Dad talks $22,000 cellphone roaming charge down to $200

The man who successfully fought$22,000 in cellphone roamingcharges is back with a guide to help others do the same.

In a CBC Go Public exclusive earlier this month, Burnaby resident Matt Buieaccused Rogers of price gougingafter his son racked up $22,000 indata chargeswhile on a family vacation in Mexico.

Buie got a text message from Fido, which isowned by Rogers,saying his phone was being shut down "for security reasons" because of "excessively high" data charges.

The companyimmediatelyoffered tocut thecharge to $2,200.

"They said, 'Yes, we'll pretend that you signed up for an international roaming package, and we have here that your phone downloaded 758megabytes of data,'" BuietoldCBC's AsIt Happenshost Carol Off."'We could charge you $30 a megabyte, but we'll only charge you $3 a megabyte.'"

"I did not accept that," Buiesaid.

Hekeptnegotiating because he saysthe company was using the "shock factor" of the huge initial charge to get him to settle for a bill that wasstill too high.

"My cost could not have been anywhere near a dollar," Buie said.

'This has takensix weeks of my time. It's not about the money. It's the principle and fair play.' Matt Buie, a financial planner from Burnaby

Buie, who works as a financial planner,arguesTelus would have cut off data access when the bill reached $200,but Fido didntalert himuntil three days of charges had piled up.

Buietold Fidohe would be willing to pay the equivalent of the Telus cutoff point, at which point Fidoagreed to slash thebill to $500.

Fight to the top

But Buie stillrefused to pay,taking his complaintto the office of the president at Fido. The company eventually reducedBuie'scharge to$200.

Despite the cost in time and stress, Buie considersit a victory.

"This has takensix weeks of my time," Buie said."It's not about the money. It's the principle and fair play."

During thefight, Buie learned about service provider responsibilities and what conduct is already set out by the CRTC.

Buie says he cited the outcome ofa CRTC hearing last month, in which telecom executives alluded to $200 being afair cap on unexpected data charges should a cap be in place.

Buie says the industry is largely unregulated.

He wants telecom companies to cap cellphone roaming fees at a manageable amount pending authorization from users for further charges, as providers do in Europe.

Buie said he alsofoundevidencea large number of Canadians have gone throughsimilarfights.

"I Googled 'Canadian roaming charge complaints' and I came up with 1.7 million entries," he said.

Buie has helped publish a toolkit to help other Canadiansnegotiateexcessive and unexpected cellphone charges down to reasonable amounts.

He advises customers to write a letter of complaint to the president of the telecom company, and tosend a copy to CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais, Minister of Industry Christian Paradis as well as members of the media.

"I think the more light that comes to this I knew nothing about this before my vacation I think we will see change," Buie said.

Buie's step-by-step guide to negotiation with telecom customer servicecan be foundon the website OpenMedia.ca.