Roaming charges

[Kendhni]

Just been reading this story where a girl managed to rack up £3800 in charges while abroad ... despite warning texts from the phone company.

I am afraid that I have little sympathy ... it appears every child that owns a mobile phone can understand every intricacy about its use but never understand the charges and, despite getting and replying to texts from loads of friends, they can not remember receiving the one from the phone company that warned them of their spending. More to the point surely the parents should have told her to stop posting photos because, if they had any sense, at least they would have understood the contract they had signed for their daughter? It is well known now that using a phone abroad can be expensive if it is abused.

Surely the solution is that parents put a call limit on their child's mobile phone that, once reached, means the phone no longer operates (with the exception of emergency and a single nominated phone number (parent)) .. they can currently do that but the override is far too easy ... alternatively give the child a PAYG phone .. or would that require parental respsonsibility which would stop them making it somebody elses fault?

[david63]

I thought that most, if not all, mobile phone companies had an option within the account to "cap" roaming charges - I know that Vodafone certainly do with a default value of £35. It is not rocket science for a parent to set this limit (and change the password) before going on holiday