Chances are, if you have a mobile phone and/or kids in your house, you too know what it’s like to receive a very scary phone bill.
I read a story recently about how one 10 year old girl managed to spend $500 on iTunes in just two days without her parents’ knowledge or consent, and was reminded of a similar incident in our household, concerning a very scary phone bill …
A few years back, the hubster was issued a smart phone for work purposes. At the time it was all a bit of a novelty – not just for him, but for all of us. Although we’d had mobiles before, this smart phone thing was something else entirely!
Miss 18 – who was probably about 14 at the time – was particularly enamoured with this new way of linking up with the net, and often “borrowed” it (that is, not necessarily after seeking out permission) to have a play.
Now the hubster wasn’t particularly worried; he’d had a work mobile before, and knew it was standard practice for his employer to block certain services, such as Facebook and YouTube.
Until our daughter revealed she actually COULD go on Facebook on her Dad’s new phone. Of course, he insisted that she show him – and she was right.
Concerned, the hubster checked with work the following day, and was assured that the phone had been set up in accordance with company policy.
A couple of weeks later, he again raised the issue – specifically mentioning Facebook – and again was assured that it was not a problem. And so it continued …
You guessed it. A few weeks later the first very scary phone bill arrived in his department. Miss 18 had managed to rack up over $3000!
Of course his employer – and the hubster himself – were horrified! Could this mean the sack?!
Fortunately our story has a happy ending (for us anyway). There was a paper trail a mile long to prove that the hubster had attempted to raise his concerns a number of times, so we didn’t have to foot the bill. Whew!
Do you have a story of any scary phone (or other) bills?!
$3000!! Wowsers! How did that happen with FB? 4 years isn’t that long ago and it doesn’t use up that much data surely?! That’s crazy (but mildly funny, only cos you didn’t have to pay!). This is why I have prepaid $20 a month just in case the kids turn off Wifi and go nuts! And they’re only 4 and 2! Haha.
Hi Haidee, amazing isn’t it. At the time I was on a phone plan where Facebook was free, so I didn’t think anything of it … til we found out about the bill!
Wow $3000!! That is scary! What an awful shock! Thank goodness you didn’t have to pay.
Oh wow how lucky are you guys! I remember lots of scary phone bills when I shared a house as a student many moons ago before itemised bills! We had a book by the phone to record the date, time and duration of the calls. That was scary on so many levels. We were all just out of school and being supported by our parents. Scary how long ago it was now too! Much too scary to say 😉
A couple of my kids managed to make phone calls in the range of hundreds of dollars. They’d get my phone late at night and talk to their friends for hours without me knowing until I got the bill. $3000 takes the cake though.
I have a similar story. When my hubby first got his iPhone he racked up over $2000 of data usage. He was watching youtube videos on his phone when he was bored sitting in his Cab at work! Silly bugger!!
well i live in the us so most of my horror stories come from health insurance “misunderstandings” where they say they will cover you and then don’t. we have ended up in collections and it’s humiliating.
Oh. My. Gosh! Yes, I have a similar story. My now 24 year old got his first phone in his early teens. He racked up a bill of $1,000 in texting. Yes, a grand. Tmobile was not as sympathetic as I hoped they would be, but they let us pay in in segments. Hilarious … now.
Love this post. Made me smile and remember those days when my kiddo was home.
We have had a few big bills in our time. Many we have got the phone company to credit as they had not followed our instructions. At one stage Mr TG was ringing Telstra nearly every month to have stuff removed that appeared on the teenage son’s bill. I think the phone companies hope you will give up after waiting on hold for ages. It became a matter of principle when we had already requested the services be barred. We did have an overseas roaming one that from memory was over $3k removed too owing to them misleading us.
That is definitely a horror story! I remember when data wasn’t even included in phone plans and you had to purchase something separately (which always felt like a dangerous trap) or pay through the nose. It wasn’t even worth using! SCARY.
In my teen years, smart phones weren’t around (and now I feel old). My mum put me on pre-paid and I had to use pocket money for credit. Sadly for her, our issue wasn’t financial. It was the fact that my phone came with a free for 20 minutes after 7pm at night factor. My friends (even boys) and I would talk for 19 minutes, hang up and call each other back at all hours of the night – oops!!!