$85,000 cellphone bill shocker

[PMedMoe]

Just had to post this to show how people continue to not be responsible for their actions.

Article Link

Downloading music and movies onto a computer using a mobile phone racked up a jaw-dropping $85,000 phone bill for a Calgary man.

Piotr Staniaszek said he's outraged Bell Mobility allowed his cellphone bill to skyrocket to a "ridiculously huge" amount in six weeks without alerting him.

"I'm going to try to fight it -- it never should have gotten that high," said the 22-year-old well tester, adding his typical monthly mobile bill is $150.

"They should have let me know when my phone bill started going up."

What, you didn't read the fine print?  You think Bell should let you know how high your bill is getting?  :
That's it, next time my long distance cost gets too high, I'm going to call Bell and demand that they reduce it as I didn't know it would cost so much!!! 

Idiots......

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Downloading music and movies onto a computer using a mobile phone racked up a jaw-dropping $85,000 phone bill for a Calgary man.

The first thing Bell should do is pass his download habits to the CRTC..............85,000 might not seem like that big of a deal then.

 

[geo]

Yeah, read this story in the paper this morning.  This BOZO used his cell as a modem to connect to the internet.

I believe Bell dropped the bill down to something like 6000$ ... again a bigf hunk of change for a fella who is aparently unemployed.


When the good lord was giving out BRAINS, the fella thought he said TRAINS and said he'd catch the last one......

 

[c_canuk]

I have done exactly what he was doing in the past.

Aliant in conjuntion with Bell partners used to provide a 100 dollar/month unlimited data plan, they have since discontinued this service on the activation of their highspeed data system (old was 250Kbps, new is up to 7Mbps) unfortuatly they are now charging $100 for 8MB.

it was a good service for when wired connections were not possible, or when on course as getting connected would cost as much with fees and take at least a month.

I doubt they changed his plan without informing him, but that could be an explination in which case I also would refuse to pay.


EDIT:

Just read the article... he's a bozo... My phone emulates an air card like adding a real cell modem to your laptop via USB... I don't know how he managed to get his phone to do that since he would have needed dial up settings and information to do this... he must have hacked the phone to get it to do this if it works like mine did.

 

[ModlrMike]

While you can't protect everybody from their own stupidity, I do agree that Bell should have done something. After all, when his account went from $150 to $85000 in a single month, it should have set off alarms somewhere. I'm not saying he shouldn't be responsible for his actions, just that there's a certain amount of due diligence to be exercised by the company as well. Credit card companies do it, my cell phone provider will call if I make long distance calls from unusual locations... why can't  Bell?

 

[JBoyd]

The first thing Bell should do is pass his download habits to the CRTC..............85,000 might not seem like that big of a deal then.

The last I heard is that the courts ruled that downloading music (don't know for sure about movies) for personal use was not illegal within Canada. My information is a few years old, although I have not heard anything contrary, Has that changed recently? Anyone know the outcome of The Minister of Industry's Bill entitled “An Act to amend the Copyright Act” that was scheduled for last Monday the 10th?.

 

[Roy Harding]

While you can't protect everybody from their own stupidity, I do agree that Bell should have done something. After all, when his account went from $150 to $85000 in a single month, it should have set off alarms somewhere. I'm not saying he shouldn't be responsible for his actions, just that there's a certain amount of due diligence to be exercised by the company as well. Credit card companies do it, my cell phone provider will call if I make long distance calls from unusual locations... why can't  Bell?

There's something to be said for that.  As a business man, I keep an eye on the rising tab of some customers, and inform them when things are going higher than expected, or higher than what I deem "reasonable" for the client in question (I make custom furniture, and charge a small mark-up on materials I get wholesale.  My materials estimates are based on the last purchase I made of a specific wood - prices can fluctuate WILDLY, especially the exotics).

It's a foolish business that allows a client to get so deeply into it that repayment becomes burdensome to the client.  This is strictly a business/financial concern - morals have nothing to do with it.

On the OTHER hand - clients ARE responsible to pay for whatever goods/services they receive, no matter how foolishly they may have used the service.

 

[JBoyd]

I know cellular providers are a far cry from credit card companies, but I know that Capital One for instance has red flags go off if usage on the account is 'abnormal'. This gentlemen should of verified the cost of use before using the phone as a modem, but perhaps some sort of alert system with cellular companies would be good. Or perhaps they already have a fraud alert system that monitors accounts for unusual activity? 

When I first had a cellular phone it was through Telus, and I remember recieving a call on my home phone to verify that I was making a number of long distance calls on my cellular phone.

 

[PMedMoe]

This gentlemen should of verified the cost of use before using the phone as a modem

He probably had a contract or terms of use/service which he never looked at.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Same here, Visa calls me to confirm any odd charges.

 

[Shamrock]

They probably did try calling him but kept getting a busy signal.

 

[PMedMoe]

They probably did try calling him but kept getting a busy signal.

 

[retiredgrunt45]

Well I must say that even though this person seems to be a bit on the tech deficient side, Bell should have tried to contact him by other means. $85,000.00 is really kind of ridiculous when you think about.

Last winter I lost my cell phone in a mall parking lot, unbeknowist to me some one picked it up and made several long distance calls from it. I didn't know it was gone until I needed it the next morning and it wasn't there. I only use it occasionally and it usually stays in my coat pocket

I immediately called Rogers upon discovering it was gone the next morning and told them what happened. They flagged my "Sim card" and asked me what time I has lost it, since I didn't know exactly, I told them what time I had been at the mall and what time I had returned home and that somewhere in between those 2 hours it had been lost.

The next day, they phoned me back and told me that 2 long distance phone calls had been made from my number from between the times I had gave them and told me I would not be charged for these calls, even though I couldn't verify exactly what time I had lost the phone. Since I never used my phone for long distance, Rogers gave me the benefit of the doubt and never charged me. They even sent me a new phone and Sim card and only charged me 1/2 price for the phone.

Bell is well known for its shoddy customer service, they should have known well before hand that something was wrong and acted accordingly. Even though this person seems to be a bit on the daft side, this doesn't exempt Bell from it's responsibilities to protect their customers. And what makes it even stanger is this was done from one cell phone, something as out of the ordinary or even suspicious as this should have been flagged well before it had got to this point.

 

[beach_bum]

They probably did try calling him but kept getting a busy signal.

That's exactly it. 

 

[IN HOC SIGNO]

When I was on Incremental Tasking in Borden in 2000 I got a landline from Bell and a long distance plan for $20 a month unlimited calling. I did this because I wanted to stay in touch with my wife and young kids every night.....the first two months went fine and then imagine my surprise when my 3rd billing was a whooping $600! 
I called Customer Service and asked what gives and they responded that they had changed my calling plan and they no longer offered the plan I was on because they were losing too much money. I was never informed and she admitted that they had neglected to do that and reduced my bill to the $20 as a "goodwill gesture".....the next week I had the line disconnected.

 

[PMedMoe]

Bell is well known for its shoddy customer service

Don't even get me started......

Shoddy would be a polite description from me. 

 

[Pea]

This has all made me think.. I had a bit of a situation with a large cell bill a short while ago, which seemed quite unexplainable as to how it reached the amount it did. I ended up cancelling my plan with Bell and switching to a Telus phone. But now I am thinking I need to look a little closer at the bill and whether or not it was actually correct. (I was in BMQ at the time, and didn't have time to really deal with it all) In my 2 years as a Bell mobility customer, I had nothing but crappy service. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.

 

[riggermade]

I hate Bell but here in Pet for landline we are stuck.  My parents live 50 km away and in Pet it is ling distance and in Pembroke it a local call.  Sort of stuck for high speed as well but my cell is Rogers, no too impressed with their customer service either but they are an alternative.  Canada has to smarten up and get some more competition out there for these big companies.

 

[patt]

honestly i think rogers is a joke. a little funny story that happend.. id get my cell phone bill as usual and on it says thats its prepaid once the date that it's supposed to be paid by comes rogers gives me a call sayin that my cell phone bill hasnt been paid. i was like WTF! tryin to tell the lady on the phone that my bill says its already been paid, her basicly calling me a lier saying that the computer she is useing says i havnt payed a dime. then finally i ended up speaking with the supervisor that had some common sence actually took time to check whats going on. he told me that i deal with Scotia bank...um no i dont never did. His next words were oh ****, yea they were paying my cell phone bill with someone elses account. in the end they paid my cell phone bill because they messed up big time and i told them that they really should find the dude who messed up that big before they get a law suit on their hands when the owner of that account finds out.  I talked to a few people about this and well this wasnt the first case, probably not the last.

 

[riggermade]

XFire

You aren't dealing with the swiftest people in the world here with Rogers either...I know from experience as well