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Oregon Family Receives $19,370 Cell Phone Bill
You've all heard the Iphone bill horror stories and gasped at other outrageously high wireless bill mishaps...Well here's another one.
A family In Portland recently opened their AT&T wireless bill and found this number staring back at them: $19,370.
And you thought your wireless bill was high! The culprits in this particular case are a laptop AirCard and a less than forthcoming AT&T employee.
In July of this year, the Terry Family, of Portland Oregon, sent their son off to Canada with a AirCard equipped laptop so he could email and send photos of his trip. According to the Terry's, they had discussed the service with an AT&T employee prior to purchasing it. The employee allegedly said nothing about international fees, leaving the Terry's under the impression that, well, there were no international fees.
There were.
The Terry's received a mammoth, 200 page bill detailing the international charges that had accumulated with each of the 21 times their son had used the service. The family, who, according to their father has an average monthly bill of around $300, contends that not only were they not told about possible fees, but that AT&T never warned them of their escalating bill. In response, AT&T has stated that they are looking seriously into the matter.
Meanwhile, back in Oregon, we are sure the Terry's are seriously looking into changing service providers. [From: WFTV.com]
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Comments
119
Subscribe to commentsNoahSep 5th 2008 10:32PM
I've yet to hear of a provider offering "no charge international roaming", and I find it hard to imagine assuming as much. Seems like that would be a rather big oversight to go out and buy an aircard to use internationally and not ask about international roaming charges. I just can't fathom that.
blackcoffeenosugarSep 6th 2008 12:56AM
I have to say that this family is either outrageously stupid and naive, lacks of any common sense, or extremely smart and knows that AT&T will have to drop the charge considering the possible negative publicity the case may generate if it goes ahead. I am not a sales person, and don't work in the retailing business either. But I really hate when things don't go the way they want, some customers simply put all the blame on the innocent sales assistants, who feeds themselves on the minimum wages.
LChurchSep 8th 2008 10:45AM
AT&T specifically told me that Canada was NOT considered "international" and was part of the "North America Plan" - so when my mother used her phone on vacation in Canada I got hit with "international roaming charges." It is not unreasonable that someone would consider Canada to be included in a North America Plan, seeing how it's in North America.
The AT&T salespeople will lie to your face and the company, upon hearing this, does not care and does nothing to correct it.
JoyceSep 8th 2008 7:21PM
Some people just don't think to ask about that, because most of the time roaming is free, and if you're not used to dealing with international travel then how are you supposed to know? I think the employee has a responsibility to make sure the customer understands everything, whether they ask or not. No one should assume anything. But the customer doesn't ask, then the employee should volunteer.
news4uSep 5th 2008 10:52PM
What's hard to believe is that the cell phone companies monitor the
activity on your account and could courtesy call you when unusual
activity is going on with your account, but they don't. With my
"former" cell service provider they would call me to sell me a text
plan, which increased the monthly texts that my son could use when he
was approaching going over the text limit on our current plan, but
when my daughter went to the USVI for 7 days and used her cell phone,
my bill for her line went over $1,000.00. I never once received a
call from the provider offering to sell me an International calling plan add
for my acct. It's ridiculous!
c ggSep 9th 2008 5:38PM
the USVI is a territory of the united states.\
so going to the USVI is like going from NY to NJ.
so the rates should not have changed.
unless the carrier is not in the USVI.
JayneSep 6th 2008 12:58AM
HA, nothing new. ATT are the biggest bunch of thieves I have ever dealt with!
atttheivesSep 6th 2008 2:56AM
I hate att, sense they bought out bellsouth my account has been In an uproar. I signed up for service for phone & internet. I gave them my debit card to make a deposit nothing else.
Then a month later att took $90 causing problems with my checking account bellsouth never took money from my checking account.
Att was kind enough to give me my money back, but It was an ordeal to go threw.
I liked bellsouth better, ATT are a bunch of thieves, but I wouldn't go with vonage either they are thieves to, or comcast.
PatSep 6th 2008 6:39AM
I hate to admit this, but I'm 55 years old, a professional and I do get out in the world... but I never would have thought of asking about international fees either. I can imagine the shock that the family had upon opening that bill. Salespeople are always less than forthcoming about items that they sell. I'm sure that the AT&T salesperson knew about the fees and just didn't tell them. I've had the same phone account for 20 years. It has been bought out 7 times. Now it's AT&T and I strongly dislike the service. They did something similar with my son when he started text messaging. My bill went from $225 to $900 one month because they were charging so much for each text. I was not called and knew nothing about the text packaging deals. Also, this year they were charging me insurance premiums for my son's PDA, then when I tried to use the insurance, they said it was not available. WHAT? I had not been told, and had been paying the monthly fees for it! I would love to change providers!
kimSep 8th 2008 11:12AM
GO TO VERIZON, BEEN WITH THEM FOR YEARS AND NEVER HAD A PROBLEM NOT EVEN ONE TIME..MY SON KEPT GETTING SPAM-HE'S 15 HE WOULD OPEN IT, IT SAID "FREE MUSIC OR RINGTONE" DUH....I HAD 90 DOLLARS IN CHARGES; THEY TOOK THEM ALL OFF AND TOLD ME HOW TO HAVE MY SON DELETE THEM AND BLOCK BS TEXTS. VERIZON IS VERY NICE TO DEAL WITH AND FAIR IN COST.
cathySep 8th 2008 12:47PM
I use ATT. I hav ehad a couple problems and they were resolved.
it is important to get a customer service person who has worked with them for awhile. Teh newer younger ones tend to power trip and to lecture. I will not accept that adn weithr move on or speak with a supervisor. It is a big company.
I always ask about international fees.. it's important to ak about features you intend to use on anything.
KathySep 6th 2008 8:01AM
I feel for this family, because I too have travelled abroad with both a phone and laptop and have been unable to figure out the fees to be charged..and \or the services just plain don't work. BUT on the flip side...if the son had a lap top..what about free wi-fi or pay at location wi-fi. When we travel outside the country we have given up on the phone (way to expensive) and just find a wi-fi hot spot to e-mail family, friends, send photos, surf the net and check headlines from home. I can't believe they thought they had to buy an international internet service. Most hotels offer some internet service as well if you can't find a bar, pub, or coffee shop. This has worked for us in Canada, Bahamas, and Europe. and best of all...no fees!
AndreaSep 6th 2008 8:02AM
There are terms and conditions you sign when you start a new service or feature on your account. If you purchase an air card, not only are you adding the air card feature, you're adding another line onto your account with a contract. It is your responsibility to read the contract, and terms of your plan no matter what a sales representative tells you.
As far as monitoring the usage? It's not AT&T's job to monitor your usage. Some companies will let you know your usage as a courtesy but they're not required to and not letting you know doesn't make them a bad business. There are multiple ways for a user to monitor their own usage with both cell phones and air cards. It's your own fault if you text up a storm and never check throughout the month. Same with an aircard.
That said, there's no way AT&T will make them pay the full amount. They'll publicly apologize, waive it, and these people will probably cancel their service, all the while thinking AT&T was a bad company not realizing that they're the ones who didn't read the contract, terms and conditions, plan details and didn't have the presence of mind to check usage throughout the month.
Tip: When AT&T says "Domestic" they mean within the US. They don't mean any country you happen to be able to use your service in.
MIKE MSep 6th 2008 12:01PM
Andrea you must have the worlds best eyesight. Have you ever tried to reaf much less understand the fine print in their contract? Then AT&T denies everything whether it is in print or a discussion with one of their employees. This is normal when you have to deal with as big a bunch of thieves as AT&T.
charSep 8th 2008 10:41AM
ATT. is a rip off,the worst phone company I've ever dealt with,to many incidents to mention here over a 10yr period. such as surcharge, subcharge and robbery, seems there are some ATT employees posting comments on here. what person is so interested in such a big company that they would defend them here. how about a ATT employee
DavidSep 6th 2008 8:12AM
more questions to ask your cell phone representative ..... how much does your service cost you when you access the internet from the phone it self ( Sprint got me and probably a lot others at the start of the internet from the Cell phone for a whooping 3,500 dollars because they don't disclose that the internet acess is also on top of your regular air time usage (unless you ask them first ) Gee thanks Sprint/nextel
EVESep 6th 2008 8:23AM
When someone got our debit card information and charged all kinds of items via internet over the weekend, our bank was courteous enough to call us on Monday and ask about the unusual charges. They didn't have to, but did. They took all the unauthorized charges and overdraft fees off. We were thankful that they called us and questioned us about the charges. That is great customer service. Great job, National City Bank!
blackcoffeenosugarSep 6th 2008 5:02PM
One reason for that is probably because most banks offer so called Internet fraud protection to their customers. If your card detail was actually used online without your permission, your bank will have to cover the loss themselves. I am an HSBC customer in the UK, they have phoned me and occasionally stopped some "suspicious card activities in their opinion" before. I have seem people complaining about this in some forums. I have to say, it is a very fine line between the security and freedom of usage.
LindaSep 6th 2008 8:33AM
I have had nothing but problems with AT&T. I moved and was an existing customer. I ended up cancealing cell phone, broadband and a complete choice business line. As soon as my 3 year contract expires I will cancel the other business line. AT&T is a Joke
charlieSep 6th 2008 8:43AM
A phone company or other people on this blog shouldn't assume that everyone knows about international charges especially the phone company when the charges are so ridiculously high. The customer has a RIGHT to be told of these charges. I'm quite sure no one wants to make a $21,000 bill hoping that they'll get away and not have to pay purposely. It's not worth the hassle. You know those parents or if it was you aren't sleeping at night over this!