Computerworld reports a New Zealand Vodafone mobile customer was issued a bill last week for “two days occasional usage” of the Vodafone Vodem service for the princely sum of around NZ$5,000 – $2,000 of which was on a 69mb mobile download. The customer had been alerted to the fact that it could cost in the region of NZ$10 per megabyte downloaded for the use of the service but rather than connecting straight to Vodafone she instead hopped onto a roaming parter, instantly incurring Vodafone‘s costs and the roaming costs, shooting her NZ$10 per m/b up to NZ$30.

Vodafone failed to issue the customer, Stephanie Guigou, with a written breakdown of her charges and instead phoned her back, a week after alerting her to the high fees due on her contract, to announce they were disconnecting here – without issuing a phone bill.

I know roaming charges are pretty extreme, particularly when you incur charges from your domestic network and whatever foreign network you connect to byut five grand? Not nice for anyone!