Matt Buie had a great two-week vacation in Mexico.
He and his family packed their bags, locked their doors and turned off their phones before hitting the sandy beaches way down south.
At least, Buie thought he had his phone off the whole time, as no one wants to incur roaming charges. Plus, if he was getting hit with roaming charges, there would be no way of knowing beforehand - no warning or cap is in place with his cellphone provider.
Unfortunately, over a three-day period, Buie's 11-year-old son downloaded 758 megabytes of data without his dad knowing - while in Mexico. He wasn't prepared for what happened next.
"I received no warning of this and was informed after the fact that my account had incurred this (roaming) charge," Buie said.
Buie came home to a $22,000 phone bill.
A financial planner living in Burnaby, he said he was shocked to see that number on his bill.
Buie spoke to his son who admitted he briefly accessed the Internet on his phone while on vacation.
"He admitted he was wrong," Buie said of his son's reaction. "He said, 'I thought it would be a $30 charge. I thought you were exaggerating.'"
The first thing Buie did was contact his cellphone provider, Rogers, and informed the company he was not the one who authorized the use of his phone and should not be liable for the charge, he said.
After a long back and forth with Rogers, Buie took his dispute to the top and was able to get them down to $2,200, then to $700, then $500.
But Buie was not willing to pay more than $200.
Around the time his cellphone bill went public. Buie's story first aired on CBC in early March. Then it was picked up by the Vancouver Sun.
The follow-up led to Rogers dropping the original $22,000 charge down to $200, according to Buie.
Buie said this ordeal led him to work with the non-profit group OpenMedia.ca and PassConsult, a group of cellphone service consultants, to create a free toolkit for others to avoid "cellphone horror stories," which was released March 22.
"I'm a financial planner," he said. "I'm used to dealing with corporations. I'm used to helping people plan out their financial future."
Some of his tips include keeping calm on the phone with a customer service representative and having a realistic figure in mind for what you're willing to pay.
"Call in to your provider and speak to them about billing issues," the toolkit states. "Make sure you speak to customer service and have not been transferred to accounts receivable."
Ninety per cent of the time, the most an agent can offer is a 50 per cent reduction, according to the toolkit.
"If this is not satisfactory, make sure to escalate the request to a supervisor or manager," the toolkit states.
But Jennifer Kett, senior manager of media relations for Rogers Communications Inc., said Buie never received a bill for $22,000.
"It's very unfortunate Mr. Buie had this experience," Kett said in an email interview. "To clarify, this customer did not receive a $22,000 bill, nor was that amount ever charged to his account."
She said his data roaming function was suspended when the high usage was identified.
"When this type of situation happens, we have internal processes in place to identify customers and their usage prior to their bill being sent out," Kett said.
Rogers has introduced roaming packages to help avoid situations such as Buie's, according to Kett.
"Customers can buy packages before they leave or when travelling," she said. "Customers who buy a package are sent text message alerts when they reach 50 per cent, 80 per cent and 100 per cent of data usage."
For more information, visit techessen tials.rogers.com.
Buie said his son has agreed to pay for half the bill and hopes that people are able to avoid his situation in the future.
For more information on the toolkit, visit openmedia.ca/negotiating-telecom-customer-service.
sseccia@burnabynow.com
