Vodafone UK has apologised to a customer caught up in the Nepal earthquake after her phone was blocked and she was asked to pay roaming charges in the aftermath of the disaster.
Sarah Khadka-Lowe, who was staying with her husband’s family just outside Kathmandu, ran up £157 worth of charges after contacting relatives back in the UK to reassure them that they were safe and to make emergency arrangements to get home.
After receiving an initial text from Vodafone saying it could see she was in Nepal and promising continuity of coverage for the next 28 days, the following day it barred and blocked her phone from making calls or sending texts because of the mounting call charges. “This was not only ridiculous and not at all helpful, but also insensitive and inappropriate” Khadka-Lowe told the Guardian.
On returning to the UK and learning that Vodafone New Zealand and Vodafone Australia were waiving its customer call costs from the earthquake zone, she phoned Vodafone UK and was told this was not company policy for UK-based customers.
“I was told I knew I was making [calls and texts] therefore they were my responsibility”, she said. “There was no mention or sensitivity to the earthquake or disaster conditions we were immersed in. I was offered a £5 discount!”
She was shocked to be told the same thing by a customer services manager via Twitter and to be offered a “payment plan” to help her reduce the bill.
Following a complaint to the Guardian, a spokeswoman said the waiver of charges was supposed to apply in the UK as well, and said the company was “was now trying get the word out to all our contact centre and social media advisers”.
Vodafone said it could not say at this stage how many of its customers were affected, but it was in the process of crediting charges where appropriate.
It said it would be apologising to Khadka-Lowe and adjusting her bill. In a statement sent to the Guardian it said: “We’re sorry Mrs Khadka-Lowe had this experience. We have already put in place measures to waive any charges incurred by our customers in Nepal since the earthquake. The advisers she spoke to were clearly unaware of this. We will contact Mrs Khadka to explain and make the necessary adjustments to the bill.”
Khadka-Lowe said: “My husband and I were caught up in the Nepal earthquake, which was horrendous, and finally returned home on Wednesday 29 April. Understandably we have racked up considerable mobile phone calls trying to sort out our situation, let family and loved ones know we were alive, and make emergency travel arrangements home. We didn’t stop to think about the cost, we just did what we had to do while in survival and crisis mode.”
She added: “Vodafone has information on their website about supporting Nepal, which is fantastic and I am so pleased they are doing this, but they are treating their customers who were actually in the earthquake appallingly.”
