Teen Racks Up 6 grand phone bill while on vacation

[warhorse78]

http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-livi...g-facebook-during-nyc-vacation-185451599.html

While vacation to NYC from England, 14 year old unknowingly racks up a $6,000 phone bill when she would upload her pictures to facebook. The charges were through high roaming charges with internet use. All I can say is, ouch.

 

[Darthphere]

Who doesn't know about that? I'm afraid to turn on my cellphone let alone post pictures on Facebook.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

“I can’t believe that a company would let a bill which is usually [$75] get up to that level,” said Kate.

Oh really? You think a company would stop a customer from racking up a huge bill that they're legally obligated to pay?

When you go overseas, you prepare your phone with your carrier. Last year I just kept mine in airplane mode in the entire time, just used it for a convenient camera or for apps I had installed on it.

 

[Anubis]

Yeah, always use the free wi-fi.

 

[Hal_Jordan]

They won't have to pay it.

It's an absurdly ridiculous charge.

 

[Duke]

Ignorance at it's finest.

 

[Teelie]

I saw "teen," "phone bill," "$6 grand" and my first thought was "texting."

Uploading pictures to Facebook overseas though will definitely do it.

 

[NickNitro]

I've never traveled out of the country so I must say, out of instinct I would probably try and go on my phone

 

[Darthphere]

Well now you know better.

 

[Teelie]

Despite there being virtually no need to charge such astronomical charges, the phone companies are more than happy to continue to do so.

 

[Darthphere]

Because people will keep paying it. Its that simple. Still, its always fun to rail against big bad phone companies and corporations but its not like they put a gun to this girl's head to upload pictures. Everytime I leave the states, I turn off my phone and only have it on me in case of an extreme emergency. Her parents ignorance turning into the child's ignorance isn't an excuse. The article even states that the company sends text messages warning the customer of recurring charges. I 100% believe that and 100% believe that this girl ignored them because getting those pics on Facebook mattered more than taking 10 seconds to read, comprehend and make a sound decision off a warning text.

 

[StrainedEyes]

Either go through the hassel of getting a foreign sim card while you are away, or just keep it in airplane mode, Other countries are pretty decent about their free wifi.

 

[Darthphere]

Either go through the hassel of getting a foreign sim card while you are away, or just keep it in airplane mode, Other countries are pretty decent about their free wifi.

She was in New York for God's sake, there's free wi-fi on every corner.

 

[Schlosser85]

Their charges are ridiculous, but she got herself into it by being naive. They didn't "technically" do anything wrong.

 

[Darthphere]

While I agree that the charges are ridiculous, its not like they don't give you every opportunity to not **** up. When it comes to technology, there's a responsibility to be informed. It's obvious her parents don't have a clue and the daughter just didn't give a ****. When you pay for services, you gotta know everything. Do you know how many times I've called my cable company because they're charging me for a certain speed and they're not delivering it? Stay on top of things people, its your money, you should know what the **** is going on.

 

[Siby]

I find it hard to believe some people are sympathizing with the girl on this. It's her and her parent's fault. People just click or sign through contracts without realizing what they are agreeing to.

I know this is a hard lesson for these people but it is one that could have been avoided. I am sure they won't do it again.

I'm on Verizon in the US with an Android phone. I have a widget which shows me how much data I've used. I have the phone set to warn me when it reaches a certain limit (1.5 gigs) and also to automatically cut off data when it reaches close to the limit I have set.

By the way, Airplane mode doesn't always stop the transfer of data. There are some apps which somehow still connect in the background. My current phone Samsung Galaxy Note II has a feature which allows me to control the background data used by apps.

 

[Teelie]

I'm not saying she shouldn't be charged but the cost is ridiculous. She's 14 too so I doubt she cared or even acknowledged the warning. As you say and her mother said, it was more important to her to post to Facebook her photos instead of waiting to get home or using free Wi-Fi. That doesn't excuse the excessive charges on the phone bill however.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

I bet they end up not having to pay.

I once racked up about a $300-$400 phone bill (when my bill is typically $100) due to going over my minutes and such, and a single phone call without even so much as making a complaint voided out those charges just by upgrading by minutes (which has come in very useful for me since doing so).

 

[Darthphere]

I'm not saying she shouldn't be charged but the cost is ridiculous. She's 14 too so I doubt she cared or even acknowledged the warning. As you say and her mother said, it was more important to her to post to Facebook her photos instead of waiting to get home or using free Wi-Fi. That doesn't excuse the excessive charges on the phone bill however.

Sure it does.

I bet they end up not having to pay.

I once racked up about a $300-$400 phone bill (when my bill is typically $100) due to going over my minutes and such, and a single phone call without even so much as making a complaint voided out those charges just by upgrading by minutes (which has come in very useful for me since doing so).

Oh they're paying. The article states they're on a payment plan for the bill.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

Well admittedly I didn't even read the article, I just got the jist of everything from the thread.

 

[ThePhantasm]

I don't understand how someone could NOT know this would happen. I travel between the States and the UK frequently. I always make sure my phone plans and arrangements are properly set up. Mobile phone usage isn't just free anywhere in the world that you go!

 

[Teelie]

My first guess: you are not a 14 year old girl more concerned with Facebook and friends than how much instantly updating your profile is going to cost.

 

[SWAT]

I saw 'teen racks' and got excited... Anyway. Should be some sort of limit on this, should't it?

 

[Teelie]

There are ways if you know in the first place to expect it to enable it on your phone or just disable it with your provider, I'd assume.

 

[Darthphere]

I saw 'teen racks' and got excited... Anyway. Should be some sort of limit on this, should't it?

There are ways if you know in the first place to expect it to enable it on your phone or just disable it with your provider, I'd assume.

Man, do you people even read the articles?

"All Orange customers have a number of protections in place — customers are even automatically opted-in to a roaming data cap, which limits their charges to £49 ($74) for a set amount of data. Customers receive warning texts to alert them of their data usage and we have an app that helps them monitor data usage, and opt in to a data bundle if needed. The customer received numerous text alerts, which updated them on the roaming costs for the USA, and also updated them on their data usage. Once they had reached the limit of their data bundle, the customer actively opted out of our roaming data cap so that they could continue to use data, effectively removing the inbuilt protection from large data roaming bills.”