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Australian Kids Going Bankrupt Over Cell Phone Bills
So much so, in fact, that the NSW government says cell phone bills are to blame for the increasing numbers of young Australians seeking to declare themselves bankrupt. According to a survey conducted by the Office of Fair Trading, the young men and women are, often unknowingly, racking up huge bills.
"Suddenly they have got bills of $3,000 to $4,000 because they thought services they were getting in term of downloads and ringtones, and voting on Big Brother, were free," Fair Trading Minister Linda Burney said.
A survey of 1,000 Australians found 75 percent were "not confident" that their mobile phone premium content provider would address their concerns about a high bill. The OFT has apparently received more than 2,000 phone-related complaints over the past 18 months.
We agree that navigating the cell phone billing maze is awful and evil and all sorts of bad. But at the risk of stating the obvious, might we suggest a little less talking on the cell phone?
From Textually
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Comments
4
Subscribe to commentsMCCCNov 10th 2007 12:54AM
I'm an American that lives in Australia. While, yes, they do talk on cell phones here it is not nearly as much as I have observed in the U.S.; and they don't talk about marsupials, and according to them, we have the accents. Next time, get a little more "meat and potatoes" to the article such as how the phone companies here rarely go over any fine print before signing up customers and the lack of warning to the customers regarding their current usage. But don't represent yourself in the light of being culturally insensitive. Unless you are.
htdsidNov 10th 2007 11:05PM
Thank you. I am an aussie who lives in the US and I would agree that americans definately talk more on their cell phones.
I also have family who have been stung by cell phone companies, either because they didn't understand the fine print, or because they weren't given the correct information. My dad just got a $800 phone bill from being on vacation in New Zealand and he spoke to the cell phone company before he left and they seemed to have forgotten to mention roaming and international charges....
I used prepaid before I left so that I knew that I didn't have to worry about getting a huge bill.
Spooky Snow FlakeNov 11th 2007 10:49AM
MCCC...Please don't sit here and attack Americans because you choose to live in the land of marsupials. Maybe the difference between the Australians and Americans is that WE read the fine print, as most intelligent people do. It appears that for some reason the Aussies neglect to read the fine print and then complain and whine about their bill. TO Bad...Pay Up. Like we do.
DieselNov 11th 2007 1:33PM
I have to agree with MCCC. Its rather insensitive to refer to Australians as having a 'funny' accent. I do not think there was an 'attack' on Americans in that posting. Everyone worldwide needs to read the fine print when signing up for mobile service. Its common sense we all should share, accent or not. I firmly believe that Americans use mobile phones more and more. Even characters on tv and in movies are constantly shown on phones now. I have a very good friend in Australia who rarely calls me direct from his mobile phone because he is well aware of the charges. He uses a calling card which is considerably less expensive.