Account Blocked

[a-mac]

Last winter, I bought a T-Mobile dongle and SIM to use for broadband internet whilst in Spain last November, simply because it was PAYG and had the cheapest roaming data prices.

I bought top-ups and converted them to broadband use. I also registered 3 different payment cards (two credit and one debit) so that there were options to choose from when working abroad.

When I arrived in Spain, the dongle simply wouldn't connect to anything. Eventually, after much passing from pillar to post, I managed to get someone in Customer Services on my case. I wish I still had her number right NOW! She fixed the settings at their end so access was granted and I used the dongle successfully from 18-25 November, working either through the Movistar or Amena network - can't remember which.

I came home and thought no more about it. I'm back to Spain again this coming weekend and so logged on to see how much credit I had. To my surprise my account had been blocked on 19 November - so while I was in Spain last year!

I rang their call centre in Manilla / Mumbai (???) and the guy there told me I had to fax ALL my credit card statements to a fax number. I refused to fax anything until they told me WHY! Firstly because it is 7 months on and I don't know which statements, if any, are relevant, and secondly because I had had no contact from T-Mobile telling me there was a problem. Just this note on my online page.

He went away, came back, then said Credit Card Fraud! I asked for a number to speak to someone. No number available. I asked for an email address. No email address. Then the repeated requirement. Please send all your credit card statements to this fax number. I complained. He went away for an age, then came back and gave me an email address: idfraud@tmobile.co.uk and told me to write to them. I did. NO REPLY. ..............SO WHAT DO i DO NOW?

It would be easy to just fax statements if I knew what they are looking for and if I had them. Any hard copy statement details are shredded once the account is paid. I just keep the front sheet showing the balance (yes I've learned a lesson through this!) My online statements don't go back as far as November 2008 and so I can't do what they ask anyway. The only online statement I have, and which shows 2 payments to T-Mobile is my debit card statement and I could send them those but I believe I have a right to know what this is about before sending anything to some number given to me by a call centre in Manilla or Mumbai or somewhere!

Anyone else in this predicament ?

[**Rab**]

email cust.rel@t-mobile.co.uk they will be able to fully investigate this for you

[a-mac]

Thank you. Have done so.

Do you also have any phone number, in the event of no response by the end of today?

I now only really have tomorrow to get this sorted before going away on Monday WITHOUT internet cover.

[**Rab**]

because they have a limited workforce they only accept enquiries by email or letter. if you want to speak to someone you'l have to try cs again try calling the number ment for customers abroad 0044 79539 66 150 any time iv call it i get a uk centre

[a-mac]

Thanks for help.

[a-mac]

No reply from customer services, so had to phone that number you gave me Rab. The guy there just said the same thing - fax the statements to this number.

So I've faxed the ones I have which aren't the ones they want because those ones don't exist. Even if they are acceptable, he said it'll take a week to act on my fax.

If they had emailed me back in November and told me there was a problem, I could have looked into it sooner.

Pathetic service. You should be ashamed T-Mobile.

[a-mac]

Am now in Spain complete with working dongle!

T-Mobile fraud dept phoned me ON THE DAY I was leaving for Spain to thank me for the statements and to say my account was restored. I asked what the fraud was. She couldn't discuss it but that it was because of unusual activity on my account!

Because of the coincidence of the dates of my last trip to Spain and the blocking of my account, I asked if the unusual activity had anything to do with the fact that last November I had to call them from Spain to get them to enable the dongle for roaming and they called me back, set the dongle to work and then I used it. She said that would have counted as unusual activity! Ha! So they penalise the customer for their ineffective setting up of a dongle at the time of supply!

At the end of the call, she said I must wait an hour before accessing the web with the dongle. That put me at the airport where I still couldn't connect! I called Customer Services who said there was no coverage there but there was a hotspot I could test on. She advised me to check my connection via the hotspot and gave me instructions on how to do that. I managed to connect for a couple of minutes and then my flight was called. That cost 75 pence for the privilege!

Anyway, now I am in Spain and despite setting my browser (Opera) to not allow any download of flash or graphics, I have still spent nearly 70 quid using the T-Mobile roaming with Movistar network. So now I am off out to buy a Spanish dongle and prepay SIM!

T-Mobile purports to be one of the cheapest for roaming. At one pount 50 per MB it seems cheap but the MBs get gobbled up in no time. It's horrendously expensive!

So anyone thinking of roaming with T-Mobile, don't bother. Just buy a local dongle and SIM or use an unlocked dongle. That's what I shall do in the future when I travel abroad.

