Home Head''s up to parents of computer kids...

[Winks_Elf]

The email I just sent my oldest''s teacher says it all:

Just pass this little gem along to him, so he starts thinking about it today and is not blindsided when I pick him up this afternoon.

I got my Verizon bill, and noticed an additional charge for some company called ESBI that is supposedly providing me with email services for $14.95 per month; the total charges of which are $31.99. I called them, threatened to go to the police since I did not authorize them to do anything for me, and that''s when I found out he clicked on some ad, filled something out to authorize them for an email account. I explained that he is not authorized to make any changes to my accounts, and that he''s a 12-year-old boy.

Needless to say, he will not be using the internet anytime soon.

Apparently a pop-up ad came up, he clicked on it, and filled in the request for info, using our address, phone number, and lied about his age. I''m not too happy at the moment. The company is going to reverse those charges for the full $31.99, but still...

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

That''s frustrating WE, I''m sure. I can remember running up phone bills as a kid and my mom always made me pay her for them. Perhaps that''s a good lesson for your son? He doesn''t need to know that they reversed the charges, you could tell him he needs to pay the bill back to you and if he doesn''t get an allowance or anything like that, suggest he do extra chores around the house to pay the debt.

BTW, how does the school/teacher feel about this technique? I''m just curious, I don''t think it''d fly in my brother''s school district (my mom is on the school board).

 

[Lilac]

Date: 3/1/2010 12:30:46 PM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
That''s frustrating WE, I''m sure. I can remember running up phone bills as a kid and my mom always made me pay her for them. Perhaps that''s a good lesson for your son? He doesn''t need to know that they reversed the charges, you could tell him he needs to pay the bill back to you and if he doesn''t get an allowance or anything like that, suggest he do extra chores around the house to pay the debt.

BTW, how does the school/teacher feel about this technique? I''m just curious, I don''t think it''d fly in my brother''s school district (my mom is on the school board).

I think HH''s idea is a good one - your son should pay for the extra charges on the bill. Hopefully next time he would think twice before doing anything that could potentially cost HIM money.

 

[Cookiedough]

For what it''s worth, a very similar thing happen to my father. It was for a voicemail set up by a company called "My billing services" added onto the back of his phone bill. (tricky hah?) When he contacted his phone carrier they just told him the charges belonged on his acct. After he told me about it I did a search of "My billing services" and found they are a real service that can be signed up for online. ANYONE could enter someone elses telephone number and set up an account that can be accessed from another phone line. None of it is confirmed . According to the "My billing services" this fake acct was set up the same way your son supposedly set up yours except my father is 77 years old and has NO access to the internet in order to do this. In my opinion it is a scam where someone is takiing info from the phone book and setting up an acct for their own use at your expence or the company itself setting up fake accts to slam phone bills until they are caught.

 

[steph72276]

I agree with HH that your son should pay it back in order to learn his lesson. I''m also confused why you would send this info to his teacher though, don''t you think she''s probably got enough on her plate to deal with without what goes on outside of school?