Rogers / Tmobile Sidekick illegal phone charges in Canada

I'm sure this has happened to other people besides myself. Rogers (Tmobile's sister company is Canada), has been Illegially making up 1 min incoming phone calls, voice mail dialed, and internet usage (even when it was completely turned off).

I recently went to Toronto Canada for 2 weeks. I
took two trips. May 11th-May 14th and May 29th- June
4th. Before I drove over the border to Canada, I talked with my
carrier Tmobile, about what roaming charges, I'll have to pay
when I go to Canada ($.49 per min). Before I drove into Canada, I stopped my internet service on the phone, and turned my phone off. I
bought a calling card. To make a long story short. I turned
my cell phone on a few times in Canada. During the first week,
I only checked my voice mail only 2 times. I only received 3
phone calls, which was a total of about 6 mins. I also made no
more than 2 dialed out numbers that week. When I got back home,
to NYC, I checked my cell phone minutes on the internet, I saw
all these illegial charges that I didn't even make. It turns
out Rogers handles Tmobiles, cell service in Canada. I was on
the phone with Tmobile for hours, I reviewed with them, every
phone call dialed out and received from my cell PHONE LOG,
something you CAN'T change or edit. I told them I didn't dial
my voice mail 30 times in a week, nor did someone call me
repeatedly 30 times and I didn't talked to anyone for under 1
min each time. There are no phone numbers on those incoming calls.
My phone was off 75% of the time. The same thing happened the
second week I was in Canada. Tmobile told me they can't do
anything until my cycle is over on June 11th. They did some
B.S. investigation, and told me I made all those calls, and
they can't help me. I have been illegially charged for all
those calls. They were made up by the criminal Rogers company
of Canada. They also illegially charged me for internet usage.
My internet was completely turned off. Times of the night I
was sleep. They couldn't even tell me what data I was
downloading all those times, or what web sites I Went too.
Tmobile didn't want to fight for me at all. I don't
even check my voice mail all those times, regularly in NYC in a
month. Below is a copy of few of the roaming charges in Canada. You
can see for yourself, how this looks criminal and made up:

5/11/05 Incoming 10:20 PM NBR Unavail 1 0.49
5/11/05 Vm Retrieval 10:20 PM 123 1 0.49
5/12/05 Incoming 9:17 AM NBR Unavail 1 0.49
5/12/05 Incoming 1:47 PM NBR Unavail 2 0.98
5/12/05 Incoming 3:35 PM NBR Unavail 1 0.49
5/12/05 Vm Retrieval 3:35 PM 123 1 0.49
5/12/05 Incoming 4:02 PM NBR Unavail 1 0.49
5/12/05 Vm Retrieval 7:28 PM 123 1 0.49
5/12/05 Incoming 7:28 PM NBR Unavail 1 0.49
5/12/05 Incoming 9:25 PM NBR Unavail 1 0.49
5/12/05 Vm Retrieval 9:25 PM 123 1 0.49
5/12/05 Vm Retrieval 9:27 PM 123 1 0.49
5/12/05 Incoming 10:08 PM NBR Unavail 1 0.49
5/12/05 Vm Retrieval 10:45 PM 123 1 0.49
5/12/05 Incoming 10:45 PM NBR Unavail 1 0.49
5/13/05 Vm Retrieval 7:23 PM 123 1 0.49
5/13/05 Incoming 7:23 PM NBR Unavail 1 0.49
5/13/05 Incoming 10:21 PM NBR Unavail 1 0.49
5/13/05 Vm Retrieval 10:21 PM 123 1 0.49
5/14/05 Incoming 9:10 AM NBR Unavail 1 0.49
5/14/05 Vm Retrieval 9:10 AM 123 1 0.49
5/14/05 Vm Retrieval 10:07 AM 123 2 0.98
5/14/05 Incoming 10:07 AM NBR Unavail 2 0.98
5/14/05 Vm Retrieval 10:10 AM 123 1 0.49
5/14/05 Incoming 10:10 AM NBR Unavail 1 0.49
5/14/05 Incoming 5:22 PM NBR Unavail 1 0.49
5/14/05 Vm Retrieval 5:22 PM 123 1 0.49
5/14/05 Incoming 5:22 PM NBR Unavail 1 0.49
5/14/05 Vm Retrieval 5:22 PM 123 1 0.49
5/14/05 Vm Retrieval 6:20 PM 123 1 0.49
5/14/05 Incoming 6:20 PM NBR Unavail 1 0.49
5/30/05 Incoming 8:45 PM NBR Unavail 1 0.49
5/30/05 Vm Retrieval 8:45 PM 123 1 0.49
5/30/05 Vm Retrieval 9:05 PM 123 1 0.49
5/30/05 Incoming 9:05 PM NBR Unavail 1 0.49
5/31/05 Vm Retrieval 5:14 PM 123 1 0.49
Sub Total 39 19.11
TOTAL 91 45.39
HAMILTON (Canada (Rogers Wireless))
5/11/05 GPRS Roaming 0.0020 0.02
5/30/05 GPRS Roaming 0.0020 0.02
6/04/05 GPRS Roaming 0.0020 0.02
Sub Total 0.0060 0.06

