Horrible Experience Involving Overseas Data Charges

I am completely exasperated with Xfinity and its “customer service.”  I recently traveled for nearly 3 weeks to Portugal and Spain. Before leaving, I signed up for Xfinity Global Pass for $10/day. After arriving, I figured out that the 500 Mbs data plan was grossly insufficient for my text and Internet needs. On Sept. 27, I called Xfinity customer service to explain my problem. I needed more data and wanted to switch to an e-sim that would provide 5Gs of data for 30 days for $20 (Airalo). The Xfinity rep suggested I cancel my Global Pass, we determined my phone was unlocked and I got the Airalo plan and used it throughout my travels.

Upon my return, I happened to look at my Xfinity app and was shocked that I had incurred over $800 in cellular roaming charges, even though I had a plan through Airalo. Significantly, at no time during my trip did I receive a text message, email or phone call from Xfinity alerting me to the fact that I was having huge charges on my cellular plan. Even though I had discussed this with the Xfinity rep and followed their advice.

My real problems had just begun. On Nov. 4, a couple days after noticing the $800+ charge, I called Xfinity customer service and got a rep who was obviously offshore. I explained my situation and he was quite helpful. He apologized to me and said that he would put a note of our conversation on my account and that if I went to an Xfinity store near where I lived and showed them a receipt for my Airalo e-sim service during the period I incurred the erroneous Xfinity charges that I could get the $800 refunded. I spend 45 minutes on the phone. I drove 30 minutes to an Xfinity store, went through the explanation again, showed them my Airalo receipt and was told there was no record of my conversation earlier that day. I was told that they could not refund me the money, despite what I had been told. They said I should call customer service AGAIN. To make a long story shorter, the new customer service rep spend 45 minutes talking to me and said the earlier customer service rep had given my wrong information and no refund was possible. He blamed me for not knowing that my phone had an Esim in it already and you can’t have 2 Esims apparently. Why wasn’t I told that when I canceled my Global Pass. My phone clearly showed that the Airalo esim was working during my trip.

Instead, this rep offered my $40 off my $800+ bill, blamed it on me, and offered a 12-month payment plan. The rep also told me that the other rep I had called that morning “will be terminated’ for “lying” to me about the refund. Wow, Xfinity, what a great and compassionate company you are!  The first rep was the only one who truly tried to understand that this was a big mistake. And I will repeat: AT NO TIME DID XFINITY REACH OUT TO ME TO ALERT ME TO THIS UNUSUALLY BIG CHARGES. Had they done so I would have called Xfinity to see what the issue was, limiting the charges. Even AT&T sends out messages and alerts for exceeding your data allotment. Xfinity stays mum about it and then applies it to your bill, PROBABLY BECAUSE THERE IS A LOT OF EXTRA REVENUE in not helping its customers.

I believe Xfinity should take responsibility for providing conflicting information, not notifying me of the overages and the general confusion that its “customer service” department caused me. I am a senior citizen and don’t have $800 to pay this for a mistake that wasn’t entirely mine.