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Beware of the Fido Roam

Fredyo
I'm helpful level 1
I'm helpful level 1

If you have a Fido Pulse plan, Fido will have enabled (whether you wanted it or not) the Fido Roam plan. You might think you can just ignore it if you have no interest in using their roaming services but that is not the case. There are in fact a few sneaky little gotchas that may cost you upwards of $180 in extra charges on your next bill if you aren't fully informed. Read on.

 

It used to be that when you arrive in a destination country, you'd recieve a text message informing you that you were roaming and that pay-per-use roaming charges would apply. You would then even be given some roaming package you could choose to opt-in to. Cool!

Not the case anymore. Now with Fido Roam enabled, what happens it that once you arrive in your destination country, you'll recieve a text message that looks something like this:41945306_10155496318011734_1795333541324652544_n.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It would be very easy to think that by just not turning on your data (and data roaming) you'd be ok BUT that is not the case at all. There in lies the grand trap that cost me a small chunk of change! 

 

You will automatically enable Fido Roam services for a 24 hour period at whatever cost was specified in the initial text if you simply send a text message OR recieve an MMS message (a text with a picture) OR recieve a call and reject it (rather than letting it ring and go to voicemail). You won't have any idea that you activated it either until you get your bill at the end of your billing cycle. Further more, you can't even disable it from your customer account portal, you need to either get onto live chat or call a customer service representative to have them disable it!

 

I have a dual-SIM phone and in my case, it used to be that upon leaving, I'd disable Fido's data and enable my host countries data plan and I'd be free and clear. If I recieved a text or call on my Fido line, I could simply respond to it and pay the one time usage fee... turns out this year, that wasn't the case and rather than paying $10.50 for sending about 14 text messages I was dinged $84! Now that's one hell of a markup in price! 

 

I highly recommend you disable Fido Roam ASAP before travelling and instead, get a SIM chip for the country you are visiting. You will almost ALWAYS get a far superior deal to any roaming package Fido offers you! 

 

Going forward, here is what FIdo should do:

1) When the roaming plan has been activated for a 24 hour period, you should recieve a text message indicating it has been activated and should also give you the exact time it will be deactivated (as it lasts for a 24 hour period).

 

2) There should be a quick and easy way to opt out by text message.

 

3) It should NOT be automatically enabled on any plan, instead users should be able to opt-in to it like before.

 

4) It should be easily enabled/disabled via the customer service portal as opposed to having to actually have a customer service rep do it for you.

 

I don't forsee any of these happening though because there is money to be made as data overage and roaming charges bring HUGE dollars to telecom providers. 

 

Hope this helps someone from falling into this trap because if you think Fido will reimburse you, you are sorely mistaken. You will be told that their roaming policies are "clearly laid out" on some part of their site for anyone to read... sadly this is all after the fact that you've fallen into the trap!

 

Now cue the customer service reps and community mods to chime in with their copy-pasted responses indicating how sorry they are that I feel this way and that it's not for everyone and so on....

90 REPLIES 90

aadium
I'm a participant level 1
I'm a participant level 1

Just now, I was charged a 180$ bill due to Fido Roam. I had kept the sim card in case I had to receive any incoming calls, but all 8 of them ended up being spam calls. Worst part is that I am an international student, and 180$ is a big bill to pay.

 

Should have gone through this article before.

Hello Aadium,

 

  Welcome to the community!

 

  Sorry to hear you've incurred unexpected Fido Roam charges. It is unfortunate those calls you received were all SPAM calls. If you were not aware, the Fido Roam charges will only incur if your phone uses services -- make or receive a call, send a text message or use data abroad. If you did not answer those calls, you would not have been charged for roaming.

 

  I understand there are instances which necessitate answering calls -- even though you might not recognise the number. If you did not wish to use Fido Roam, you would need to opt-out of the feature. In doing so, any usage would be on a pay-per-use basis. You can view those rates here. If you wished to opt-out of Fido Roam, you would need to contact customer service. In addition, they can also be contacted via Live Chat, Facebook, or Twitter. Those methods can be accessed via the contact page posted above.

 

  I understand you are a student and receiving such a bill even more distressing. If you're unable to make full payment on the bill, you might consider trying to arrange a payment schedule. To make an arrangement, you'll need to contact the credit operations team. It should also be mentioned that any arrangement would be at the discretion of the credit operations team.

 

  You should note that this is the community forum and not intended as a venue for customer services. We would not have access to customers' accounts. If you did wish to discuss your situation, you would need to contact customer service.

 

Hope this helps šŸ˜€


Scobebo
I'm a participant level 1
I'm a participant level 1

I got scammed by the same stunt.
What a bunch of vultures.
Bye bye, Fido.

