Was I just unlucky Maxis roamed with me?

 

From Maxis subscriber

If you think you will not incur roaming charges by simply turning the feature off on your mobile phone, you may well be wrong. I was a victim of this twice recently.

Most subscribers will recall that mobile network provider Maxis had previously told us that roaming charges will not apply if you turn the services off on your phone. That’s exactly what I did before I left for India recently.

To be sure I would not be levied the daily roaming charges of RM39 when in India, I also changed to a local SIM card as soon as I exited the airport. To be sure I didn’t get accidentally connected, I even removed my Maxis SIM card.

But even before that, as soon as I landed, I received a message from a local service provider telling me I had been connected to their system. I ignored it knowing that it always happens and I would not get charged unless I make calls.

When I removed the Indian SIM card and re-inserted the Maxis card before returning, I immediately received a message that my roaming services had kicked in and I will be charged RM39, valid until midnight.

Mind you, I had not switched roaming on at all.

I called Maxis’s customer service upon my return to ask what was going on. An officer by the name of Iman told me I had been billed roaming charges for two days. The first was as soon as my plane landed and the other when I re-inserted my Maxis SIM card.

He said that was the rule, and that I also had to turn off my mobile data services not to be billed.

But this was not what subscribers had been told all this while. I have been on Maxis since I first started using handphones.

When I asked Iman why my wife, who was with me, did not face this problem, he said she was “lucky” to be connected to a mobile provider that was not a Maxis partner, so roaming did not kick in automatically.

Now, the proposition that you have to be “lucky” not to be billed is absolutely ridiculous and totally unacceptable for a huge company like Maxis. If so, what is the purpose of the roaming switch on our handphones?

The same thing happened when I took a three-day roaming package in Vietnam. I was charged RM13 a day, which was fine. But as soon as the package expired, Maxis put me on automatic roaming without my consent. I had to pay RM39 per day for the rest of my stay.

I am sure many others have faced this situation. Many may not have fought for their rights due to the hassle of dealing with the customer service representatives.

Can Maxis please provide clarity on this matter? - FMT

 The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.