Starhub charged over $2200 for data roaming despite assuring me there was a $15 cap

[h=1]STARHUB CHARGED OVER $2200 FOR DATA ROAMING DESPITE ASSURING ME THERE WAS A $15 CAP[/h]
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10 Dec 2014 - 11:03am





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Dear TRS,
My 12 year old daughter recently went to Malaysia for a school trip and prior to going, I called StarHub to inquire about the data roaming charges.
I wanted her to have some internet so it would be easy to communicate and stay in touch but I was aware of the cost involved so I duly called up StarHub.
I was advised over the phone that there was an automatic $15 cap. They explained that the carrier would change to a Malaysia one and there would be an auto cap. I double confirmed with them several times explaining that I was worried about big bills and they confirmed again that there was a $15 a day cap.
In the past, my husband also went to Thailand and his roaming was capped at $150.
That’s why, I was shocked to receive my bill from StarHub saying I owed them over $2,200!

The first bill was for just 1 day of my daughter’s Malaysia Trip, and it was over $200. I immediately called StarHub and they offered me 10% off the bill.



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I rejected it because how can they charge me $180 just for half a day of roaming when I was assured twice that it would be capped at $15 a day?
The billing department said they would review the voice recording of my original call and get back to me but I have not received any call back more than 2 weeks later.
In December I received another full for the full data roaming period and it said I had to pay over $2200.
StarHub knew at the first place that Data Roam was needed for my children and i did sound concern on the billing part and they assured me twice that it was automatically capped!
In fact, even IDA says that it is capped:


Therefore, how can StarHub charge so much despite assuring me and despite IDA saying that there is a cap?

Mish
TRS Contributor

Re: Starhub charged over $2200 for data roaming despite assuring me there was a $15 c

Maybe daughter did not lock on to star hub partner telco in Malaysia.

Re: Starhub charged over $2200 for data roaming despite assuring me there was a $15 c

syed putra said:

Maybe daughter did not lock on to star hub partner telco in Malaysia.

Click to expand...

Hello is log or lock.

Re: Starhub charged over $2200 for data roaming despite assuring me there was a $15 c

Hahaha... you say i say... no end! Contract black and white, you tell me, what does it say?

Re: Starhub charged over $2200 for data roaming despite assuring me there was a $15 c

Spore telcos only know how to cheat their Sporean customers. Can't believe they are still pulling the same scam.

Should have just given her daughter a Malaysian SIM card instead of using one from Starhub. Cheaper & better.

Re: Starhub charged over $2200 for data roaming despite assuring me there was a $15 c

Not just Starhub......the others are also the same and infringe IDA's ruling by going by side-stepping IDA's ruling.

When IDA says 'telco must explicitly inform subscribers of the data bill cap', these telcos find a way to side-step this by allowing subscriber to remove this cap just by speaking to the hotline. So, when the $100 data cap limit is reached, an sms is sent only, but the subscriber can continue to clock up more charges and essentially, the limit is lifted.

IDA must ensure that subscriber cannot do that unless the telco send an explicit sms to the subscriber when he reaches the $100 cap and reply to the sms with the affirmative to raise the cap beyond $100. And then the raise should be in another anddtional $100 cap and not removing the ceiling altogether. This is blatant manoeuvring and side-stepping IDA's ruling and IDA should clamp down on this, but I guess it will never do so, because IDA is only paying cursory attention to this due to the bad publicity on the press and not because IDA sets out with the good intention of watching over the bad behavor of telcos and protecting subscriber's interests.

Re: Starhub charged over $2200 for data roaming despite assuring me there was a $15 c

Keep MP busy. Go get him write to Starhub. If cant get thru, write to PMO for help.

Re: Starhub charged over $2200 for data roaming despite assuring me there was a $15 c

johnny333 said:

Spore telcos only know how to cheat their Sporean customers. Can't believe they are still pulling the same scam.

Should have just given her daughter a Malaysian SIM card instead of using one from Starhub. Cheaper & better.

Click to expand...

Went Aussie at Brisbane area and Gold coast. Purchased a SIM card for a mere $20 dollar. SIM Card plus stored value to be exact. It a hussle to activate on your own. So upon purchasing the card, i went to one of the shopping malls to let telco CS to register and activate the card. They are more then happy to serve you

It charges $2 per day for used, plus will give you a 500MB free for data usage everyday, will add another $2 into your data if you busted your data limit per day from your pre purchase credit. BTW, the i bought from OPTUS.

All in all, in that period of 8 days. I spend only $20 on the telecommunication. I can still do a hotspot to my partners and they can surf the the net , check emails on the go. One thing even bester, when i called back Singapore using their services ( SIM CARD which i have just bought ), it only charging me 2 cents per minute.

