Fido Roam - Be aware

[Chasu]

I just spent an hour and a half on the phone with Fido. They are essentially using a negative billing scheme with their Fido Roam. I was charged $60 for roaming charges while in Hawaii. They can clearly see from my usage during my vacation that I hardly used the phone at all for anything. Just a few calls and texts which I figured I would just pay per use for instead of incurring the daily charge because I didn't need my phone that much. The customer service staff were unhelpful. They are trained to offer the niceties of service which came across as disingenuous but they were absolutely not helpful. Just kept repeating that they were simply following company policy. I have contacted the consumer advocacy person at CTV and I will also be placing a complaint with the CRTC. I have no problem paying for charges that I incurred but I don't like to be cheated by companies and this is what their process feels like. I will also be moving my account to a different provider as soon as I can. I may just pay off my phone purchases ahead of time if there are no penalties and find a different provider. Fido, for a measly $60 plus taxes, you have permanently lost a customer in me and you can rest assured that I will tell every single person I know what has happened and warn them so that if they are Fido customers and they travel internationally at least they won't be cheated into paying roaming charges. The irony of this is that all you would have to do is reverse the roaming charges and thereafter, because I know this is the sneaky way you try to cheat your clients, I would never do that again. And if I did fo that again you would have historical data indicating that I knew and you could very rightly say that I knew the process and should incur the charges. 

[Chasu]

It's not changing providers out of spite. It's changing providers due to lack of transparency and essentially really poor customer service. Even for you to use the phrase "out of spite" shows your disrespectful and inappropriate language towards your clients. Being "spiteful" carries a negative connotation and your use of it implies that I'm going to cancel my services just to annoy or hurt the company. I don't care about the company. I care about the service I receive and whether they deal in a fair and equitable manner with their customers. So leaving Fido for another provider will be a decision I make based on the price I pay, the service I get, and my interactions with their customer service agents.

[kwkeirstead]

Yep. Same experience.

The chat agent told me there is no way to check usage so only option it seems when you travel and do not want Roaming charges is to turn off the phone and leave it off.  We will upon return move to another carrier.

[FidoAlex]

Hey @kwkeirstead, Alex here and welcome to the community! 

I'm sorry to hear about your experience with Fido roam, we wouldn't want that making you want to switch to another carrier! 

We're a Canadian company so it's normal that you'll be charged if you use the service while in another country. In that sense, keeping your phone off is definitely a good way to avoid any charges. However, if you're careful, you don't actually need to keep it off. You'll only be charged if you use the service, so if you don't use any data, send any text messages, answer or make any calls, you won't be charged! 

A good thing to do is turning off the data roaming setting in your device, that way you'll be sure that your device doesn't connect to a foreign network automatically. You can also put your phone in airplane mode. Lastly, you can ask our customer service to completely block roaming on your line, but keep in mind that means you won't be able to use the service even if you want to, while you're in another country. 

I hope this clarifies a few things! 😊

[Cawtau]

Hello again,

  You are free to switch providers for whatever reason you claim. However, as noted, all of the eligible Fido plans advertise that they include Fido Roam. That's transparent. People are happy to avail of the 5 hours without having to opt-in, but always seem to have issues with regarding Fido Roam also being included. Both features are advertised as being included in all eligible Fido plans.

  For the record, I don't work for Fido. This forum is community-driven. While there are Fido moderators monitoring these forums, many people who reply don't actually work for Fido.

Cheers

[Cawtau · Accepted solution]

Hello Chasu,

  Welcome to the community!

  It is unfortunate you were not aware of how Fido Roam works. However, it isn't negative billing per se. All eligible Fido plans advertise that they include Fido Roam. In addition, while you do have to opt-out of the feature if you wanted to roam on a pay-per-use basis, you are not paying additional fees for having the feature on plans nor are your plan fees reduced if you opt-out. You chose a plan which included Fido Roam.

  I understand wanting to switch providers out of spite. However, you should note that many providers offer their roaming options in a similar manner. You might consider going over the details of your plan rather than assuming roaming is on a pay-per-use basis.

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers