$10,000 Bill... For Text Messages
Tue Oct 30, 2007 11:49PM EDT
See Comments (194)
The cell phone industry hasn't exactly been shy about billing its customers for all manner of things. Roadside assistance... without your asking for it? That'll be $2.99 a month. Ha, that's nothing. Now one customer, Sean Clark, has been slapped with a bill for a whopping 10 grand, because his developmentally disabled daughter sent a mound of text messages to a "premium" chat line, which billed an extra $1 or $2 per message it sent out.
Ironically, big texting bills drove Clark to upgrade his daughter's cell phone plan to an "unlimited" texting plan. What he didn't realize was that she was sending messages to a premium text system, the equivalent of a 1-900 telephone number. These services sent numerous messages to the daughter for a buck or more a pop, billed over and above any standard texting fees. The come-on: the promise of "romantic dialogs with 'cool guys.'"
Given the back-and-forth nature of a text message chat, bills can skyrocket quickly. $100 an hour wouldn't be unusual at all.
Clark's carrier, Sprint, offered a 50 percent refund considering the circumstances, but the third-party services running the chat systems haven't budged. He's clearly hoping awareness will help his cause and hopefully save others the same headache.
If your kids (or anyone else) carry cell phones, remember that premium texting services are almost never blocked by default, and many carriers don't offer a way to block them at all. Call your carrier and ask about blocking if you're worried such a situation could happen to you. If it isn't offered, you might consider turning off text messaging altogether.
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27 Posted by lynett517 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:01PM EDT Report Abuse
those companies trick you. and the fine print on the commercials is so small and so fast you cant even read it. sprint should reimburse the entire bill. just like the 900 numbers those texting companies are a scam. free ringtones my a$$....you end up paying dearly ....SPRINT let this poor guy off the hook on this one if you have any customer service left...which u don't..
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28 Posted by fvn1975 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:04PM EDT Report Abuse
This country now has con artists every where! Full of them! Be ware!
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29 Posted by brianandleigh2003 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:13PM EDT Report Abuse
in a case like that htey shouldnt charge anything hten he should cut off texting
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30 Posted by traydezee on Thu Nov 15, 2007 9:45AM EST Report Abuse
Why is anybody blaming the company? The daughter did the texting. period. Sprint gave a 1/2 credit- that's very very generous. They could have said no credit. This horrible greedy company allows people to text and some who are not responsible run up huge bills, jeez, sprint owes an apology to the stupid people?
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31 Posted by gyokkushin on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:15PM EDT Report Abuse
Why should a company be able to bill for a serice that you cannot refuse? "...remember that premium texting services are almost never blocked by default, and many carriers don't offer a way to block them at all." Is it just me or there something very wrong with this?
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32 Posted by silvyhd03 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:23PM EDT Report Abuse
using morse code will be cheaper........
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33 Posted by cubstakeseries on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:32PM EDT Report Abuse
Serves the parent right. I refuse to allow my children, one of whom is disabled, to use a cell phone for text purposes. If they need to chat, pick up the house phone and talk away. Why should anyone feel shock or dismay concerning this matter. Who is running that household, the child or the grownup?????
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34 Posted by redhot1606 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:34PM EDT Report Abuse
WOW!!! Thats crazy!
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35 Posted by ilovebaseball616 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:23PM EDT Report Abuse
having had worked in the cell phone business i would first call and ask for a manager bypass the CSR that answers the phone and just ask for a manager right up front explain the situation if they wont drop all the charges except for basic plan or at least the average of her texting for the past 6 months i would tell them i was disputing the charges and have em note your acct then i would send a letter to the company stating the same thing keeping a copy for myself ( CSR can say they are noting the acct but be sitting there emailing her friend across the room i know from experience lol i did always note the acct but not necessarily at that precise moment ) then send in pymt for the bssic bill
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36 Posted by gmamonk on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:10PM EDT Report Abuse
parents are not being good parents when they let their little brats have all this stuff~~if they want it, let them earn it~~it makes me sick to see how parents are not parenting anymore, just being the money bag and an endless one~~grow up parents!
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37 Posted by gtm1975 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:14PM EDT Report Abuse
I'm sorry, but since when do people not think they should have to pay for charges incurred on an account that they subscribed to? If my son/daughter racked up $2000 + in cell phone charges, they would certainly be paying for it. That being said, I wouldn't be getting a phone for my son/daughter - if they want one, they can buy one with their own hard earned money. My daughter had a phone on a plan I provided, and she was told explicitly to NOT use it during the day except in emergencies or for text messages, because the plan was a basic one. She made $8 worth of calls and I took the phone away from her. She learned her lesson pretty quick!
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38 Posted by veeguy on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:32PM EDT Report Abuse
One easy way to avoid this is to give your kids a prepaid cell phone. Any charges are debited at time of use (including premium charges) and when their prepaid balance is gone... NO MORE CHARGES until you put more money in their account. Problem solved. Every company has a prepaid division, it just takes a little investigation, but if you didn't spend any time monitoring your kids $10,000 texting habit, you won't spend the time to do this either.
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39 Posted by andrew19126 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:53PM EDT Report Abuse
how old was his daughter? and wtf was she doing on an adult text line?
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40 Posted by hfngotsail on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:18PM EDT Report Abuse
I just want to laugh my a55 off. This father is more developementally disabled than his daughter, what an ultramaroon! Take the phone away!
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41 Posted by cymbaa on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:33PM EDT Report Abuse
go saints
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42 Posted by beeper0426 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:04PM EDT Report Abuse
I hate text messages and those who send them to me I threaten bodily harm to them ... hahahahaha. I have a cell phone because I work in the medical field and also because I am the care giver to two elderly parents ... my cell phone is NOT for idle chit chat or texting ... if it's important CALL me. And thos dumb chain texts people send ... OMG can someone shoot people for that?
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43 Posted by junelarkin on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:44PM EDT Report Abuse
Read between the lines: "I let my kid do something stupid with my poor parenting/supervising/educating and the consequences are darn expensive so I don't want to be responsible for my own actions and pay the consequences"
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44 Posted by will.mccleese on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:46PM EDT Report Abuse
Quick solution tell her to put the phone down and go out and play. My kids don't have cell phones and won't until they can pay for them on their own.
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45 Posted by anita_redden on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:55PM EDT Report Abuse
get her a prepaid go phone or trac phone problem solved!
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26 Posted by traydezee on Thu Nov 15, 2007 9:41AM EST Report Abuse
don't give your retarded daughter a phone- or your teenage daughter/son. Seriously- they can't handle it.