There are alot more illegal internet, incoming calls and voice mail dials outs, that wouldn't fit on this post. I filed a complaint with BBB (better business bureau) and FCC. I was withholding payment on my bill for the outcome on the investigation. A customer care guy called asking me, when I would make payment. He offered to take half of the Illegial charges, something a previous supervisor refused to do. Half wasn't enough for something I didn't do. Some JERK from Tmobile's, customer relations executive office, left a message on my cell phone saying he's closing the case. He said I agreed to making the calls, and that half was more than enough. His information was all wrong, and I left him messages, stating we need to talk, and this was far from over. He never returned a phone call.

The customer relations executive called me back after he received my FCC complaint. We had an hour long conversation. He would not believe that I didn't make the calls. He kept saying, I have to pay for any calls made to my phone, regardless if I pick up the phone or not. I told him I completely understand that, BUT I never recieved any of those 1 min incoming calls over 30 times. I also never dialed my voice mail 35 times. I repeatedly asked him to check my voice mail history, and my incoming calls history for the past 6 months. He didn't care or bothered to investigate. The conversation went no where. I was fed up, and ready to just settle the case, and pay half of the charges. Until he emailed back the BBB saying I agreed that I made all those calls and telling them, i'm late on my August bill. Something that was un-called for. Below is the last email to the BBB:

Dear Ms. Post:

T-Mobile USA, Inc. (“T-Mobile”) is in receipt of your letter dated August 1, 2005 regarding the above referenced account. As previously stated, T-Mobile’s billing department has determined that the charges are valid, in an effort to amicably resolve this issue, we have issued a credit of $38.50 towards the roaming charges incurred while Mr. ****** was traveling in Canada.

Please note that T-Mobile bills its customers its customers based upon information obtained directly from the SIM (System Identifying Module) card, which is located inside the phone. Once a call is made, the SIM card must go through an authentication process before a call is accepted/initiated. Once this is completed, a signal similar to a “thumbprint” is registered in the system. This “thumbprint” is unique to the SIM card and cannot be duplicated.

To further guarantee that our customer’s calls are secure, the serial number on the back of the phone IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identifier) is also recorded in this thumbprint. Once the call is completed, the network then downloads this information into the system. T-Mobile has determined that the disputed calls are valid and did in fact connect to T-Mobile’s network via the Canadian carrier Rogers.

As of August 3, 2005, Mr. ******'s account has a balance of $84.77. Mr. ****** can contact Customer Care at 800-937-8997 to remit a payment.

Well this concludes my post, I hope this helps someone. If anyone had the same experience please reply to this email. Or if you have any questions feel free to email me back. I also couldn't get any information on the IMEI that was recorded with the phone calls. What this guy mentioned above has nothing to do with incoming calls or voice mail dial outs. The above only refers to dialed out numbers by myself.

if i where u i will cancel the account.Don't even pay for it. They will put u in collection so what don't even look at it. let it sit there. (did the same crap with verizon 4 yrs ago ) keep reporting them to BBB and keep fighting it. Credit wise.... I got my house 2 yrs ago,brand new Xttera.

