Orange sends mother £1,100 bill for downloading just FIVE minutes of cartoon for her sick three-year-old son while on holiday in Turkey

  • Stacey Withers got clip of Madagascar 3 for Joel, who had an ear infection
  • Downloading clip cost £223 per minute and more than cost of holiday
  • Orange say that bill is large because customer opted out of roaming cap

By Martin Robinson

PUBLISHED: 05:47 EST, 11 October 2013 | UPDATED: 10:53 EST, 11 October 2013

A mother who downloaded five minutes of a film on her phone while abroad for her poorly son has been handed a £1,118 bill.

Stacey Withers, 25, has said getting the clip from cartoon Madagascar 3 has cost her more than the week's family break to Turkey they were on.

The dental nurse had downloaded the DreamWorks film to cheer up three-year-old Joel who fell ill with an ear infection during the holiday two weeks ago.

In shock: Stacey Withers downloaded the film 'Madagascar' for her poorly son, Joel, which cost her more than £1,100

In shock: Stacey Withers downloaded the film 'Madagascar' for her poorly son, Joel, which cost her more than £1,100

But she was left devastated when she discovered the short clip had cost her a whopping £1,118 - £101 more than the family holiday and the equivalent of £223 for every minute of the film.

 

More...

Popular: Madagascar is much-loved by children all over the world and was the only thing that would calm poorly Joel

Popular: Madagascar is much-loved by children all over the world and was the only thing that would calm poorly Joel

The mother-of-one, who had saved for two years for the trip has refused to pay, blasting Orange's bill as 'extortionate'.

'It's absolutely disgusting,' she said.

'My three-year-old son had been crying for nearly six days because of an ear infection.

'He is mad for Madagascar and I knew it was the only thing that might get him to calm down.

'I turned on data roaming for about five minutes and started to download it and got about 18 per cent.

'I started to worry it would cost me a few hundred - so I stopped the download and waited until I had wifi inside the hotel to download the rest.

'When we landed home on Monday, I got a text from Orange updating me on my bill.

'I was expecting it to be bad, maybe up to £300 for the download but I couldn't believe it when it said £1,118.

'It has completely ruined the holiday - that's more than I earn in a month.

'The holiday cost £1,100 and I had been saving for it for about two years.

'I'm outraged and I won't be paying it.'

Stacey had gone on holiday with her partner Danny Langford, 23, and three-year-old son Joel earlier this month. 

Stacey with her phone and the clip
The bill

Hit hard: The mother-of-one admitted she knew the download, left, would cost her but she is refusing to pay the amount that she has been charged for five minutes of video

Joel picked up an ear infection from the flight over to Oludeniz, in Turkey and was ill for six out of the seven-day break.

HOW TO AVOID WALLET-BUSTING OVERSEAS MOBILE ROAMING FEES

Contact your network operator before you leave: Often they have cheaper bundles or tariffs available if you know you're going abroad

Ask if your network can put a cap on the amount of internet you use, to stop your bill spiraling.

Turn off auto-updating of apps or email retrieval: Again this means you won't use any data allowance

Use mobile websites instead of full desktop view: This will save data per page

Turn off data roaming all together: If you don't want to use the internet when you're away

Stacey, of Tipton, West Midlands, forked out a further £10 to downloaded the film from Playstore.

She added: 'I tried to reason with Orange on the phone and I offered them £300 but said I simply couldn't afford to pay the huge bill.

'They were so rude.

'They told me I had been warned about it when I arrived in Turkey with a text message.

'I didn't dispute the text messages but for five minutes of a download to be charged that much is just extortionate.

'I had been with them for ten years, a very loyal customer and they have just cut me off.'

Orange today stood by the bill.

A spokesman said: 'Customers are automatically capped to ensure they are not charged more than £51 for roaming data in a given month.

'In this instance the customer contacted Orange to opt out of the cap.'

HOW OTHER BRITONS HAVE BEEN STUNG USING THEIR MOBILE ON HOLIDAY

Last month a British holidaymaker racked up a staggering £20,000 mobile phone bill after she used her internet to upload holiday snaps to Facebook.

Shocked Helen Christie, 40, was landed with the massive bill, which is 28 times the amount she paid for her holiday, when she decided to share photos of her trip to Turkey on the social network.

But by using her Orange mobile internet to upload the pictures, she ran up data roaming charges which worked out at huge £2,700 per day.

Helen, of Woolwich, South East London, had planned for her trip by buying £6 per day 'travel saver' mobile internet bundle from her network provider.

But Orange said that by buying into the deal, she had opted out of the cap on her normal tariff, which limits internet charges to £42 per day.

Upon her return, the mother-of-two was faced with monthly repayments of £3,000.

Helen Christie, who was landed with a £20,000 mobile phone bill after uploading pictures to Facebook from Turkey

Shocked: Helen Christie, above, was enjoying a week away with pals when she ran up the bill

A schoolgirl enjoying a dream holiday ran up a £3,800 bill after uploading pictures of her trip onto Facebook with her mobile phone this summer.

Casey Snook, 14, used the website to post regular updates about her time in New York.

She eagerly told friends about her visits to the Empire State Building, Central Park and Times Square and uploaded a series of pictures with her iPhone.

But she was unaware of the massive bill until her father’s bank account - which funded the phone - suddenly went overdrawn after the holiday.

Phone company Orange said she ran up the charges by using Facebook with data roaming - a service which enables internet access abroad.

Her mother, Kate Snook, 43, a catering assistant, accused the company of 'extortion'.

'I felt physically sick': Casey Snook (pictured with her mother Kate) ran up a £3,800 phone bill after posting pictures on Facebook with her mobile phone while on hoilday in New York

'I felt physically sick': Casey Snook (pictured with her mother Kate) ran up a £3,800 phone bill after posting pictures on Facebook with her mobile phone while on hoilday in New York

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I do not know anybody this stupid.

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she opted out of roaming cap, was alerted by text to the charges for roaming data and we all know outside of the EU , the charges are much higher... and she had wifi in the hotel she has to pay the bill

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wish people would stop whinging about this, just don't use your phone abroad...you're meant to be on holiday anyway

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Orange are one company you make the mistake using just once, and never make that mistake again. I will not touch them with a barge pole now.

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Just turn off data roaming when you go abroad. It's not rocket science.

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Everybody knows the expense of using mobile internet abroad yet people still do it then wonder why they end up with huge bills!

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This woman just needs to pay her bill & done with. I have to pay my bills, so can I complain to Virgin or my Council Tax please ? ? ? I don't think so. This woman is disgusting.

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They need to charge regardless of d situation

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Orange are awful. I remember having to top up almost constantly because their rates are ridiculous (this wasn't even when I was on holiday). Now I'm on giffgaff I pay hardly anything, it's perfect.

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You should know by now in a democratic/capitalist country every big corporation is out to take your money and will do it in any way possible.

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