By Karin Yeske

Sask. man says SaskTel charged for roaming, despite turning data off

May 7, 2014 | 12:07 PM

A man from Saskatoon says he was slapped with hefty roaming charges despite turning his data off during his latest trip to the U.S.

Lorne Binsfeld and his wife have travelled to Arizona a number of times but received a phone bill for $1,666 for data charges from their latest trip earlier this year.

“Before we leave Saskatchewan we turn off the cellular data, data roaming and enable 3G. We shut those all off,” Binsfeld said, adding the condo they rent in Phoenix has free Wi-Fi.

Binsfeld’s business partner called him while he was down in Arizona alerting him about the bill and suggesting he turn his data off, something Binsfeld said he had already done.

“He paid the bill because it's automatic payment off our credit card. When I get home I phoned SaskTel customer service. I wanted an explanation for this bill. All they can tell me is it is outside data roaming, Binsfeld said.

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Michelle Englot, spokesperson for SaskTel, wouldn’t comment specifically on Binsfeld’s case. She said SaskTel tracks the daily amount of data that is used but they do not track if that data was used for web surfing, updating a phone or downloading apps, for example.

“We couldn't break it down. We can break it down by where he is roaming,” Englot said, adding a text message is always sent when cell coverage is roaming.

Binsfeld said one customer service representative suggested his phone may have updated itself while on vacation but he said he always gets a pop-up if his phone wants to update and he and his wife would never choose to do so outside Canada. In addition, he said it's a business phone and he normally gets a dozen or more emails a day, but because he turned his data off, he didn't receive any while in Phoenix.

“I'm a contractor and I said to the lady, if I sent you an invoice for $1,600 and refused to itemize it, would you pay it? No one would pay it, would they?” he said.

“It’s just really frustrating. If I use my phone down there I’m willing to pay for it but when you are not using it and you take all the precautions to shut off the data and stuff and you still get billed, what else can you do?”

Binsfeld would like SaskTel to pay him back or give him an itemized statement for his roaming charges.

“If they can show me I used my phone or something was wrong, I deserve to be billed. I’ll pay the bill if it was an error on my part

Englot suggested Binsfeld contact customer service.

The CRTC’s wireless code came into effect in December, which includes a $50 cap on domestic data charges and $100 cap on data roaming charges.

However, SaskTel received an extension from the CRTC until June on capping data roaming charges to update their system.

“At this point we are still working on it. It is a very significant project for us,” Englot said, adding there is a chance SaskTel may apply for another extension from the CRTC if the system is not updated on time.  

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