California Couple Slapped with $8K Trans-Pacific Phone Bill

Yap, yap, yap, yap. That's all women do. I hope her husband to her to STFU! lol

Call a WHAAA-mbulance for them. Give me a break, if you are to dumb to not think you are going to pay more when you travel toa foreign country, then dont come back. Im sure they will be glad to make you their village idiot. Joe 123 said it the best. Stop blaming everyone else for your dumbass decissions people. Thats what has this contry in turmoil, its morons who try and live beyond their means then expect everyone else to pick up the tab. I think if the company vacates the bill, then the people should be banned from ever owning a phone again.

I go to Indonesia all the time. I can certainly believe the total charge if someone was to stupid to check the costs ahead of time. However, the details are probably wrong. I pay 20 cents for incoming texts, and 35 cents for outgoing. However, talking is $4.99 per minute. The reason is that Indonesia charges a huge amount to foreign telephone companies. For talking on the cell phone, it is the most expensive country I have traveled to - by far. If Verizon forgives most of the bill, Verizon will probably eat the charge to the Indonesian telephone companies

I had a 3 thousand dollar bill from cingular which is now at&t. I asked the sales guy at the store to see if i was covered to travel out of state. He told me yes. When i came back home after a month I had a 3,000 bill. I called cingular and told them the guy told me i was covered. They then told me to get ahold of that guy and have them call her. Long story short, My bill ended up being what i usually pay.

I have worked with cell phones. Everything's in your contract that you sign. If you have trouble understanding your contract, contact the company directly and ask for some assistance. Otherwise, somewhere in there it will discuss the policy on international travel. If you choose to ignore that policy and use your phone abroad, don't complain. You had all of the information and signed the contract saying that you agreed to it. Don't try to blame someone else.

Give me a break with your little tirade. The company's sales people pressure you on the spot to sign the agreement, hardly giving you enough time to thoroughly read the contract that is a mile long. The problem is that once you have signed, you are stuck. How come with so many other documents that one signs, she has the option to back out later and change her mind about what she thought seemed fair if it no longer seems fair? Cell phone companies slap insane fees on anyone opting out later. There needs to be more regulation in the industry.
At any rate, I am tired of reading all of the self-righteous people that post informing everyone that they need to take responsibility. Everyone is so quick to cast stones and endeavor to project some sort of ethic superiority when stories like this are run. I wonder how many of these people help out a neighbor in need or show true responsibility when no one is looking.

I used my cell phone along the Canadian border and was charged hundreds of dollars while up there for 10 days. Then when I went to Argentina, I came back to a $1200 bill and I didn't use the phone. Then when I saw the bill and there was no way the phone could have been used on certain days: 1. I was in an area where there was no service and I didn't use it. 2. I was not in that country, I went next door for a visit. Anyway after checking it out they found out that their local partner, Personal, had been billing me anyway. It took me 3 months to get it straightened out! Then they sent me a special offer, because I was a good customer, buy a new phone and get it free (they would send a check rebate) which they never sent me. Then when I called them 2 months later to ask where the check was and they had billed the full amount to my bill, they said it was my responsibility to contact them because the offer was good for 30 days. (They had never told me) So I told them to stick the phone and I would send back the new phone because I didn't want it. Wow did they do a 360, especially when I told them the State's Attorney would be hearing from me as well. Got it fixed up. Now this month they overbilled me again, I am on a new plan, and they billed me for the old one. Means another call to customer service.....................

Chaz, you must have taken your moron pills today. The sun is brighter now that Kennedy is gone? Are you an idiot? He was a man who was bipartisan, worked with both parties to compromise and believed in healthcare for ALL americans, not just those who can afford it! You are right on about Pelosi, she needs to go, but we need to support the DEMS as much as possible, because after the 8 years of W, there is no way in hades that they can screw us over as badly as we were screwed. I mean the $4 trillion W wasted on those wars we aren't winning and the hundreds of thousands killed and 4000 of our own, that would have gotten rid of the deficit and paid for healthcare for all or to fix the roads, or to secure the border, something useful. If Obama fails, we all go down with him. W tried to do it to us, but hey even McCain is supporting Obama. Tells you something about the man....

Solution: STFU

Hi Everyone,

This is Morgan from the story above. Unfortunately a lot was left out of the story and while I don't have the time or inclination to get into all the details here, I did want to clarify a couple of points raised in the comments:

1) No one is complaining in the article. I simply said "what a waste of money" which it was; but I take responsibility for not reading the contract and understanding international charges. I'm not asking for sympathy or expecting it. A reporter was looking for stories about international cell phone debacles and I shared ours. I'm wasn't whining or looking for sympathy nor looking to get out of paying the bill. Anyway i accept responsibility and am not looking to pass the buck or blame someone else. I just hope that other people realize that these things can happen if you don't take appropriate steps to keep them from occurring.

2) One commenter had it correct. Most of these charges are from the international carriers and Verizon just passes them on. Verizon was able to give us 25% off of the bill which was a big help; but they said they couldn't do any more, and I believe them and am grateful that they worked with us at all. They certainly didn't need to (per the contract as referenced in point 1).

That's it - thanks for sharing your thoughts. This isn't supposed to be a sob story for some hapless couple, it's hopefully a few useful tips with a cautionary tale to boot.

Cheers,
Morgan