Roaming facility without user authorisation- poor customer service

[dharmalp]

I'm a Fido mobile connection user in Windsor, ON, since September 2023.

On 26th Feb at 3.22pm I received a text message saying "welcome to USA with some roaming charges details ". Simultaneously I received an email from Fido which mentioned that I have registered for roaming services. 

I am the sole user of my fido account and I did not request any roaming facility.  When checked via customer services on the same night, the cc agent said from 8am above mentioned date, my sim has used roaming facility (i received email only at 3.22pm). She accepted it is a fault from Fido end. She kept me on hold in the call for more than 20 minutes asking for time to check what has actually happened but couldn't provide a satisfactory solution for my problem. When the time she kept me on hold seems to never end, I requested her to check what has happened and call me back. Then her reply was I will have to call back. (Quality of customer care when the issue is apparantly at the end of the service provider). I requested her to make sure that I will not be charged additional for the roaming facility which I never requested but her answer was "she can tell that only when the bill is prepared thus she was unable to give any assurance about my request (despite this being a mistake from the end of Fido the service provider)."

And she sounded very passive about providing a solution to this issue. All she did was putting a note, opening a ticket and telling me that ticket number over the phone. 

Fido, When a mistake happens  isn't it the best practice to correct it promptly and giving an assurance to the customer? I recommend Fido to focus seriously on improving your customer service if you don't want to loose customers. 

Lavanya Dharmasena 

[Original_Lucy]

Hello @dharmalp , unfortunately when living in proximity to the US border, it's possible to inadvertently connect to an American provider. You can report that your device is picking up the US roaming when not actually roaming. Fido will make note of this. You can also turn off roaming so that you don't pick up any American towers when you are near the border. When you receive the message that you are roaming, it's 1- to let you know you're picking up the US towers and 2 - to let you know you're on a roaming agreement to keep your fees down. It doesn't mean you've been charged, the message is to make you aware that you have grabbed a US tower. Please call customer service and let them know that you have received the message and you are not in the US. Until you get it rectified,  you can, as I mentioned, turn off roaming on your device. I hope that helps you out. 

[dharmalp]

Thank you very much. Most things you have mentioned in the reply are new information to me.  As I wrote clearly in my above post I explained everything to Fido cust care agent in terms of what I experienced but they could not provide the explanation you have provided. Thanks again

[Cawtau]

Hello Dharmalp,

  Welcome to the community!

  Sorry to hear you unexpectedly received that roaming text message. It certainly can be alerting especially if you are still within Canada. As Original_Lucy noted, devices can inadvertently connect to US towers while still in Canada. Fido are supposed to have measures in place to prevent that from happening in areas close to the border.

  As she also noted, merely receiving the welcome message does not necessarily mean you've incurred roaming charges. 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. 

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@dharmalp wrote:

... I requested her to make sure that I will not be charged additional for the roaming facility which I never requested but her answer was "she can tell that only when the bill is prepared thus she was unable to give any assurance about my request (despite this being a mistake from the end of Fido the service provider)."...

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  I understand it may seem like the person you spoke with was passive with regards to your issue. However, roaming usage is not available to customer service in real-time due to the potential delay in receiving that information from the foreign provider. The only way they might know if there was any usage is after your bill has been generated.

  You would need to ensure your device does not connect to a US tower. I understand you have been advised to disable roaming. However, you should note that disabling roaming data does not prevent roaming for voice and text messages. The only setting devices have to prevent roaming would be to enable Airplane or Flight mode. Unfortunately, though, that would also prevent the device from connecting to Canadian cellular towers as well.

  You might consider manually setting your network connection to Fido (rather than automatic). Doing so should prevent your device from connecting to other cellular towers, including those from the US.

  Alternatively, you might consider requesting a roaming block on your line.

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers