Airdrie Man "shocked" by $8000 phone bill

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

I guess if you believe that companies are in business to take advantage of people rather then supply a service, that's a good view to have.

Nope companies are in business to supply a service and make money doing it. its up to the consumer to protect their own money and be knowledgible about what their buying.

I'm sorry if I'm coming across as a hard a$$. But the fact that this guy is streaming 5 hours of radio is ridiculously stupid and he comes across as a self entitled bozo to me.

[troutman]

When you get a mortgage you have to sign a Disclosure Statement, confirming you understand how much interest you are paying.

If tel/com companies want to charge heavy roaming fees, I don't think it should be buried in the fine print. Customers should have to sign-off on some kind of disclosure statement where everything is spelled-out clearly.

[SeeBass]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

But its in the fine print, its in the contract.

I guess I'm anal, but I don't sign anything unless I review it completely. Its not up to companies or corporations to protect our money, its up to you.

I dont know much about what is written in one these contracts I have people to do that for me, but do they actually say that it will be $XX amount for XXmb's

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by peter12

This happened to me on a much larger scale a few months ago when I went to NYC. The thing is, I phoned Rogers, told them I would be going abroad and asked them to switch to their American roaming plan for the month that I would be away, but the customer service moron didn't do a thing and I got a $1000 bill from Rogers. Good thing I kept guy's name, the date of the call etc... and I got it bumped down to around $100.

Seriously, I wouldn't be surprised if he had a case against Virgin.

I'm just doing this to make fun of you, but in what math book is $1000 much larger than $8000?

[CaptainCrunch]

I guess it would depend, but I know on the last cellphone contract that I signed 3 years ago it did have a section on roaming fees and options for international usage.

That was with Bell.

[I_H8_Crawford]

I don't think it has a set amount for roaming fees, as they do differ based on what country you are in, and what roaming agreements the company has set up in that country.

[Northendzone]

guy was dumb (why would you stream a radio station when you can load a bunch of music on the phone) - but i'd imagine that virgin will relent and cut him a deal.

[SeeBass]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I guess it would depend, but I know on the last cellphone contract that I signed 3 years ago it did have a section on roaming fees and options for international usage.

That was with Bell.

Perhaps the purchaser should initial beside the charges. As per another poster.

It is the user fault I agree, but big charges in small print is a little cheesy.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

One thing I find hilarious is that this guy had the sense to take his case to the paper.
Why did he do this? Likely because he'd seen a few articles like this before as they pop up every so often.

So the guy likely knew that from time to time people do ######edly stupid things when they are out of their service area on their phones, and end up with hilariously large bills, so what did he do? He streamed a radio station from Calgary in France....on a freaking iPhone no less, dude, it'll play your own music, why are you streaming a radio station to an iPod?

The guy is ######ed. Yes the bill is ridiculously large, but this guy is just so ######ed that I don't have any sympathy for him.

[Muta]

Thank God for the iTouch. It can do almost everything the iPhone can (games, video, music, internet, etc.) and there's no additional charges past the purchase price. Internet is usually free, or miminal cost per hour at best.

I just carry my crappy cell phone from 2005 in my pocket, pay next to nothing on it for extremely cheap phone and text rates (who the hell pays $200 a month for a cell phone? Good Lord...), and the only inconvenience is having an additional piece of metal in my pocket or in my bag. Whoopee.

[Ducay]

Im pretty sure every cell phone company sends you a warning text when it determines you are roaming.

Add in the fact you have to manually enable data roaming on the iphone, and the dude is losing more and more of his case. (and his hair).

[flamefan74]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

One thing I find hilarious is that this guy had the sense to take his case to the paper.
Why did he do this? Likely because he'd seen a few articles like this before as they pop up every so often.

I think this it right here. He ran to the paper right away which leads me to think this guy figured he would do it and blame the company for it after. Probably thought the company would give in right away out of fear of bad press. Either that, or he's one of the stupidest guys I've heard of. Regardless, he should pay the bill. Sometimes the company isn't always to blame.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

That to me is irrelevant unless he asked a direct question about roaming charges in a foreign company. Help Desk people are not Kreskin.

Yes, but the fact that it is mentioned in the story would seem to imply that he told the CSR that he was planning on travelling to France with his phone. Even if the conversation had gone:

Customer: "Can I use my phone when travelling in France?"
CSR: "Yes, no problem!"

Then I would still say it is the CSR's job to let him know of the roaming costs.

[Jimmy Stang]

I have taken my iPhone abroad a lot and not once incurred a roaming charge. Data roaming was off by default, and it stays off. I let my calls go to voicemail and then check them by using a landline and calling card. $3/minute? No thanks.

Wandering about searching for open Wifi is sometimes tricky and annoying, but opening up data roaming is NEVER an option.

That being said, I do think that roaming charges are ridiculously high and are disproportionate to the cost of providing the service.

[You Need a Thneed]

After asking multiple times, (Bell told me it was impossible at first) I actually got the ability to download any data disabled on my wifes cellphone plan, since she never uses data. At $50 a MB, accidentally pressing the web button on the phone could cost several dollars, which seemed to happen when my daughter wanted to play with the phone, but could easily happen to my wife or I as well.

I think I got charged something like $12 or something for a downloaded ringtone (usage plus "data administration fee" - not sure of the exact name of the fee).

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Im pretty sure every cell phone company sends you a warning text when it determines you are roaming.

Telus does not.

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by I_H8_Crawford

I'm surprised the customer service didn't just upsell him when he said he was going to be traveling.

Easy upgrade sale there for data roaming on the guy's bill.

Virgin customer service dropped the ball on that one, and I know they are trained to upsell as much as possible.

Virgin is just another storefront for Bell so don't count on the customer service being competent in any way whatsoever.

[Agamemnon]

I don't know why it's not automatic for the cell provider to contact a client as soon as their monthly bill reaches something like $500 on a non-business cell. The only reason they wouldn't is to gouge their customer for more, obviously someone is using the thing incorrectly (ie not having an appropriate plan, at the least). A friendly call might help the company keep a long-term customer instead of creating a needless PR problem.

[Jayems]

I don't get why he'd want to stream a Calgary radio station in France. The last thing I'd want to do is listen to non-stop commercials while on vacation.

[The Ditch]

Some people really thing this guy should have to pay $8000? I mean yeah it is his fault and he should have to pay something but $8000, that's absolutely insane, no way that service should cost that much.