US tourist is horrified to receive a $143k bill from T-Mobile after a short overseas trip - here's how YOU can avoid similar charges

A Florida man has revealed how he and his wife were stung with a $143,000 bill after a three-week vacation to Europe last year.

Rene Remund, 71, lives with his wife Lynda, 65, in Dunedin, Florida, but is originally from Switzerland.

In September, the couple returned to the town in which he grew up and enjoyed 'magical' moments with family and friends.

Many of those moments were captured in photographs, which were sent back to the U.S. using cellular data.

But it appeared to come at a cost. The couple returned home to shocking cell phone charges from their carrier, T-Mobile, amounting to $143,442.74.

Rene Remund, 71, lives with his wife Lynda in Dunedin, Florida, but is originally from Switzerland

When the couple returned from a trip to Switzerland they were lumped with a $143,000 bill

'I'm looking at it and I say, 'Excuse me, $143,000, are you guys crazy?'' he told local news outlet Scripps News Tampa.

Over the course of the three-week trip, he and his wife used around 9.5 gigabytes of data but they were charged roaming fees, which averaged more than $6,000 a day.

For reference, the average North American used around 11.1 gigabytes of data a month back in 2020, according to Ericsson.

Despite contacting T-Mobile to challenge the bill, and later hiring an attorney to take action, the carrier did not budge.

Remund said he immediately called T-Mobile and waited for a representative to review the charges. To his dismay, they validated them.

'She gets back. 'No, this is a good bill,'' the representative told Remund. 

'What do you mean it's a good bill?' he responded. 'Well, this is what you owe,' they replied.

It was only upon reporting the bill to the local news station Scripps News Tampa that T-Mobile decided to waive the charges.

Rene, who has been a T-Mobile customer for almost 30 years, said he visited a store to share his travel plan ahead of the trip, as he always does.

'They said, 'You're covered.' Whatever that meant. 'You're covered,'' he told the outlet.

Pedestrians walk past a T-Mobile store in Miami, Florida

The couple hired an attorney, who in turn wrote a letter to the president and CEO of the carrier, but did not receive a response.

DailyMail.com asked T-Mobile about how the bill came to be so expensive but did not receive a response.

On its website, T-Mobile notes: 'To avoid bill shock, check with your service provider before you travel to see what options are available.'

While roaming charges are in many cases a thing of the past, certain plans still apply them in the traditional way - per gigabyte. In many countries users are now instead charged simply a flat daily or monthly fee.