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?!