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Orange France Invoiced me 87 000 Euros for 1 phone call

This could be a genuine invoice. If the OP took the French phone back to the US and didn't turn of data roaming then it will have been downloading information 'abroad' for however long the OP has been away according to Orange.

There have been a few cases of this in the UK, most notably someone downloading an episode of Eastenders whilst on holiday in Spain. The companies usually see this is an error (albeit a rather schoolboy, basic mistake to make) and revise the bill accordingly.

Good luck getting the refund - they may do it once but certainly not twice - make sure you are hot on your data roaming in future.

Apologies if I'm wide of the mark, it just seems the most likely scenario.

Jono
 
I think its 87.000 Euros not 87000.00 Euros. For some reason phone companies like to add an extra '0'. Don't ask me why. :confused:
 
Jonobigblind said:
This could be a genuine invoice. If the OP took the French phone back to the US and didn't turn of data roaming then it will have been downloading information 'abroad' for however long the OP has been away according to Orange.

There have been a few cases of this in the UK, most notably someone downloading an episode of Eastenders whilst on holiday in Spain. The companies usually see this is an error (albeit a rather schoolboy, basic mistake to make) and revise the bill accordingly.

Good luck getting the refund - they may do it once but certainly not twice - make sure you are hot on your data roaming in future.

Apologies if I'm wide of the mark, it just seems the most likely scenario.

Jono
Click to expand...

I agree with you 100%, this sounds like data roaming to me. I'm not sure how data calls are billed when you're roaming but is it possible that these are billed as a call as its overseas. My thinking is that if you've got push email set up then your phone has been connected constantly for a month. You've been connected to whatever service provider you're roaming on in the US 24/7 for 30 days. It would certainly add up with the calculations people have done. Although its not actually a phone call, it may be showing up that way due to how the companies exchange the usage statistics with each other.
 
This doesn't really have anything to do with iPhone though, does it? I mean, if you had made the call from a different handset they still would have billed you the same...
 
A data call for 17hrs? That is not possible if your phone was in battery alone. A data call is much like a normal call. (With the exception data is, well, beeps and boops and a call is hi, hello, etc)

Your would have died within the first 4 hours (max 5) making it impossible for a 17hr call. So, do not pay, Orange wants to f you up.

Now, its a whole different story if your phone dialed data on the AC charger.

Even so, I still think you need well 2 days data transfers worth to even come close to 50 000,00 Euros
 
As others have said you don't even want to waste your time talking to the bozos that staff the technical support line who obviously think it's hilarious that you have a phone bill this high.

Contact any consumer advocacy groups you can and if necessary contact an attorney.

It's impossible that you could have a call up for that long as the battery wouldn't even handle it.

It's also ridiculous for Orange to assert that you should somehow pay 78,000 Euro up front out of your pocket change drawer and then get a later reimbursement.
 
jav6454 said:
A data call for 17hrs? That is not possible if your phone was in battery alone. A data call is much like a normal call. (With the exception data is, well, beeps and boops and a call is hi, hello, etc)

Your would have died within the first 4 hours (max 5) making it impossible for a 17hr call. So, do not pay, Orange wants to f you up.

Now, its a whole different story if your phone dialed data on the AC charger.

Even so, I still think you need well 2 days data transfers worth to even come close to 50 000,00 Euros
Click to expand...

Not if you're constantly sending and receiving data all the time, but those of us who have push email set up (as well as when Apple bring out push notifications) have our data connections open 24/7. The phone keeps them open by pinging the server periodically. My battery manages (just) to last about 24-26 hours.
 
Aurial said:
Not if you're constantly sending and receiving data all the time, but those of us who have push email set up (as well as when Apple bring out push notifications) have our data connections open 24/7. The phone keeps them open by pinging the server periodically. My battery manages (just) to last about 24-26 hours.
Click to expand...

Data time Apple listed the iPhone 1st Gen as 10 hours being max in ideal conditions. That also included 8 hours talk time. Like I said before, data calls are the same as voice calls. What changes is that data calls are fax modems sounds and voice is well, your voice.

However, since the mic and other sensors are not active and data uses slightly less battery, the iPhone tends to last more that way. However, I have done data rallies in my iPhone. Using EDGE only data my phone lasted me a whole day (more or less 10 hours give or take). Still 7 hours short of those 17.
 
jav6454 said:
Data time Apple listed the iPhone 1st Gen as 10 hours being max in ideal conditions. That also included 8 hours talk time. Like I said before, data calls are the same as voice calls. What changes is that data calls are fax modems sounds and voice is well, your voice.

