Teenager racked up a £9,000 mobile phone bill during Caribbean holiday just from using Facebook

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     >Girl documented trip to Antigua with mother in regular Facebook updates

·         > Stepfather alerted her network texted saying she was over the limit

·         > But she carried on using WiFi and eventually was left with £9,000 bill

·         > Paid £5,400, appealed remaining £3,500 which has now dropped to £500

A teenage girl ran up a £9,000 bill while on holiday in Antigua by documenting her trip with Facebook updates.

Her stepfather David Mason, who funds the phone, contacted the girl from their home in Gloucester when he received a text saying she had hit £50 in roaming charges.

But even he thought she had been disconnected from her UK network and that she was updating her profile by WiFi, she was in fact still connected to the local mobile provider - leaving the family thousands of pounds in debt.

When the girl and her mother Tracey, 46, returned from their trip, Mr Mason got a huge bill for £5,400 from Orange, and four weeks later another for £3,500.

Mr Mason, 48, said: 'I was shocked when the first bill for £5,400 arrived.

'The phone contract was in my name but I was in England at the time and got a message saying roaming charges had hit £50.

'Orange asked if I wanted to opt out of roaming charges.

'I said 'yes' and told Tracey but the phone was still connected to the Jamaica roaming network without them knowing.

'She had no idea she was racking up this massive bill.'

Following the holiday in March, he initially paid off £5,400 of the bill and refused to pay the rest claiming the mobile phone giant has failed in its duty of customer care.

He contacted Citizens Advice Bureau and regulator Ofcom has also been investigating.

But last week Orange cut the bill to £500 and agreed to refund the money it had already received.

A spokesman said: 'We know our customers want to use their phones while they're on holiday and that's why we offer a wide range of bundles.

'In this instance, Mr Mason chose to not purchase a bundle and actively opted out of the £50 roaming cap that is automatically applied to prevent high bills.

'As a gesture of goodwill, we have retrospectively applied the appropriate bundles to reflect his data usage.'