Family Racks Up $19,370 Cell Phone Bill

[Hudson_Hawk]

http://www.wftv.com/money/17390103/detail.html?rss=orlc&psp=irresistible

And my mother thought MY phone bills were bad as a teen!

 

[InLuv101]

Yowza...that hurts. I don''t think it''s AT&T''s responsibility to tell you your bill is getting high. They WANT you to have high bills.

 

[meresal]

This reminds me of the first person to travel overseas with an Iphone. Didn''t he rack up thousands in charges as well? I know that AT&T covered his, and I bet this one will be "resolved" as well.

 

[sunnyd]

Yikes!!! I don''t think AT&T should have to warn you either. They would be monitoring everyone! "FYI, your bill is higher than normal"? Please... I thought it was pretty common knowledge that you have to pay extra if you''re out of the country. Guess not!

 

[fieryred33143]

It''s def. not AT&Ts responsibility to notify them. However, it would have been good customer service to have done so...or at least say ''hey notice you''re out of the country, these are the plans available''

I''m surprised the family didn''t do that ahead of time. When I travel internationally I always call Verizon to switch over my service so that calls aren''t $5 a minute or some ridiculous rate like that. (side note for Vz customers, text messages are WAY cheaper when international than making a call

)

 

[meresal]

Date: 9/5/2008 2:57:27 PM
Author: fieryred33143
It's def. not AT&Ts responsibility to notify them. However, it would have been good customer service to have done so...or at least say 'hey notice you're out of the country, these are the plans available'

I'm surprised the family didn't do that ahead of time. When I travel internationally I always call Verizon to switch over my service so that calls aren't $5 a minute or some ridiculous rate like that. (side note for Vz customers, text messages are WAY cheaper when international than making a call

)

The article says that they got it beacsue he was leaving the country and no one at the store told them about any extra rates. That I CAN believe.

I bought a phone at Sprint, and before he even gave it to me, he went in and turned on ALL my applications, including internet which I had not purchased. After 2 days, I checked my account online, and it said that I had been on it for 48 hours straight. Cell phone companies are shady.

I also used to be with Verizon (in 2003), and they called me 3 months before my account was to run out, to tell me that I needed to renew my contract, without ever telling me my actual end date. Well I didn't want to be with them anymore, so I switched to Sprint. Imagine my surprise when I got a charge for $175 cancellation fee with my last bill. I was Livid

. My account didn't run out for another 2 months.

Cell phone companies are shady, shady

. Sorry.

 

[elle_chris]

That bill''s insane. I doubt at&t are gonna make the family pay up though.

fieryred33143- I thought Verizon didn''t work internationally. Do you mean Canada? Or do you rent a phone from them when out of the U.S.?
I''m with AT&T but have been waiting for years for Verizon to go GSM so I can switch.

 

[fieryred33143]

Date: 9/5/2008 3:30:37 PM
Author: elle_chris
That bill''s insane. I doubt at&t are gonna make the family pay up though.

fieryred33143- I thought Verizon didn''t work internationally. Do you mean Canada? Or do you rent a phone from them when out of the U.S.?
I''m with AT&T but have been waiting for years for Verizon to go GSM so I can switch.

It has worked for me in Mexico and in Dominican Republic. The calls were $.99 a minute and texts were I believe .50 to send and .05 to receive. I have a coworker that has Verizon and I''m 98% sure that he used it in London, Australia, and Hong Kong but I have to confirm when I see him (he''s in a meeting).

 

[hibiscus]

yikes! if you''re making all those long distance and international call try voip. I call my family in Asia 5 times a week at half hour most and I pay $24.95 monthly.

 

[elle_chris]

Date: 9/5/2008 3:34:28 PM
Author: fieryred33143

Date: 9/5/2008 3:30:37 PM
Author: elle_chris
That bill''s insane. I doubt at&t are gonna make the family pay up though.

fieryred33143- I thought Verizon didn''t work internationally. Do you mean Canada? Or do you rent a phone from them when out of the U.S.?
I''m with AT&T but have been waiting for years for Verizon to go GSM so I can switch.

It has worked for me in Mexico and in Dominican Republic. The calls were $.99 a minute and texts were I believe .50 to send and .05 to receive. I have a coworker that has Verizon and I''m 98% sure that he used it in London, Australia, and Hong Kong but I have to confirm when I see him (he''s in a meeting).

Yeah that''s what I thought. Verizon doesn''t work in europe at all. The only way is if you rent a GSM phone from them when travelling, but they charge you for it.
Don''t understand what''s taking them so long to go GSM.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Actually I have a similar story. When I was in HS I went on vacation with a friend''s family to the Bahamas. My then bf was in the AF in texas and I tried to call him using our calling card (pre cell phone days) several times. AT&T did, in fact, call my parents to report strange activity on their account. This was not a debit card or a credit card. It was jsut a calling card attached to our phone account. I had no idea that just the attempt at calling someone---without even getting through---using the card would rack up charges.

 

[fieryred33143]

Date: 9/5/2008 3:39:46 PM
Author: elle_chris

Date: 9/5/2008 3:34:28 PM
Author: fieryred33143

Date: 9/5/2008 3:30:37 PM
Author: elle_chris
That bill''s insane. I doubt at&t are gonna make the family pay up though.

fieryred33143- I thought Verizon didn''t work internationally. Do you mean Canada? Or do you rent a phone from them when out of the U.S.?
I''m with AT&T but have been waiting for years for Verizon to go GSM so I can switch.

