DTAC prepaid roaming charges while in UK

[AbeSurd]

I have a DTAC Happy pay as you go/prepaid SIM.

When I'm in the UK I keep my Thai mobile phone switched on all the time (with mobile networks and wi-fi turned off) just in case anyone in Thailand needs to get in touch with me, although in truth apart from spam text messages this rarely happens.

In past years this has meant that the credit on my phone (for calls and text messages) doesn't go down while I'm in the UK - or only goes down by a tiny amount.

Not so this year. I've been in the UK a few months now, and I keep having to top up - about 200 baht a month. And yet all I get is spam messages - one or two a day. (I top-up via my Siam Commercial internet banking service.)

Does anyone know why my credit is being used up? Is it roaming charges for the spam text messages I'm receiving?

This thread from 2012 - and my experience of previous years in the UK - suggests receiving texts in the UK is free. But maybe things have changed recently?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/525476-international-roaming-charges-on-dtac-happy-prepaid-sim/

Thanks for your help.

PS: I don't know if a voicemail service comes with the SIM, all I know is that if one does, then it isn't activated on my SIM. So callers can't leave voicemail messages for me if I don't answer. So I can't be being charged for this.

[Langsuan Man]

I pay DTAC 12 or 20 Baht and that gives me one year of service so I don't have to worry about "topping" it up while I am out of the country for 4 months of the year and SMS service (at least to the US) is still free

I can get alerts from my Thai Bank accounts, and is the reason I insure that my DTAC SIM is valid all year long

Edited November 16, 2015 by Langsuan Man

[AbeSurd]

I pay DTAC 12 or 20 Baht and that gives me one year of service so I don't have to worry about "topping" it up while I am out of the country for 4 months of the year and SMS service (at least to the US) is still free

I can get alerts from my Thai Bank accounts, and is the reason I insure that my DTAC SIM is valid all year long

Yes, I get SMS alerts from my Thai bank accounts too. I'd forgotten those.

Since I posted my OP yesterday I've received one spam SMS and my credit has gone down by about 6 baht.

[HampiK]

Hello,

other than spam SMS, you put up a Internet Service which will be automatic renew every month/week?

About the spam SMS, try to contact your provider and stop this spam.. this can cost a lot of money till you back in thailand. Or not top up, and hope this will stop automatic when they can't receive money from your prepaid anymore... But not sure if this works... At least a monthly autorenew Internet-charge will be stopped when there is not enough balance on the account.

[AbeSurd]

Hello,

other than spam SMS, you put up a Internet Service which will be automatic renew every month/week?

About the spam SMS, try to contact your provider and stop this spam.. this can cost a lot of money till you back in thailand. Or not top up, and hope this will stop automatic when they can't receive money from your prepaid anymore... But not sure if this works... At least a monthly autorenew Internet-charge will be stopped when there is not enough balance on the account.

No, there's no automatic renewal for internet or anything else. When I'm in Thailand I go along to a nearby DTAC place every month and buy a 30-day internet package. (So the last one I bought expired months ago.)

I want to keep my phone topped up so that I continue to receive SMS alerts from my Thai bank (and from anyone else that isn't spam). And also to make sure DTAC don't cancel my Thai mobile phone number.

When I get back to Thailand I'll see if I can get DTAC to stop the spam (or most of it). Thanks.

[HampiK]

Hi,

You already tried (setup) the online service on DTAC.CO.TH?

Or try to contact them by email... this would be better if they can help you before you go back to thailand... else you will lose more money.

[AbeSurd]

Hi,

You already tried (setup) the online service on DTAC.CO.TH?

Or try to contact them by email... this would be better if they can help you before you go back to thailand... else you will lose more money.

Aha! Thank you.

No, I didn't know about this MyDtac eservice. But I do now!

I logged on just now. I will check it out.

Thank you

[Langsuan Man]

I don't understand why you are being charged to receive SMS messages

I only pay for SMS messages I send, have never had a baht deducted from my balance when I get a SMS from either Bangkok Bank or DTAC

Send them an email and ask, fill out the form here:

http://www.dtac.co.th/en/help/form.html

[AbeSurd]

I don't understand why you are being charged to receive SMS messages

I only pay for SMS messages I send, have never had a baht deducted from my balance when I get a SMS from either Bangkok Bank or DTAC

Send them an email and ask, fill out the form here:

http://www.dtac.co.th/en/help/form.html

Thanks for that.