 

archoll1972
I'm a participant level 1
I'm a participant level 1

Unfortunately, I, too, was a victim of this shady practice. I was able to "negotiate" a three-day credit as a "one time accommodation". However, at the end of the day, they were penny wise-pound foolish becuase I am up for service renewal AND phone upgrade in two months. Can you guess if I will continue with Fido anymore? They may have won the battle, but they will be unsuccessful in winning the war.  It took me three online chat sessions (one of which was almost ONE hour long), and a call centre CSR who dared to giggle at my scenario (I had to, politely, request him to refrain from doing so), but in the end they will be the ones losing more than just $100 bucks for their roaming services. 

danben
I'm a participant level 2
I'm a participant level 2
A few weeks ago I was in the US for a few hours. I have roaming turned off all the time. I didn't make a call, send a text or used data. Somehow there is still a $4 something charge on my bill for "roaming".
 
This is the second time this happened. When I contacted Fido the first time, they basically told me it was my own fault. Not sure how that's possible, but they just didn't care.
 
I guess taking the SIM out is the only solution for not getting scammed by Fido.

Hello Danben,

 

  Welcome to the community!

 

  Sorry to hear you've incurred unexpected roaming charges. I understand you might have previously contacted customer service. However, you should note that the forums are community-driven and not intended as a venue for customer services. Since we do not have access to customers' accounts, we would not be able to determine why that charge was incurred. For example, Fido Roam would have been $12 per day. On the other hand, the pay-per-use rates don't readily add up to the charge you note.

 

  If you would like to discuss that charge, you would need to contact customer service. In addition, they can also be contacted via Live Chat, Facebook, or Twitter. Those methods can be accessed via the contact page posted above.

 

  It should be noted that most modern devices do not have a setting to disable roaming entirely. The settings available are usually only meant to disable roaming data. In order to prevent roaming charges, it would be generally recommended to enable Airplane or Flight mode enabled for the duration of your time outside of Canada. You could manually enable Wifi when required.

 

Hope this helps šŸ˜€

 

Cheers


danben
I'm a participant level 2
I'm a participant level 2

I just checked my bill and was charged extra on August 16. I was not even in the US. I do live about 45 minutes from the US border but was nowhere close to it or even cross it.

Hello again,

 

  Is that extra charge for roaming? Generally, 45 minutes away from the border should be far enough to not connect to a US cellular tower. That said, Fido is supposed to have measures in place to prevent accidental US roaming while in Canada. If your device did connect to a US cellular tower while you were still in Canada, there might be a problematic tower of which they are not aware. You would also need to contact customer service in order to investigate the matter.

 

Hope this helps šŸ˜€

 

Cheers


Icykofan
I'm a participant level 1
I'm a participant level 1

I just go scammed the same way by Fido. I thought I was dumb for being fooled but apparently, that's quite common and its been going on for quite a while without anything improved.

 

It must be a scheme that is earning them quite a bit.

 

Over the phone they told me a text was sent to notify me but just like most of the people here, they are not exactly telling you how that thing automatically triggers over every single thing with that beautiful 14$/day flat rate. I thought I was safe by turning out the data but to my surprise I was not and got destroyed 5 days over something that should have cost me just a few dollars.

 

I will be saying goodbye to Fido soon.

J_Power
I'm a participant level 1
I'm a participant level 1

Hi ,

 

I have just been stung by Fido with this shady business. As per my contract it states that I am terms to acceptable use policy as per the Fido terms website which states about the default opt-in. Legally speaking its clear anad available to the user. Although from a buiness stand point its shady and bad practice. I haven't experienced this with other companies so I can't speak to the industry norm. What I know is a customer may not use the data roaming more than once or twice a year and to expect the cunsumer to remember terms from their website is geared towards swindling a customer who doesn't do the due dilligence.

 

In addition, the great text alert that you receive upon entry to the new zone. It doesn't state if you receive a call and answer it that you will be charged for a daily rate. The alert system is a joke and is clearly smoke and mirrors so that you don't make the decision of opting out. In-fact it doesn't mention that you are automatically opted in  the text. In my past experience with european networks is you get a text and you can respond with a command to get usage for the day. You would also get a confirmation text stating your charged for the day. Now a days roaming charges are extinct in all of EU countries. This all seems a bit advanced for this network.

 

In addition to this the amount of Spam Numbers that are coming in of late, I was charged for 2 days of roaming as I answered a Spam number by mistake. What are Fido doing to stop the amount of Spam numbers from US numbers some of which you get 3 per day.