I went to canada for the thankxgiving weekend, and I too faced the same kind of charges. Here is what I read in my mobile:

11/28/05 VM Retrieval 12:00 PM 123 1
11/28/05 VM Retrieval 11:59 AM 123 1
11/28/05 VM Retrieval 9:00 AM 123 1
11/28/05 VM Retrieval 8:59 AM 123 1
11/28/05 VM Retrieval 7:53 AM 123 1
11/28/05 VM Retrieval 6:41 AM 123 1
11/28/05 VM Retrieval 6:40 AM 123 1
11/28/05 VM Retrieval 6:15 AM 123 1
11/28/05 INCOMING 4:43 AM NBR Unavail 1
11/28/05 VM Retrieval 4:42 AM 123 1
11/28/05 VM Retrieval 4:42 AM 123 1
11/28/05 VM Retrieval 4:39 AM 123 1
11/28/05 VM Retrieval 4:38 AM 123 1
11/27/05 INCOMING 9:25 PM NBR Unavail 2
11/27/05 VM Retrieval 9:24 PM 123 2
11/27/05 VM Retrieval 7:13 PM 123 1
11/27/05 VM Retrieval 6:39 PM 123 1
11/27/05 VM Retrieval 6:38 PM 123 2

This is completely false since I never answsered my phone at all. I am new to this. Can you guys please suggest some remedies for this?

I think I know what is happening. Whenever I didn't answer an incomming call, it went to voicemail, and that is getting charged as a "Voicemail Retrival" on my account. This is completely illegal to bill unanswered calls that go to voicemail as VM Retrieval. Can someone help me understand what's going on here and how I should go about fighting T-Mobile on this?

--New Info--
I just spoke with t-mobile rep, and she confirmed what I suspected. Anytime an answered call goes to voicemail, it counts as a "forward" from my phone and I get charged for that. I am sure that is not legal way of billing for roaming. If I had known that we'r going to get hit that way, we would have switched off the phones.

first of all Rogers is not the sister company to T-Mobile. Rogers is just a Roaming patner. also Calling Cards do not work for Cell phones. also i would call T-Mobile Customer Care and have them look over it.

That's what I have done, but they'r not willing to listen. They just say there is nothing they can do about it.

You've been ripped off just like I was. No one believed me. File a complaint against Tmobile. Go to: BBB.com, file a complaint, then file a complaint with FCC. Someone from Tmobile's executive department will call you back. This guy would annoy you, and give you a 1000 reasons to why those charges are yours.

Have you seen my original post on here? I copied over the same kind of bill you have below, and what the executives said, and bbb said about my case.

Also did you have a sidekick also? Which part of Canada did you visit?

Listen man. Those are made up phone calls, that was never placed to your phone, or dialed to your phone number. Those aren't unanswered phone calls. Those are made up phone calls, from Rogers, the Canadian cell phone company. I had the same exact problem. My phone would be on, my phone would never ring, or have a voice message.

Check your cell phone call log, and match the times against these phone calls. You'll see they don't match up, especially if your phone was on. Check the history online, of the company Rogers, they are a big fraud company and love getting over with Tmobile's customers. This is their way of making more/extra money, just for having your phone turned on, in Canada.

I learned my lesson, of never turning on a tmobile phone in Canada again.

I just read about your complainant about the voice messaging system i had the same thing to me too.

They told me step by step how to get rid of it and never to do it again. ONce for goodness sake i never did it. BUt obviously they believed me because i started to question about what i didnt do. Then they were wondering them selfs about it.
this is what they told me to do with that problem

In your phone settings
click options.
click call forwarding
click call type
click do not forward or the current call forwarding phone number.
click a clall forwarding phone number.

If you dont want forward call on just leave it to do not forward the current call forwarding phone number.
then after that your done and now you wont have any problems with that and if you do call T-Mobile up dont be screaming or yelling just be ferm about it and ask them question about things you dont know about or want to have more information. IF they dont help you say can i speak to your manager please.
After that you shouldn't have any problems about T-mobile.
HOpe that helps you out on everything.

Rogers / Tmobile Sidekick illegal phone charges in Canada

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