$5000 Vodafone Bill for iOS 7 Update Download

Can updating your iPhone to the latest operating system cost you $5000? Apparently, it can if you are traveling outside your country’s borders, as is the case with the British Vodafone customer show (via the Telegraph).

Tom Galanis considers himself an Internet-savvy person, but he had to reconsider his belief after downloading the latest iOS update during his US vacation. Since his iPhone froze, he thought it would be better to update it, so he began downloading by connecting the device to his MacBook.

“During dinner, I checked in on the download/install,” he said. “It was happening alright, but at some point the Wi-Fi had disconnected and the connection had switched to my apparently still operational 3G signal. Two messages had appeared on my phone from Vodafone, partially alerting me to my impending doom.

“You have now spent £270 on mobile data today,” said one.
“You have now spent £495 on mobile data today,” said another.
“Gobsmacked, I pulled out the cable. I had paid 500 quid for something that was out of my control!”

What he saw the next morning was something he will never forget: he had downloaded 888.051 MB of data and added nearly $5000 to his bill, because his carrier, Vodafone, charges roughly $9.23 for the first 5 MB, and $5.54 per megabyte thereafter.

Cell bill shock ju top 2

After contacting Vodafone regarding his bill, Galanis first obtained 10% off the bill as a goodwill gesture. But Galanis wasn’t satisfied with that, so he penned a letter of complaint to Vodafone and crossed his fingers, hoping to get a bigger discount.

And everything is okay if there is a happy ending. Despite his not having chosen the data-cap option, Vodafone decided to waive the charges after analyzing Galanis’ account, as it considered that this wouldn’t have happened under the new, updated process the carrier has deployed recently.

Image credit: Thinkstock

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