However, since the mic and other sensors are not active and data uses slightly less battery, the iPhone tends to last more that way. However, I have done data rallies in my iPhone. Using EDGE only data my phone lasted me a whole day (more or less 10 hours give or take). Still 7 hours short of those 17.
Click to expand...

I think there's a flaw somewhere in your arguement. With Push services the data connection between your phone and the server is constantly active and kept alive by the phone pinging the server every x amount of time to stop it from timing out. This is true of all Activesync based exchange. Although the connection is open, its the actual sending and receiving of data over the connection which drains the battery. This was true of MailforExchange for the Symbian OS also, where you could vary the ping time to improve your battery life.

I think the example you're giving with fax machine tones is true of an analogue telephone system, and was probably true of GSM systems. In GPRS/3G systems the data is actually sent digitally as bits/bytes, in the same way as it is over your home computer network.

Either way, when Apple roll out Push Notifications anyone who hasn't been using push email is going to see a massive difference in their battery life.
 
Aurial said:
I think there's a flaw somewhere in your arguement. With Push services the data connection between your phone and the server is constantly active and kept alive by the phone pinging the server every x amount of time to stop it from timing out. This is true of all Activesync based exchange. Although the connection is open, its the actual sending and receiving of data over the connection which drains the battery. This was true of MailforExchange for the Symbian OS also, where you could vary the ping time to improve your battery life.

I think the example you're giving with fax machine tones is true of an analogue telephone system, and was probably true of GSM systems. In GPRS/3G systems the data is actually sent digitally as bits/bytes, in the same way as it is over your home computer network.

Either way, when Apple roll out Push Notifications anyone who hasn't been using push email is going to see a massive difference in their battery life.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I can see push notifications being responsible for this now. However, that requires every so often (like every 10 mins or so a couple of bits not bytes). Hence, to make an actual chargeable kilobyte, it take quite the amount of data. And to make enough data transfers at the bit or even byte level, it will most certainly take more than 17 hours straight to rack up 78 000,00 Euros.
 
neiltc13 said:
This doesn't really have anything to do with iPhone though, does it? I mean, if you had made the call from a different handset they still would have billed you the same...
Click to expand...

Most handsets also have the ability to turn off data without making the entire phone useless, assuming this was due to data use.
 
Your phone must have been plugged in! I can't even make a 4 hour phone call without recharge!
 
Seriously, if i were you, i would get a lawyer, and sue Orange BIG TIME.
Orange is just a big of an ******* as AT&T(if not, bigger) with RIDICULOUS PRICES.

This is a VERY serious case. You CAN sue them big time. Don't go for a settlement that Orange says.

Since this is Apple Exclusivity we're talking about, I am not the least bit surprised.

I could imagine AT&T doing that in USA, seriously.

If you could put an example for the world that iPhone Exclusivity is a bad thing, people would recognize you.

This shows how greedy Apple and their "EXCLUSIVE DEALERS" are for money, and how they don't give a **** about the middle class.

It really doesn't cost Apple more than 30 bucks to make one of these things. I don't care what they(Apple) say, it's all ********. I know how much Apple products cost to make in China with the large quantities and contracts.
 
yea man call a lawyer and sue orange
hopefully you'll win and get money from them insteed of you give them money
 
Well I think all this talk of suing people is a little foolish at this stage.

You need to know what the actual costs are that Orange FR are billing you for. What happens if you get your lawyer, rock up to the court and then Orange produce some bill that you are actually liable for? You end up paying not only the massive bill, your lawyers fee's, but the court costs and Orange's costs also. People are far too quick to jump on the "Let's sue someone" bandwagon these days, and it's really sad. A poor indictment of modern society.

Anyway, rant over. We can sit here and type away about what the reasons behind this bill are, but the truth is that we're speculating which isn't helping you one bit. Even if we convince you it's because of xyz, we just don't know.

Your next step has to be to contact Orange FR again and ask for some sort of itemized bill (whether that's sent through the post/fax or email) which tells you exactly what you're being billed for. No one can expect you to pay an ammount like that without first checking what it is you're paying for.

My gut feeling is still that it's a data call resulting from a push email service, and because you're roaming on an overseas network it's been billed in some strange way as a 24/7 call. Some of these roaming deals work in really strange ways, or there may have been a ghost in the machine when they've exchanged your usage info. You need to ask them what you're being billed for.
 
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