It has worked for me in Mexico and in Dominican Republic. The calls were $.99 a minute and texts were I believe .50 to send and .05 to receive. I have a coworker that has Verizon and I''m 98% sure that he used it in London, Australia, and Hong Kong but I have to confirm when I see him (he''s in a meeting).

Yeah that''s what I thought. Verizon doesn''t work in europe at all. The only way is if you rent a GSM phone from them when travelling, but they charge you for it.
Don''t understand what''s taking them so long to go GSM.

I just asked my coworker and he confirmed that he used it. I looked on their website and it looks like they have global phones

http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Global_Phone/index.html

 

[Lauren8211]

Date: 9/5/2008 3:34:28 PM
Author: fieryred33143

Date: 9/5/2008 3:30:37 PM
Author: elle_chris
That bill''s insane. I doubt at&t are gonna make the family pay up though.

fieryred33143- I thought Verizon didn''t work internationally. Do you mean Canada? Or do you rent a phone from them when out of the U.S.?
I''m with AT&T but have been waiting for years for Verizon to go GSM so I can switch.

It has worked for me in Mexico and in Dominican Republic. The calls were $.99 a minute and texts were I believe .50 to send and .05 to receive. I have a coworker that has Verizon and I''m 98% sure that he used it in London, Australia, and Hong Kong but I have to confirm when I see him (he''s in a meeting).

Whew! Thanks for posting this, Fiery. I was in Mexico on my dreadful vacation last week, and did quite a bit of texting via Verizon. I was worried it would be a a dollar or more per text. I''m glad it''s pretty reasonable!

 

[elle_chris]

Date: 9/5/2008 3:55:17 PM
Author: fieryred33143

Date: 9/5/2008 3:39:46 PM
Author: elle_chris

Date: 9/5/2008 3:34:28 PM
Author: fieryred33143

Date: 9/5/2008 3:30:37 PM
Author: elle_chris
That bill''s insane. I doubt at&t are gonna make the family pay up though.

fieryred33143- I thought Verizon didn''t work internationally. Do you mean Canada? Or do you rent a phone from them when out of the U.S.?
I''m with AT&T but have been waiting for years for Verizon to go GSM so I can switch.

It has worked for me in Mexico and in Dominican Republic. The calls were $.99 a minute and texts were I believe .50 to send and .05 to receive. I have a coworker that has Verizon and I''m 98% sure that he used it in London, Australia, and Hong Kong but I have to confirm when I see him (he''s in a meeting).

Yeah that''s what I thought. Verizon doesn''t work in europe at all. The only way is if you rent a GSM phone from them when travelling, but they charge you for it.
Don''t understand what''s taking them so long to go GSM.

I just asked my coworker and he confirmed that he used it. I looked on their website and it looks like they have global phones

http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Global_Phone/index.html

yeah, you rent them when going out of the country. At least that''s how a Verizon sales rep explained it to me a few months ago. the technology in europe/asia is GSM. Verizon is not GSM (yet) hene the option to rent when travelling.
maybe something''s changed?

 

[indecisive]

Date: 9/5/2008 4:23:35 PM
Author: elle_chris

Date: 9/5/2008 3:55:17 PM
Author: fieryred33143

Date: 9/5/2008 3:39:46 PM
Author: elle_chris

Date: 9/5/2008 3:34:28 PM
Author: fieryred33143

Date: 9/5/2008 3:30:37 PM
Author: elle_chris
That bill''s insane. I doubt at&t are gonna make the family pay up though.

fieryred33143- I thought Verizon didn''t work internationally. Do you mean Canada? Or do you rent a phone from them when out of the U.S.?
I''m with AT&T but have been waiting for years for Verizon to go GSM so I can switch.

It has worked for me in Mexico and in Dominican Republic. The calls were $.99 a minute and texts were I believe .50 to send and .05 to receive. I have a coworker that has Verizon and I''m 98% sure that he used it in London, Australia, and Hong Kong but I have to confirm when I see him (he''s in a meeting).

Yeah that''s what I thought. Verizon doesn''t work in europe at all. The only way is if you rent a GSM phone from them when travelling, but they charge you for it.
Don''t understand what''s taking them so long to go GSM.

I just asked my coworker and he confirmed that he used it. I looked on their website and it looks like they have global phones

http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Global_Phone/index.html

yeah, you rent them when going out of the country. At least that''s how a Verizon sales rep explained it to me a few months ago. the technology in europe/asia is GSM. Verizon is not GSM (yet) hene the option to rent when travelling.
maybe something''s changed?

Actually I think they have a blackberry and a motorola phone that run of thier network in the us and gsm w/ a sim card in europe... at least that is what was on the cards in the store. Just checked and it is the Blackberry 8830 and mot rizr.

 

[LuckyTexan]

Date: 9/5/2008 2:42:25 PM
Author:Hudson_Hawk
http://www.wftv.com/money/17390103/detail.html?rss=orlc&psp=irresistible

And my mother thought MY phone bills were bad as a teen!

WOW!
I agree with the family... AT&T should have contacted them!

What they need to do is add international usage to their call plan... and make it retroactive to the day before he left... cuz they are in the public eye on this now... they''d be INSANE to screw these poor people over!