Back to the sun!

[pctech]

I think data roaming will be the next frontier where heavy caps will need to be introduced.

Unfortunately full fat internet will always gobble up the MBs and its unlikely to become unlimited a sensible price needs to be charged.

[theGR8Rgood]

Originally Posted by a-mac

So now I am off out to buy a Spanish dongle and prepay SIM!

Hi A-Mac,

Please advise whether you were able to buy a Spanish dongle and prepay SIM, and if so give some details as to how/where, which network, cost, how many GB, when it expires, etc..

I know some folk who are crying out to know the ins and outs of prepay mobile-broadband in the EU, from somebody who has actually used it.

Many Thanks,
Andy

[a-mac]

For PAYG internet, what I discovered was the following.

SIMYO and YOIGO only cover large towns. Movistar has best coverage and is priced at 3 euros per day of unlimited MBs but I don't have any more info as I didn't look further into any of these providers for PAYG, but there is further info below for Vodaphone between the dotted lines - in case you get bored reading all the stuff before it - hehe!

We went into a huge electronics superstore in Alicante or might have been Elche (forget the name of it) but it was close to Carrefour. Although they had brochures for the internet suppliers, they didn't sell any PAYG dongles.

For anyone living in Spain, at the Movistar desk where the girl spoke good English, they did do a great Movistar deal which wasn't PAYG but was a 30 day contract. You bought the dongle, and then signed up for the SIM/data deal. I seem to recall it was a good price at about €1 per day of usage. Anyway it wasn't any use to us as it involved paperwork delays and phone calls and bank info, etc. For a short stay such as ours, it wasn't worth it.

I looked at Orange and Vodaphone by Googling them and finding their shop addresses in my area.

Although the Orange coverage map online looked good for the area I was going to (Moriara) the guy in the Orange shop in the town said that in the same way that some phones have better reception than others, the Orange PAYG dongle itself didn't have a good antenna for reception so he advised going with another provider.

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INFO FROM RETAILER SUPPLYING VODAPHONE DONGLES IN MORIARA, JUNE 2009. Don't remember its name but the shop was also a currency exchange place. It had Telefonica written on its green hoarding, was right next to a camera shop on its right and a bar with WiFi on its left and was near the harbour. There was a blond Polish woman who spoke fluent English.

1. Buy dongle and SIM for €90. Then buy a top-up package at price Options A or B

2. COST OPTION A:-
Basic - 19€ for 150 MB data total, valid for 3 months
Advanced - 29€ for 400 MB data total, valid for 3 months
Premium - 59€ for 1 GB data total, valid for 3 months

3. COST OPTION B:-
ONE WEEK USAGE - 29€ for UNLIMITED DATA AND USAGE
TWO WEEKS USAGE - 39€ for UNLIMITED DATA AND USAGE
ONE MONTH USAGE - 59€ for UNLIMITED DATA AND USAGE

4. THEREAFTER: If there is no top-up bought after either Option A or Option B has expired then the SIM is redundant and so next visit, the SIM must be replaced at a cost of €30 and then the top ups bought as well.

MINIMUM SPEND PER TRIP ON OPTION A IS €49, €59 OR €89
MINIMUM SPEND PER TRIP ON OPTION B IS €59, €69 OR €89

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In the event, I just stuck with my T-Mobile for this trip and have now bought an unlocked dongle in the UK and next year I will just buy the SIM and UNLIMITED MB package as shown in Option B above.

Incidentally if you (or someone you know) lives in the UK, you can get a free 3 dongle from www.3dongle4free.co.uk and unlock it (for free) with software from http://rapidshare.com/files/23573254...DongleFree.zip

Then just buy a SIM and MB package in your part of Spain and pop it in - Bob's your uncle!

[theGR8Rgood]

Hi A-Mac,

The Info you have provided has far exceeded my expectation.

I will pass on a link to your post which will make a number of peeps happy!

Many Many Thanks,
Andy

[a-mac]

Hi theGR8Rgood

There's a whole stack more on the link below which you will find adds to what I have already said, and corrects, where necessary, where I haven't quite got the info 100% correct.

I started the thread off with the same chunk of text that I wrote on this posting because you were so pleased with my contribution! I actually started off on the other forum when I first began researching PAYG SIMS in Spain. Have a read of what the expert (who lives there) says ...

http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/euro...html#post28543

[theGR8Rgood]

That's brilliant stuff A-Mac!!!

You and Petkow have now provided by far the most informative and understandable stuff on this, that I have seen.

I have passed on the link to the "others".

Many Thanks,
Andy