Forum Discussion
Outrageous Bill from a Cruise. Please help.
I went on a cruise in November. Thought I had international calling bought an extra plan that was text to me from T mobile when I was notified that my bill was $100 over. I also purchased the ships Wi-Fi plan because I am currently in school and need the Wi-Fi. 3 days into the trip I got a notification that my bill was $700 over I at that point contacted T-Mobile and was advised that the charges were valid and that there was nothing they could do. I was also told to turn my airplane mode on, and it would stop the charges Three days later I get another text from T-Mobile saying that my bill is now $1700. After making every attempt to avoid these charges, I still incurred them. I have reached out to T-Mobile multiple times to resolve this bill by paying my bill plus an extra $200 to $300 more a month than my monthly bill, until the balance is settled. This is what I can afford. I am being denied of that. I have been a T-Mobile customer for many years. My bill is typically paid on time. I am disgruntled at how I am being treated. If anybody has any situation similar please reach out.TIA.
Cruise ships are not covered by international plans because they are not within reach of land based cell towers. Because of that, you connect to a micro tower onboard the ship, operated by the cruise line that charges insane rates for calls, texts, and any data. Then they pass that bill over to T-Mobile for them to charge you, the customer.
Customer Care is correct. T-Mobile waiving these charges would cause them to eat the costs you racked up while on the cruise. You need to put your device in Airplane Mode before getting within a couple of miles if the ship and leave it in Airplane Mode until you are a couple. of miles away from the ship. You can enable WiFi while Airplane Mode is enabled but ultimately, removing your SIM ensures apps do not override Airplane Mode and get you charged a lot of extra funds.
You can try reaching out to the T-Force Team by sending a DM to T-Mobile on either Facebook or Twitter/X. Good luck! It's an expensive lesson to learn the hard way from not doing your research into what international addons cover and to the cost of using devices on a and near a cruise ship.
