MOBILE phone giant Movístar has agreed to waive a €3,900 bill it slapped on a customer for roaming charges in Serbia – a country she has never been to in her life.
The affected consumer had taken out a contract back in 2015 which allowed her to use the internet on his mobile phone in Europe at set preferential rates – a package called Tarifa Internet Viaje Europa ('Europe Travel Internet Tariff') – costing €2.50 per 50 megabytes of download.
This was just before the customer, Dolores P. R., went on a cruise in August two years ago.
Movístar did not, as it is required to do by law, warn her that her megabyte download limit was about to expire and, when she got home from the cruise, found a bill for €3,896.
The bill mentioned internet use in Serbia, a country Dolores had not been to on the cruise – nor at any other time in her life.
She turned to the consumer organisation FACUA, which liaised with the Regional Consumer Institute in Dolores' area, Galicia.
The Institute upheld her claim and ordered Movístar to reduce the bill to a much more affordable €68.61, and for any credit-rating or asset-related issues affecting her as a result of the non-payment of the €3,896 to be eradicated immediately.
Its verdict is binding, meaning Dolores' 18-month headache has finally lifted as Movístar is no longer able to pressure her for the money.
