had any roaming issue. That is what really is surprising and very disappointing. If the sim can connect automatically to roaming while I am thinking it is not, I am incurring charges for a service that I was not aware of and did not intentionally use.  

I really do feel I got ripped off and I still haven’t been able to talk to a Koodo customer service to discuss a resolution for this. I am also only learning from the website that even talking to a Koodo customer service rep would result in more charges, while all other service providers out there don’t charge their customers for providing customer service. How can I appeal to reverse this charge?

So if you would like to appeal it further you will need to schedule a call back through koodo assist using the link below.

https://www.koodomobile.com/en/help

To review a charge, this is free. Koodo do charge service fees if you need a rep but only if it is something that could have been done using your self serve account or any major account changes such as a transfer of ownership or setting up an account. They're not a bad company with a lot of hidden fees, if anything, a lot of them make sense if you just do it yourself but people choose not to.

 I'll leave an image as well that outlines the possible fees you can be charged depending on what you ask of them. I hope this helps and wish you luck. 🙂👍

All phones have a switch to turn off Data roaming. 

There is no real toggle to turn off roaming. I guess my question is how did you turn off roaming? 

Talking to rep does not cost any money. Only asking them to change something you can do on your own in self serve costs something. 

However if you legitimately roamed, speaking to a rep won't change anything. And it only increases the wait time for others who legitimately need to speak with a rep. 

​@Dennis To answer your question, we can absolutely toggle roaming ON and OFF.  Here is how I have been doing it like every other iPhone users. Pls see the picture.

“However if you legitimately roamed, speaking to a rep won't change anything. And it only increases the wait time for others who legitimately need to speak with a rep. ”

So it appears that as the customer I am being held responsible here and Koodo is being supported. Like I repeated time and again, even after turning off roaming, I don’t know how Koodo got me hooked up to roaming. It is very possible that once the phone connected to roaming without me knowing, data was being downloaded/uploaded in the background.

And Its really offensive that you say my issue is not legitimate enough to even talk to a rep and that too for a fee. With other companies, this would have been addressed through the rep two days ago already with no extra cost.

But given this experience right at the start, I will not be continuing with my subscription. But before that, I will be filing with BBB.

Hi ​@Arefin Mohammed Shamsil 

We understand where you are coming from and we’d be sad to see you go.

Please be aware that Koodo is making every effort to provide comprehensive information about roaming, which is available online, in the service terms, and in the specific Easy Roam support articles accessible through self-service.

As per the Easy Roam article,  in the FAQ section, we mention how to prevent unwanted roaming charges when abroad:

“8. How can I avoid roaming charges when travelling?

When you arrive at your destination, you’ll receive a Welcome SMS notification explaining your roaming options and the rates, if you choose to use your device. This doesn’t mean that you’re being charged for roaming.

If you want to avoid roaming charges altogether, simply turn OFF data and data roaming in your device settings, and don’t make calls, answer incoming calls, or send outgoing text messages.”

As Darius mentioned above, the roaming charge was triggered for outgoing text messages, feel free to check the usage section in self serve for more details.

When switching data roaming off in the phone settings, your phone will not be able to connect for data, however, it will connect to the roaming network for calls made/ received if made, and for outgoing texts if sent. Incoming text messages do not trigger the roaming fees.

If you wish to contest the charges further, you can schedule a callback or reach out via social media using the links provided at the bottom of this page.

For any other questions, please let us know and we will do our best to help.

Arefin Mohammed Shamsil wrote:

​@Dennis To answer your question, we can absolutely toggle roaming ON and OFF.  Here is how I have been doing it like every other iPhone users. Pls see the picture.

As you can see from your own screenshot, you can turn off data roaming ONLY.  Cellphone services is beyond data only,  A cellphone can make and receive phone calls and send text messages.  Your toggle does not turn off call roaming or text roaming.

What did you to prevent voice and text roaming?

The koodo rep clearly stated that the roaming charge was due to text messages sent.  They have not mention any roaming triggered by data roaming.  You keep saying you turned data roaming off but data was not the reason for the roaming charges.

No one says talking to a rep costs a fee.

You only posted this 1 day ago and a koodo rep already addressed it on the same day.