International Charges applied to my phone for whatsapp charges

[Harpreet2510]

I took a fido basic 35$ plan and after 3 month I got a bill of 390$ mentioning that I made inetrnational call. These calls were all whatspp call and FIDO is fraudently took the calls from whatsapp call service and bill me.

This is unethical and cheating. I fought for 2 hours and 2 days but the customer (TEAR - rips the cust apart) care never addressed my concerns both the agent or their boss. 

They asked me to provide screen shots of the Whatspp call log which I did but they used it against me to prove me wrong. They never had any intention to solve my complaint. 

FIDO Wirless is FRAUD. Stay away guys.

[MarielaCalgary]

Hi Harpreet,

FIDO has fraudently charged me twice for a Whatsapp call. They charged me $13 and $32 consecuentively. On top of that, calling FIDO customer services is a nightmare. First, it is extremely difficult to get through an agent. Their automatic services sucks. Second, the agent that took my call was condescendent. He spoke to me like I was a little girl that didn't know anything about cellphones and techology. Additionally, he tried to convince me that I made that international call deliberatetively and wasn't happy when I pushed back. Then, he changed from being condescentent to being the client. He didn't share his name or operator number and talked to me like he was on the ghetto. FIDO has a BAD SERVICE and POOR TRAINED customer services representatives. Changing to FIDO is the worse choice I has made.  

I took a fido basic 35$ plan and after 3 month I got a bill of 390$ mentioning that I made inetrnational call. These calls were all whatspp call and FIDO is fraudently took the calls from whatsapp call service and bill me.

[Cawtau]

Hello MarielaCalgary,

  Welcome to the community!

  Sorry to hear you've incurred unexpected long-distance charges and your contact with customer services was not postive.

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@MarielaCalgary wrote:

...These calls were all whatspp call and FIDO is fraudently took the calls from whatsapp call service and bill me.

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  As mentioned in the solution, the mobile providers cannot divert calls from within apps to cellular calls. They can only connect/transmit what your phone sends. With calls made using WhatsApp, it appears as though the app will switch to a cellular call if it deems the internet connection is not adequate.

  As suggested below, enabling Airplane or Flight mode prior to making WhatsApp calls should prevent the app from switching to cellular calls if the internet is not sufficient.

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers

[Cawtau · Accepted solution]

Hello Harpreet2510,

  Welcome to the community!

  Sorry to hear you've incurred unexpected long-distance charges. However, the issue you've mentioned isn't the fault of the mobile providers. It happens across multiple providers. WhatsApp seems to be the culprit. While it's not mentioned on their website, it appears as though the app will automatically switch to using mobile airtime minutes (within the app) if it deems the internet connection is too slow for voice calls (see here and here). It should also be mentioned that other messaging apps may also behave in a similar manner.

  One suggestion would be to enable Airplane or Flight mode and manually enabling Wifi prior to making the call(s). Doing so should prevent the app from switching to mobile services if the Wifi internet connection is not sufficient. However, it also means that you wouldn't be able to make WhatsApp calls using a mobile data connection.

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@Harpreet2510 wrote:...These calls were all whatspp call and FIDO is fraudently took the calls from whatsapp call service and bill me...

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  Phone companies cannot divert calls from within apps to cellular calls. The mobile providers do not decide which calls go over their networks. That determination is made by the phone. They merely connect calls which the phone request to be made. In your case, it appears as though WhatsApp is making the calls over the cellular networks.

  It's the customers' responsibility to know how their devices and the apps they use work. As mentioned, the mobile providers only transmit what a customer's phone sends. If WhatsApp makes a call using data, the providers will transmit data; if WhatsApp makes the call using cellular networks, the providers will transmit it as a call over the cellular networks. Not connecting to the networks (ie Airplane or Flight mode) should prevent that from happening.

  I understand this is a difficult time and receiving such a bill even more distressing. If you're unable to make full payment on the bill, you might consider arranging a payment schedule. To make an arrangement, you'll need to contact the credit operations team. It should be mentioned that a payment arrangement might not be available in all situations.

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers