Disputing International Charges

This is a customer to customer forum, not customer support. You may get a response from ATTCares, you might not. The international day pass does not cover any usage on the cruise ship and what they told you was right, you weren’t being charged for a cruise line plan. What you were charged for was the “per use” rates for a cruise ship since you didn’t have a cruise ship plan. At that time, you probably could have added a cruise ship plan to cover or reduce the charges but now that you have been billed, it’s too late. Cruise ship rates without a plan are very high, especially data which is 6.14 per MB. When I cruise, I always make sure to put my phone in airplane mode while on the ship and at the very least always leave data roaming off. 

@vinzo12

While it’s distressing to get a big bill, it’s always up to the user to manage settings on our devices to avoid unplanned charges.  

Att sells cruise line data plans for eligible cruise lines.  These data plans are like the day pass for land use, they significantly reduce the cost of service.  

You didn’t buy one, so we’re charged by the ship for ‘cellular at sea’ or ‘maritime’ charges on a pay per use rate.  Which is obscenely high on ships as they use satellite to provide service.  

Since the ship charged ATT, ATT passed the bill to you.   

Since ATT already said they won’t negotiate, your stuck.  

Thanks for the responses. Seems I still haven’t found the correct forum for assistance. The phones were in airplane mode until we arrived in port. The cruise line data charges were initiated the same time daily pass was initiated. You would think someone could make that connection to see the overlap. In addition, I contacted customer service as soon as received an alert. Customer service was the one that stated I had to wait to until the charges posted and then I can dispute the charges. So now that the charges are posted I am told it’s too late and there are no options. Very disheartening how this all transpired and the customer disconnect. 

There is no forum specifically for customer service assistance. There is a very small team that might respond but they might not. Posting on a different forum won’t make a difference. It is not possible to get any charges if your phone is in airplane mode and the cruise ship is required to turn their system off when in port. I guess it is possible they forgot but you should have seen “Cellular at Sea” on your phone display if your phone was connected to the ship’s tower. You also can’t rely on the times of the usage because data reporting is not real time. The time stamp is when the usage was reported, the actual usage could be much earlier.

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@vinzo12 wrote:

The phones were in airplane mode until we arrived in port. The cruise line data charges were initiated the same time daily pass was initiated.

But you must have been near the ship still to pick up the ship.

You would think someone could make that connection to see the overlap.

I think they're counting on you to see whomever you are connected to.

In addition, I contacted customer service as soon as received an alert. Customer service was the one that stated I had to wait to until the charges posted and then I can dispute the charges. So now that the charges are posted I am told it’s too late and there are no options.

Call back again, you'll likely get someone else, it's always worth a few calls to see what different people say.

Call during business hours on weekdays.

Please help I am in the exact same situation over $1000 in overages after I was told that my sons cruise package would take care of the rest of the trip. I wasn’t on the cruise and call as soon as the messages were received.  Was told that charges could be adjusted but had to wait until the bill dropped and to call back.  After hour long phone calls the only thing I have been told is the charges are valid. I can’t pay a $1600 phone bill.

It seems this has been going on for a long time. Rather than deny you service when you don't subscribe to it, they charge you and then force you to pay for the Cruise Plan after the fact (This was the outcome of my complaint both to customer service and the BBB!).

I wanted service so I opted for the IDP plan, not realizing I would be charged an outrageous fee while on the ship. Worse, I only had the phone on for 2 hours (1:30am-3:30am) while sleeping from the island to the port in Florida, and was hit with over $300. Their resolution, they'll just charge me for the $200 to cover both phones. For $200, I would have shut off the phone the entire trip and not even opted for the IDP plan!

@Jaypoc  So AT&T gave you a discount of over $100 despite it being your error? Sounds pretty generous to me!

I just saw you'd posted elsewhere. Since that thread is more recent, this one will be closed.