Now back to this issue in Malaysia, i have subscribe to a post paid mobile BB. It is high speed, it is fast and reliable. You can even make calls to land line all over Malaysia for a mere fraction of a cost ( Few Malaysia Cents ).

Well educated our citizens are, but kind of stupid and slow when dealing with matter and things outside their vision.

Re: Starhub charged over $2200 for data roaming despite assuring me there was a $15 c

When I go oversea; first thing I do is to buy local sim card. (China; Malaysia; Vietnam etc)

Period.

Re: Starhub charged over $2200 for data roaming despite assuring me there was a $15 c

Yes dun let the Sg telcos scam you.
I kena many times fraudulent billings and always got to get refunds.....data roaming, call roaming even overseas sms...no time and energy for that.
These bastards telcos purposely throw in the extra charges hoping no one notice or complain then they make extra $$$ for nothing.
Buy the local sim of that country then if you need keep your sg line roaming for missed calls and to receive sms only.

Re: Starhub charged over $2200 for data roaming despite assuring me there was a $15 c

congo9 said:

Went Aussie at Brisbane area and Gold coast. Purchased a SIM card for a mere $20 dollar. SIM Card plus stored value to be exact. It a hussle to activate on your own. So upon purchasing the card, i went to one of the shopping malls to let telco CS to register and activate the card. They are more then happy to serve you....

Click to expand...

In the past I made the mistake of using my Spore SIM card to send SMS messages. It cost me $2 to $3 per SMS From that mistake I've learned to only use foreign SIM cards when I travel.

$20 is quite expensive. In Thailand a SIM card is only 100 baht($4). You can get top up cards at any 7-11 stores. All the TELCOs have a presence in the shopping malls where you can get service in english.
I don't use a smartphone when I travel. However the hotels in LOS provide free WiFi connections & I always bring my iPad when I travel.

The only problem with these pre-paid cards is that they expire if you do not top up the card regularly. So I went to one of the service centres & paid to have the SIM card activated for 1 year. Only cost 3 baht for each month. I can of course simply purchased a new card each time I visit but it is inconvenient to remember a new telephone number.

Re: Starhub charged over $2200 for data roaming despite assuring me there was a $15 c

johnny333 said:

Spore telcos only know how to cheat their Sporean customers. Can't believe they are still pulling the same scam.

Should have just given her daughter a Malaysian SIM card instead of using one from Starhub. Cheaper & better.

Click to expand...

Sometime when travel overseas, you get message from the respective telcos on the roaming charges, Data Roam saver plans etc, to ask you to use it. Which I find it is still very expensive at S$15/day (SELECTED Telco, in this case to Malaysia is Maxis to Singtel)

Else it is Pay per Use Data Roam at S$25/mb.

Problem as in travelling oversea, normally you do not take note on the service provider you are logged on. Hence the exorbitantly high charges.

The parents should not have even allow data roaming for their children in the first place.
I am sure they will be made to pay, albeit a discount will be given as it is already stated in the contract.

A simple case of using local SIM card would save dollars and all these hassles.

Re: Starhub charged over $2200 for data roaming despite assuring me there was a $15 c

johnny333 said:

In the past I made the mistake of using my Spore SIM card to send SMS messages. It cost me $2 to $3 per SMS From that mistake I've learned to only use foreign SIM cards when I travel.

$20 is quite expensive. In Thailand a SIM card is only 100 baht($4). You can get top up cards at any 7-11 stores. All the TELCOs have a presence in the shopping malls where you can get service in english.
I don't use a smartphone when I travel. However the hotels in LOS provide free WiFi connections & I always bring my iPad when I travel.

The only problem with these pre-paid cards is that they expire if you do not top up the card regularly. So I went to one of the service centres & paid to have the SIM card activated for 1 year. Only cost 3 baht for each month. I can of course simply purchased a new card each time I visit but it is inconvenient to remember a new telephone number.

Click to expand...

Purchase SIM card alone is $2 only. The other 18 is for the credit.

Re: Starhub charged over $2200 for data roaming despite assuring me there was a $15 c

lifeafter41 said:

Sometime when travel overseas, you get message from the respective telcos on the roaming charges, Data Roam saver plans etc, to ask you to use it. Which I find it is still very expensive at S$15/day (SELECTED Telco, in this case to Malaysia is Maxis to Singtel)....

Click to expand...

The best is to avoid doing business with any local companies. Especially GLCs:o It is really sad when you cannot recommend a Singapore brand.

I've learned to avoid doing anything which is related to any GLCs e.g. SIA, a Spore hotel or malls,....