Rene Remund, an American tourist, went on a short holiday trip to Switzerland in September of 2023. Remund has often made this trip, as he is originally from Switzerland.
However, when he returned to the United States and received his phone bill, he was shocked to discover that he owed more than $143,000.
A Normal Overseas Trip
According to Remund, he and his wife have taken this trip to Switzerland before and never had an issue. He’s well aware that his cellphone provider needed to know that he was going to be going overseas for a short trip.
Remund didn’t think anything of his upcoming trip — or how he may eventually be given an astronomical bill.
Notifying His Cellphone Provider
As Remund has taken this trip before, he went to his local T-Mobile store to let them know that he was going to be overseas in the near future. His cellphone provider assured him that he would be fine.
Remund has been a customer of T-Mobile for 30 years. According to him, the store told him that he was “covered”. He didn’t need to do anything else before he went to Switzerland.
A Switzerland Trip
So, thinking everything was in order, Remund and his wife headed to the Swiss countryside. They enjoyed their holiday vacation — and communicated with many of their friends and loved ones through messages.
Remund sent many of his family members photos of his trip while he was there. Not once did he think this would eventually become an issue.
A T-Mobile Bill
When Remund first got home and received his T-Mobile bill, he didn’t think anything of it. He simply glanced at the bill and thought it said that it was $143.
According to Remund, he thought this bill was “reasonable.” So, he went to pay it, just as he always does.
Another Glance at the Bill
It was when Remund went to pay the bill that he took another glance at it — and what he found absolutely shocked him. While he at first thought the bill was only $143, he quickly realized that he was wrong.
Instead, his bill was more than $143,000. He couldn’t believe it and thought there was surely some mistake with the bill he was given.
Calling T-Mobile
Immediately, Remund knew he needed this issue fixed. So, he called T-Mobile. At first, he was put on hold while the woman helping him looked at his account. She had to check things through and ensure this massive bill was accurate.
When she finally got back on the phone with him, he was dismayed to learn from her that she had found that this bill was an accurate bill. He owed more than $143,000.
Why Did This Bill Cost So Much?
According to the bill, Remund was charged this huge amount because of what daily roaming costs charge. While he was in Switzerland, he texted many of his family members and friends.
During his time on his holiday trip, he used about 9.5 GB of data. While this isn’t necessarily a large amount of data used, he wasn’t covered by roaming fees.
Data and Roaming Fees
Even though the T-Mobile worker had told Remund that he was covered before he went to Switzerland, his bill seemed to suggest otherwise. He wasn’t covered.
If one isn’t covered by roaming fees, they could end up running up thousands of dollars daily, simply by texting their friends.
Hiring a Lawyer
After getting this confirmation from a T-Mobile worker on the phone, Remund immediately hired a lawyer. After all, Remund was initially told that he was covered for international roaming.
Since he was covered, he shouldn’t have been charged at all — especially not this excessive amount.
Receiving T-Mobile Credit
Remund’s lawyer quickly got to work and issued a letter to the president of T-Mobile. However, a reply was not given until much later.
Eventually, Remund learned that he would be given a credit to completely eliminate the $143,000 bill that he had received. A letter from the company to Remund also apologized for these charges. Now, Remund doesn’t have to pay this massive amount.
T-Mobile’s Warning
However, T-Mobile has also issued a warning to the rest of its customers by reminding them that they need to be aware of what their plan has when it comes to international data roaming.
T-Mobile has stated, “If a customer is on an older plan that doesn’t include international roaming for data and calling, they’ll need to make sure they’re using aeroplane mode and wi-fi when using data to be certain the device doesn’t connect to an international network.”
