An English schoolteacher found herself facing a bill of almost £3,000 after downloading a Neil Diamond album while on holidays in South Africa.
According to the Daily Mail, Katie Bryan from Warwichshire was visiting her boyfriend’s parents when she downloaded The Essential Neil Diamond from iTunes using her phone.The multiple-track ‘best of’ CD was priced at £8.99 but ended up costing £2,609.31, as phone company Orange charged her roaming rates for the 326mbs of data used during the download.
“It was a lunchtime get-together with my boyfriend’s family at a house where we were staying near the Kruger National Park. I’d had a bit of wine but not too much. People were playing music through their iPads or on phones through an iPod dock. It wasn’t a particular song that I wanted to hear. I’m really not that big a Neil Diamond fan,” she said.
While maths teacher Bryan admitted that she had received several text messages and a subsequent phone call from the operator, she says that the cost of the download was never mentioned and information on roaming charges had been unclear.
“I think Orange is preying on people who make a mistake while abroad. Why such a massive difference in cost? In England, you would just pay the album price. There is no way this huge bill relates to the actual cost to Orange. You hear of people doing this and you think ‘stupid person – why did you do that?’ I do feel foolish. But I also feel it is morally wrong to be expected to pay this sort of money for a Neil Diamond album.”
The paper reports that Orange has now offered Ms Bryan a £400 bundle offer and taken £2,209.31 off her bill.
