$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.
Top 5 Posts
More About Cell Phones
Comments on $10,000 Bill... For Text Messages
Post a Comment
Join in the discussion. Here you'll see the comments in the order they were posted.
-
7 Posted by texas92458 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:01PM EDT Report Abuse
Another example of a predatory business taking advantage of someone's misfortune. A corporation like Sprint could have generated $$$ worth of good publicity by nullifying Mr. Clark's bill. Instead, they come off as just another greedy corporation.
-
8 Posted by sidk_98 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:21PM EDT Report Abuse
What he didn't realize was that she was sending messages to a premium text system, the equivalent of a 1-900 telephone number. Please research your facts more completely. SMS text messaging and 900 payment methodology are in no way related in process, execution or usage.
-
9 Posted by coons_aa on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:29PM EDT Report Abuse
if the kids are not responsible enough then the parents should not get myspace or AIM phone they should take it away. You dont teach a kid not to steal by giving them everything they want nor do you teach a kid not to not to be mean to others by buying them a cat they can kick around.
-
10 Posted by dominicanobavaro on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:46PM EDT Report Abuse
She must have texted 333 text message daily, 24/7. Why didn't the parents noticed what she was doing, especially if she was not a totally normal person. Parents should be more careful. Also they should have restricted the texting feature.
-
11 Posted by mx2265 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:31PM EDT Report Abuse
first of all, how old is his daighter? second of all why wasnt this operation being suoervised? common now.
-
12 Posted by joeczz on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:38PM EDT Report Abuse
SHE NEEDS A BEATING
-
13 Posted by rmpetersen72 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:44PM EDT Report Abuse
His "his developmentally disabled daughter" needs a beating? You are either the most unforgiving person on earth or in desperate need of anger management.
-
14 Posted by imrealman69 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:23PM EDT Report Abuse
I've got 4 kids who USED TO HAVE text service. When I asked ATT to limit the service to the number of messages the plan covered (avoiding overages), they told me they didn't offer that service. So, I canceled the service altogether. Net-net, there's no simple way to see how many message you have available so there's no way to control your usage (at least not quickly or easily). In my book that's a scam which the wireless carriers are guilty of committing on children - shame on all of them!
-
15 Posted by jackie.schrader on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:26PM EDT Report Abuse
Why don't you just get here a computer,and stop the text messaging all together in the long run it would be so much cheaper
-
16 Posted by a031363 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:42PM EDT Report Abuse
I feel your pain, but not to the same extreme. Our son racked up oaver $1,800 in these "Premium Text Messages" over two billing periods. I found out about the first $1,200 when we got our most recent bill. After several calls to our carrier, Verizon, I finally found a person who agreed this was outrageous. Verizon agreed to waive all of these premium charges one time, and one time only. We have disabled texting from our son's phone so he can't do this again and we warned his brother and sister about doing this in the future. I suggest Clark make more "noise" about this to Sprint and explain to them that they had a responsibilty to inform its users about this potential problem. These carriers need to do the proper Due Diligence or they will share in the liability. I see some Class Action lawsuits in the near future... Oh, if this happens to you, make sure to talk to your carrier and have them help you unsubsribe to all of the services that are "installed" on the offending phone. If you don't you will see many re-ocurring fees even if the phone user does not make this mistake again AND even if texting is turned off! Beware!
-
17 Posted by a031363 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:42PM EDT Report Abuse
addendum to my previous post. Note, I watch our account online during the billing month and these Premium texts only appear as regular text messages - time shown, but no cost listed. Even if you are try to monitor usage, you cannot catch these until it is too late.
-
18 Posted by the_domestic_fxxxer on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:06PM EDT Report Abuse
Good darn!!!!!!
-
19 Posted by amr_alsery on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:53PM EDT Report Abuse
عمرالسري
-
20 Posted by nejikicksass on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:35PM EDT Report Abuse
Many people seem to say that you cant block texting but um, where are you? ATT allows you to block the texting feature you just have to call them up. Texting is perfectly safe. I don't know, but I've never heard of a Premium text......
-
21 Posted by sarek68 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:04PM EDT Report Abuse
1. what business does she have with a phone if she is unable to understand what she is doing? 2. where was the parental supervision? 3.This should teach everyone to READ THE FINE PRINT!!! There are too many scams out there. 4. where is the parental supervision. 5. romantic dialogs with sexy guys, she is a minor and vulnerable to pedophiles etc, so for the last time WHERE WAS THE PARENTAL SUPERVISION, for crying out loud take some responsibility for your actions/inactions, etc. Thats like blaming a gun for shooting someone
-
22 Posted by kaloyan_kovachev2001 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:46PM EDT Report Abuse
I HAVE BEEN WITH SPRINT, VERIZON, T-MOBILE AND CINGULAR AND NEVER HAD A PROBLEM TEXTING...I TEXT A LOT TO CANADA AND MY BILL IS NOT OUTRAGEOUS.......I GOT UNLIMITED TEXTING....MY POINT IS BE RESPONSIBLE......
-
23 Posted by rjgwinn on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:42PM EDT Report Abuse
Texting is the lifeline of the Deaf community. Not just the domain of the young techie. Thanks for the heads up. Good read.
-
24 Posted by millerdan1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:20PM EDT Report Abuse
Poor guy.
-
25 Posted by joymarie86 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:41PM EDT Report Abuse
she is not just a normal kid or i would get onto her, but if she does not know that that is a wrong thing to do then she nor any child should have a cell phone in the first place.
Sponsored Links
My Tech
Please enable your browser's cookies to activate the My Tech column.
Also on Yahoo! Tech
| Computers | Home Office | Wi-Fi & Networking | Phones & PDAs | Cameras & Camcorders | TV & Home Theater | Portable Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
6 Posted by marcibul on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:06PM EDT Report Abuse
Why that service for his daughter anyway? All that is needed is serious numbers plugged in to reach the persons needed to be reached. A simple plan with lots of minutes available.