 

Customer service seems to be on the back burner with this companies policies. I have wasted 30 hours of my life calling Fido for various reasons over the past year with all that time I have had one customer representative that left me as a satisfied customer. My most recent experience today was being hung up on whilst on hold for a supervisor. The second time I called the customer service rep hung up on me. The third time the customer rep was helpful and put me on a call back for a manager. Do I expect a call back? Absolutley not. At this stage if my issues aren't rectified I will be looking for another mobile network, even if I end up paying more I will be happy to see the back of Fido.

 

My recommendations for Fido have a deep look at your customer policies and how you make your decisions, the customer doesn't seem to be in your peripherals when putting togther your terms and conditions. Secondly streamline your phone call helpline, it is terrible. Create a web-mail portal. The live chat is next to useleess and the phone help-line needs some attiention to staff training for some of the reps (not all).

MEInc
I'm a participant level 2
I'm a participant level 2

I am a relatively new Fido client - there is no support or help I can get to erroneous roaming charges.  I turned off cellular data like others on this chat and still got charged. ASK Jack is useless and I seem to be getting the run around. Starting to get the sense that Fido is not a customer friendly carrier.

FidoJulien
Former Moderator
Former Moderator

Hey @MEInc

 

If you have questions about our bill or need clarifications, you can contact us and a member of our team will be happy to help!



storminne
I'm a participant level 3
I'm a participant level 3

I have now called 3 times over the past 2 years to have Fido Roam turned off on my phone. Each time I have been promised by the agents that it had been turned off and each time I have received the fixed roaming charges when travelling afterward. I just spent 2 hours on the phone this time to supposedly get the charges reversed.

 

The agent said I could look at the service details for my phone account on the web to confirm that Fido Roam was turned off. I asked him to find that for me and after he looked for awhile he came back and told me that you cannot see it on-line. That the only option was to call an agent each time before I travelled to confirm that it was off. .....That is ridiculous!!!

 

This has cost me a lot of money over the past couple of years. I will now be looking for another phone provider.

Hey @storminne

 

Thank you for connecting with us through the Community and sharing your feedback!

 

Rest assured this isn't the experience we aim to provide our customers with and we're sorry that you had to go through this. We want your experience to be seamless. That said, if you had contacted us to opt-out of Fido Roam and it wasn't done, please reach out to us and we'll make sure to rectify the situation on our end.

 

It's good to know that we normally send our customers email confirmation when the opt-in or opt-out of a feature too. Had you checked your emails?

 

As for Fido Roam, you can always confirm your enrollment status by texting the word ROAM to 222 from your device.



storminne
I'm a participant level 3
I'm a participant level 3

I asked but the agent said he could not send a confirmation email. No confirmation email was sent.

 

I do not want to try texting ROAM because I'm afraid it may turn on the feature. If I am still a customer I will call before I travel the next time to confirm Fido Roam is OFF.

 

Fido should have the default set to OFF and that a person needs to call in to activate it. If all you do while traveling is phone or text (not use data), the per minute rates are always less than triggering the flat rate charge.

RoamingRiOff
I'm a participant level 3
I'm a participant level 3

I just talk to Manager, and she let me know that Fido is charging me $12 for 84 bytes of usage.

My Mobile phone was disabled and still got charged, I highly recommend all customer to run away from Fido.

Manager was rude and unprofessional.

 

Hey @RoamingRiOff,

 

We understand that having a higher than expected bill is never a pleasant situation and we're sorry that your experience when you called in wasn't a positive one. Rest assured that's not the type of experience we want our customers to go through.

 

In regards to Fido Roam, you can check out the solution above to learn more about the types of usage that will trigger a daily fee. Also, it's important to note that the Data Roaming feature on your device must be turned OFF before roaming to avoid any charges for the internet. If Data Roaming is ON and your device connects to a foreign partner's network, your device will use data automatically in the background which will trigger the daily fee.Therefore we recommend turning the feature off before travelling and before arriving at the destination.

 

You will only be charged if usage is actually made from the device, it's not possible for us to charge you if there was no usage detected through the SIM card. 

 

You can also learn more here.



Hey @RoamingRiOff,

 

I assure you our intent is to offer you a reliable service whether you're in Canada or abroad.

 

When you connect to another network, they send us the charges and we mitigate the charge with our Fido roam option.

 

Rest assured, we operate within the legal bounds of Canadian law and we inform you of any charge that will apply to your account while travelling. 

 

You can get more details here.



RoamingRiOff
I'm a participant level 3
I'm a participant level 3

you informed us after the charges are applied, you should ask first, then charge. Why is that so hard to understand?

RoamingRiOff
I'm a participant level 3
I'm a participant level 3

You did not inform me, I just got the bill.

you still need to fix the WIFI authentication bug in your system, you can't charge $12 for 85kb of data, that is ridiculous.!

It is illegal because you can't charge $12 for wifi authentication!!.

 

sooner or later Canadian law will hunt you down and shut you down.