Airdrie Man "shocked" by $8000 phone bill

[TSXCman]

this guy is an idiot. you simply call the company as say "i cannot afford this" and they will prolly drop it to ~100$

I know a friend that simply couldnt afford his bills anymore and called the company stating that his money had to go to other payments before the phone company, so cancel it or whatevre they needed to do. He got reconnected to a different person who said they would wipe the previous 3 months off for free as long as he could begin paying off the new bills. And so 3 x 75$ erased, and he just paid new fees

My brother left his phone on "check email" while he was working in houston, received an $800 bill and called them up saying he was working in training, made a mistake and would not have the money. they changed it to a flat $100 fee for that month.

[chummer]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I'm shocked that people don't read terms and conditions when they sign contracts.

The excuse

"Well I didn't know, refund my money"

means nothing to Virgin Mobile. At least they were nice enough to shut down el stupido's phone after three days.

He's a car salesman to boot,he should know a thing or two about contracts.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by ben voyonsdonc

Roaming fees are pretty ridiculous but he should have done just a little research before streaming hours and hours of radio to his iphone. I know that Rogers sends me a text when I leave the country to let me know that I am in a roaming zone. As soon as that happens, I turn off my phone and leave it off unless I am in a tough spot.

Ridiculous pricing or not, you can't use the services and then whine about the cost of the service later on.

Zero sympathy, I feel bad for him because whoever cuts his hair has overcharged him too.

When your hair pattern looks that ridiculous its time to shave it off.

[Pinner]

It's not a fair price.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by squiggs96

That's like buying a car from him and then being pissed that you have to pay for gas. He's another example of why schools should fail kids until they learn basic math skills. Passing them ahead is hurting them.

It's more like buying a car, taking it to Europe, driving it a relatively small amount, and being charged 1000 times more per mile.

Regardless of where Virgin buried this in the fine print, this is a ridulous amount to charge someone for data usage. Especially as Virgin probably owns the network this guy was roaming on.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Pinner

It's not a fair price.

Dosen't matter.

You can't go back and cry about unfair pricing after you've signed a terms and agreement.

That would be like you buying a porche from me for $200k, and then coming back a year later and crying that you paid to much and you want your money back.

You'll be pounding a lot of sand.

[Oil Stain]

Straight out gouging by cell phone companies.

These companies should have to build warnings into their software. If you are going to be charged thousands of dollars to use your cell for for a couple of days you should get fair warning.

The guy was an idiot, but that is besides the point.

There is no way these companies can justify charging what they do in these circumstances.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

Straight out gouging by cell phone companies.

These companies should have to build warnings into their software. If you are going to be charged thousands of dollars to use your cell for for a couple of days you should get fair warning.

The guy was an idiot, but that is besides the point.

There is no way these companies can justify charging what they do in these circumstances.

They shut down his phone after they saw the amount of usage. If they were truly scumbags they would have let him keep running it for his own trip then sent him the bill when it was returned.

Then when he refused to pay it you send it to a collection agency while suing him into Bankruptsy.

Then you as the president of the cellphone company go over to his house and tell them that this can go away if you get a whole night with his wife.

[Pinner]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Dosen't matter.

If you sat down and ordered a coffee, drank it and got the bill for 80 bucks you'd be pissed too because it's an unreasonable fee for the goods.

Should change that to 800 bucks

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Pinner

If you sat down and ordered a coffee, drank it and got the bill for 80 bucks you'd be pissed too because it's an unreasonable fee for the goods.

Nope, because I usually know the pricing before I order it.

If the cup of coffee is going to cost $80.00 I don't order it and I leave.

[PowerPlayoffs06]

The anti-consumer sentiment on CP never ceases to amaze me.

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Zero sympathy, I feel bad for him because whoever cuts his hair has overcharged him too.

When your hair pattern looks that ridiculous its time to shave it off.

I dunno, I think it fits the whole slimy car salesman look.

[Oil Stain]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Dosen't matter.

You can't go back and cry about unfair pricing after you've signed a terms and agreement.

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.

[Igottago]

Yeah, he may be an idiot, but so are lots of people. Does everyone really read all the fine print in their service agreements? Does everyone even understand the terms of what are agreeing upon? What about immigrants who can't understand english very well but buy a cell phone? Senior citizens?

I'm sure there are a lot of people who don't understand exactly how they are going to be charged exorbitant fees. We probably don't hear about most of them.

Fact of the matter is $8000 for 130mb of data is ludicrious. Just because some corp. builds it into an "agreement" doesn't make it any less ludicrious.

[SeeBass]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Dosen't matter.

You can't go back and cry about unfair pricing after you've signed a terms and agreement.

That would be like you buying a porche from me for $200k, and then coming back a year later and crying that you paid to much and you want your money back.

You'll be pounding a lot of sand.

I dont have much sympathy for the guy but I think your analogy is off.

maybe more like buying your Porshe for $10K and not seeing in the fine print that it will cost you a $100 a mile to drive and then taking it back.



I'm just being petty.

[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.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by PowerPlayoffs06

The anti-consumer sentiment on CP never ceases to amaze me.

Why should I have any sympathy for him whatsoever. This wasn't Virgin screwing this guy over. He's a victim of his own stupidity.

Somehow it always seems to come down to the sad little tale of a person screwing themselves and then expecting the company to bail them out.

I feel sorry that this guy is a fool, but the prices were set by Virgin, he signed a contract agreeing to it, then he streamed a radio station to France for 5 hours and he expects what? A puppy? "Oh sorry Mr Consumer, you ran up those charges under our pricing structure, but we love your hair so we'll give you a break?"

I'm also getting that he was an abusive little pri#k when he phoned in to customer support, and thats probably why they told him that they couldn't help him.

People have had good success in negotiating these rates down if their resonable.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by SeeBass

I dont have much sympathy for the guy but I think your analogy is off.

maybe more like buying your Porshe for $10K and not seeing in the fine print that it will cost you a $100 a mile to drive and then taking it back.



I'm just being petty.

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_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.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Why should I have any sympathy for him whatsoever. This wasn't Virgin screwing this guy over. He's a victim of his own stupidity.

Somehow it always seems to come down to the sad little tale of a person screwing themselves and then expecting the company to bail them out.

I feel sorry that this guy is a fool, but the prices were set by Virgin, he signed a contract agreeing to it, then he streamed a radio station to France for 5 hours and he expects what? A puppy? "Oh sorry Mr Consumer, you ran up those charges under our pricing structure, but we love your hair so we'll give you a break?"

I'm also getting that he was an abusive little pri#k when he phoned in to customer support, and thats probably why they told him that they couldn't help him.

People have had good success in negotiating these rates down if their resonable.

If he mentioned it to them before leaving, they should pay out what he owes.