Over the last 24 hours I've received 3 new SMS messages. Two from DTAC and one spam. And my credit's gone down a further 6 baht (approx).

I don't know that it is SMS messages that I'm being charged for. I'll log-on and have a look in MyDtac eservices and see if they detail all my charges in there. Could there be a standing charge for roaming which means you're charged, say, 6 baht a day even if there's no activity on your account? That's the only other thing I can think of that I might be being charged for.

[AbeSurd]

I logged on to MyDtac eservices just now. In there there's a 'usage summary'. For Oct 2015 it lists 'content services', 28 times, 179.76 baht (which is 6.42 baht each).

So far for Nov 2015 it lists 'content services', 4 times, 25.68 baht (which again is 6.42 baht each).

Before anyone asks - no I haven't knowingly subscribed to anything.

Will try and contact DTAC about this.

Thanks everyone - good team work!

[Langsuan Man]

Well I got caught when I got my first "smart" phone for loss of credit until I discovered that my phone settings were using my pre paid voice units for data. Once I figured out how to

stop it there were no more surprise deductions

[AbeSurd]

I don't understand why you are being charged to receive SMS messages

I only pay for SMS messages I send, have never had a baht deducted from my balance when I get a SMS from either Bangkok Bank or DTAC

Send them an email and ask, fill out the form here:

http://www.dtac.co.th/en/help/form.html

When I log into MyDtac/eservices I don't see facility for contacting DTAC with a query or complaint.

So just now I filled in the form at that link you supplied. Now I'll wait and see if anything happens.

Thanks for the link.

[AbeSurd]

Wow, I'm impressed.

I filled in the form and got a very polite email back from DTAC very promptly saying 'those subscriptions are now cancelled'. They then listed "Game Club 3 - Per MT by Cheese Mobile Corporation Co.,Ltd". I have no idea what that is/was.

In the email they also said I can remove these things myself, by logging into MyDtac/eservices - under 'My Package' and then 'Add on package'.

[HampiK]

Wow, I'm impressed.

I filled in the form and got a very polite email back from DTAC very promptly saying 'those subscriptions are now cancelled'. They then listed "Game Club 3 - Per MT by Cheese Mobile Corporation Co.,Ltd". I have no idea what that is/was.

In the email they also said I can remove these things myself, by logging into MyDtac/eservices - under 'My Package' and then 'Add on package'.

Happy that now everything is clear... and you can safe some baht till you fly back to Thailand.

Maybe this will help someone else as well... because this Spam SMS are a pain in the ass....

[MobileTopUp]

Try topping up online - easy and you can keep your sim active.

[Langsuan Man]

Wow, I'm impressed.

I filled in the form and got a very polite email back from DTAC very promptly saying 'those subscriptions are now cancelled'. They then listed "Game Club 3 - Per MT by Cheese Mobile Corporation Co.,Ltd". I have no idea what that is/was.

In the email they also said I can remove these things myself, by logging into MyDtac/eservices - under 'My Package' and then 'Add on package'.

Yes, you can but they have a security feature on their web site that in order to log into mydtac eService you have to input your phone number and they will then send you an One time passcode that you must input to continue to your account to make those changes they reference

https://my.dtac.co.th/esv/en/login?ref=dashboard

Edited December 3, 2015 by Langsuan Man

[AbeSurd]

Wow, I'm impressed.

I filled in the form and got a very polite email back from DTAC very promptly saying 'those subscriptions are now cancelled'. They then listed "Game Club 3 - Per MT by Cheese Mobile Corporation Co.,Ltd". I have no idea what that is/was.

In the email they also said I can remove these things myself, by logging into MyDtac/eservices - under 'My Package' and then 'Add on package'.

Yes, you can but they have a security feature on their web site that in order to log into mydtac eService you have to input your phone number and they will then send you an One time passcode that you must input to continue to your account to make those changes they reference

https://my.dtac.co.th/esv/en/login?ref=dashboard

Yes, the log-in works very well.

I'm still in the UK and pleased to report that my balance has remained at a steady 180.73 baht for the last two weeks - ever since DTAC did what they said they'd do.