His T-Mobile international phone plan didn't work on a cruise ship. Call for Action got his money back
KINGSTON, N.H. - A dream vacation ended with a giant headache for Danny Smith when he returned home to Kingston, New Hampshire to find a whopping cell phone bill.
Smith thought he had done everything right to avoid international fees, so when his carrier T-Mobile refused to budge on his bill, he reached out to WBZ-TV's Call for Action.
Smith spent months planning the vacation that included Pisa, Venice, and Rome along with a half dozen other European cities.
"We went on a 12-day cruise out of Barcelona to celebrate my 60th birthday," he said. "It was fabulous."
To avoid foreign roaming fees on his two phones, he booked an international travel pass, which included unlimited talk and text. "[It was] $50 for each phone," he explained.
A few days into their trip, Danny got a text message from T-Mobile that his account had reached $95.84 in charges, advising him to please call to avoid service interruption. He immediately called a customer service representative.
"Don't worry," Danny said he was told by the customer service representative over the phone. "You're all set, you have the international plan. No worries."
But that was not the end of it. "Cut to 10 days later, one of our phones was shut off," Danny said.
When he called T-Mobile back a second time, Danny said he was told the international plan does not work on cruise ships. "Well wait a minute, it's not unlimited text and talk?" he recalled asking on the phone. "And they said, well, no, not on the ocean. You should have known that."
Danny was charged $5.99 for every minute on the phone for a total of $612.04. He was able to negotiate a lower rate, but he still owed $429.79.
He reached out to Call for Action because he wanted other travelers to be aware.
"I hope that somebody watching this goes, 'Oh gosh, thank God for that guy in New Hampshire telling me about that so I don't get a $600 phone bill, that's what I hope."
Danny ended up getting more than he hoped. After he contacted us, we reached out to T-Mobile and within a few hours, he got a credit for an additional $321. His final bill was just $108.79.
WBZ-TV reached out to T-Mobile for comment, which provided a statement.
"Our Care team reached out to our customer," the company said. "Out of respect for their privacy, we don't discuss account details with others, but information on coverage and paying for what you use when on a cruise can be found on our international roaming page here."
