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It's Your Call
The Travel Troubleshooter · September 13, 2002

Q: I was using my Verizon cellular phone a few months ago on a golf trip in Oregon. I have the national plan, which I assumed meant that no matter where I was, the call would be free, so long as I didn't go over my allotment of minutes for the month.

When I received my monthly bill I was surprised to see that I was charged over $90 in roaming fees. I was informed by Verizon that there are some areas of the country not covered, and central Oregon is one of them.

I told a company representative that on previous plans with other companies I was unable to make roaming calls without making some programming changes to the phone, and I assumed the same was true now. Not so. The Verizon representative said that any time it says "roam" it will charge roaming fees, but I'm pretty sure I've made calls when it said roam and did not get charged roaming charges.

The bottom line is that under the current arrangement one never knows for sure if roaming fees apply or not, and since these fees are huge, the cell phone companies stand to take advantage of the unsuspecting cell phone user. Can you help me find out what happened?

-- David Broomhall

A: You're right - some cell phones force you to manually acknowledge that you're making a "roam" call. But not Verizon's.

According to John Johnson, a spokesman for Verizon, the only indicator that you're off the company's network - and are being billed extra for a roaming call - is the warning light. "When you're calling from one of the few areas of the country where we do not have network coverage, such as Central Oregon, the phone's roaming light stays on indicating that roaming rates apply," he explains.

Verizon believes its roaming disclosure is adequate. It lists all of its policies and publishes coverage maps on its Web site. Once you've selected a plan it sends a confirmation letter as a reminder about the price plan and features you've chosen. Johnson points out that Verizon even offers a free phone call that will let you determine if roaming charges will apply to your call.

On the other hand, you could have probably made cheaper phone calls from a pay phone or even your in-room phone at the hotel you stayed at. Truth is, those roaming charges are overpriced. Cellular phone companies make a tidy profit from charging these fees. The European Commission is investigating British and German wireless companies for excessive roaming charges, which stand accused of using roaming charges to underwrite the cost of upgrading their networks through the fees.

Will you ever see your $90 back? No. Verizon believes it did all it had to do in order to notify you about the roaming fees.

But I'm not convinced by its answer. I think Verizon makes it too easy to make a roaming call - I mean, who really is going to pay attention to the light? I hardly know what half the switches on my cell phone do. Does Verizon really expect me to read the entire manual that comes with my wireless device? Apparently it does.

Then there's the issue of the maps. Those are very useful, but I've taken a look at them and the United States looks as if it's been carved up into gerrymandered Congressional districts. Coverage areas are spotty in some places. Does Verizon expect us to make a copy of the map, laminate it, and refer to it before we make a phone call? Apparently it does.

Finally, the fine print. I like fine about as much as the next guy. But the bottom line is that it's a great place for lawyers to hide all kinds of clauses that they'd rather us not see. I mean, isn't that why the typeface is so small? So that we won't be aware of it. Does Verizon want us to ignore the fine print? Apparently it does.

What you should have done: Nothing. It wasn't unreasonable to assume you'd be notified more clearly when making a roam call. You got a nasty surprise on your phone bill and Verizon is $90 richer.

What Verizon should have done: Compel its users to verify each roaming call. It might even be helpful to note what the charges are going to be before a call is initiated. Yes, they'll lose revenue, but customers will appreciate it.

The fix: I could say something obvious like "assume nothing," but you've already learned that lesson. You could switch to a national plan that offers better coverage. Verizon offers a National SingleRate service that includes long distance and service virtually anywhere in the United States. Or you could switch back to a carrier that makes you verify each roaming call. It's your call.

Christopher Elliott is National Geographic Traveler's ombudsman. The Travel Troubleshooter appears weekly on this site.