Man Stung by $8,000 iPhone Bill

Eh...... it's teh guy's fault, but I think the company should pull the plug earlier, his regular use was 160 ish... and they waited til 8000 to pull it...
 
Someone explain to me the point of owning a cell phone? The only reason I can see owning a cell phone is for emergency use.
 
NODE said:
Someone explain to me the point of owning a cell phone? The only reason I can see owning a cell phone is for emergency use.
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Because i'm too lazy to find a payphone.
 
And the importance of 3G and a camera?

Wife: Where are you?
Husband: I'm doing overtime at work.
Wife: Is that music? Are you at the bar again?!
Husband: Umm... just some guys playing some lambada on his PC.
Wife: Prove it!!!
<*Incoming Video Call*>
 
SixFootDuo said:
Some of you honestly need to do your home work. The real issue isn't even about this guy or his bill. It's about consumer protection and predatory tactics.

It does not just simply stop at "it's his fault."

Someone even called this guy a douche. I mean god. Really?

Had this man knew 100% before hand that he faced huge huge HUGE fees, he wouldn't have turned his phone on or made other arrangements. Clearly.

It's amazing how logic and common sense are absent here. And I bet anything I could pose another series of questions and get 1/2 of you to contradict yourself at somepoint.

Go google "huge cell phone bill" or something to that effect and you will see this is a major problem. In fact, go take a look at the FCC. You can find thousands and thousands of people, just recently dated who are complaining about this very subject. This is something that's gouging and hurting families.

You have lobbyist out there who's sole purpose is to keep things like this happening. The more deregulation, the better. Right? Wrong.

With all due respect, not to talk down to anyone. I do respect a good opinion. But, this is just a small part of a much larger problem.

And don't think of this man as some faceless person you don't know. Think of him as a friend, a brother, a sister or perhaps even one day, your child. You really think big business should have this sort of reign? And no, I'm not being extreme. You want extreme, use your phone for 120 mins overseas and then get your $8,000 bill in the mail, then pay it off, with a smile no less. And If you can do that and I know no one here would, then that my friend, is extreme.

They didn't allow this type of behavior in the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s. This would have been impossible then.

Predatory business tactics, predatory lending, deregulation, lobbyist. Go google those, do some research, and please, come back and tell me that this guy is a douche after you've done some proper homework.
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I like your style my friend!
 
Snowdog said:
The ultimate cell overcharge was the guy with the $27000 roaming charge, while he was on a cruise ship that hadn't actually left port yet. :eek:
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There was an even bigger charge in europe when a German traveler got hit with a $56k bill watching an episode of 'Lost' while in France (another iPhone user apparently).

Unfortunate for this guy he's not from the EU (and made his trip before July) They've just brought in rules to prevent this kind of thing happening:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10462298.stm

You're limited by default to 50mb, if you want more you have to contact your provider and tell them, then the provider has to tell you the rates. Of course, if people still ring up huge bills after that (and I'm sure someone will), there realy is no doubt about who's to blame.
 
LOL this nutjob deserves it! You are warned about roaming, and also if you are going overseas dont ya think there are gonna be steeper charges when over there?
 
These ppl are so stupid. Do ppl not look into these kind of things when they go travelling? Personally, wherever I go, I just get a cheap prepaid cellphone. If you're looking for internet access, do it in your hotel room. That or hit up an internet cafe.

I have a cheap Softbank prepaid phone for when I go to Japan. Sure, no internet access or email on it, but if I need to get a hold of someone. I'll just call. It's a phone. WTF do I need to email someone for?
 
It's probably confusing to some people. Data roaming should not be possible by default. There's probably plenty of people that go through this and with all the carrier deals and how they handle who is roaming and who isn't is odd to say the least.

Having said that, I thought you got warning messages when you were roaming. I had a friend come from Ireland (he's Finnish) to visit me in CA and his phone worked on the ATT network. He got a message saying he was on the network and something about roaming charges.

Still... data roaming should be off on all phones by default.
 
"Faltous said Boutang used about 130 megabytes over the three days, which is the equivalent of sending 5,000 emails, loading 600 web pages or viewing 100 minutes worth of video."

Which ain't Jack Shit. Shame on them for trying to use 'big' numbers to make it look horrific on his part.

I can do that in a day.

Telecoms are the biggest thing holding back world progress. Pure greed.
 
fattypants said:
If they could have provided him a similar amount of data for $200 if he had changed his plan ahead of time (which was mentioned in the story), obviously the data didn't cost them anywhere near $8000.

This would be like a bank charging you a $7000 fee for overdrafting your checking account.
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I wouldn't use that bank. Surprising right?
 
Quinn1981 said:
It's probably confusing to some people. Data roaming should not be possible by default. There's probably plenty of people that go through this and with all the carrier deals and how they handle who is roaming and who isn't is odd to say the least.

Having said that, I thought you got warning messages when you were roaming. I had a friend come from Ireland (he's Finnish) to visit me in CA and his phone worked on the ATT network. He got a message saying he was on the network and something about roaming charges.

Still... data roaming should be off on all phones by default.
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Data roaming is off on the iphone by default.
 
TechLarry said:
"Faltous said Boutang used about 130 megabytes over the three days, which is the equivalent of sending 5,000 emails, loading 600 web pages or viewing 100 minutes worth of video."

Which ain't Jack Shit. Shame on them for trying to use 'big' numbers to make it look horrific on his part.

I can do that in a day.

Telecoms are the biggest thing holding back world progress. Pure greed.
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lol they should have left the "video" bit out. Web page and emails I can see, but definitely not video.
 
Meh,

It is most certainly the guys fault. There is a warning right below the data roaming slider, that states "Turn data roaming off when abroad to avoid substantial roaming charges..".

I travel to Europe a couple times a year and the iphone does give a warning when you start roaming.

That being said, it should be all carriers policy to cut you off at around $500 bucks or so of pure roaming charges. You should have to call in at that point and request to have the Data Roaming turned on and be read a statement advising of the ridiculous bill you are knowingly about to receive.
 
UrielDagda said:
Wow, it just baffles me when the same people who complain that the government is ripping them off by taxing them have no problem with turning around, spreading their asses, and letting corporations pound them silly.
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Because I have to pay my taxes? I don't have to use AT&T.
 
obs said:
Data roaming is off on the iphone by default.
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For all operators? He must have gotten a message then. I can't see how he has any claim that he doesn't owe to the phone company. :)

My problem with the phone companies is they don't make it clear enough to most people what data is, why and how you get charged for it and ways you can manage your data usage. I know use of data on phones has increased a lot and there will still be many more newcomers to smartphone usage, but I think they have to acknowledge that most people want and expect these digital devices they purchase to be like appliances and have strait forward billing and contracts. They need tiered data plans on all carriers and reasonable charges per meg or kb - even when roaming.

It's seemed like to me that instead of saving money with competition, it's like customers are paying for a coverage and feature war among these carriers/operators. I always feel like every time I go to my Verizon store (I had no issues with Alltel, except their call in support service) I have to get ready to be treated like a dumbass jerk off. The technical part of the service is great, but the person to person service and treatment I receive is absolute bullshit... unless I'm buying something. Then I'm pretty cool.

A long standing $90 a month bill is nothing to sneeze at.
 
Honestly, there is no reason a bill should ever be this high. It should automatically shut off when it reaches an equal amount to the cost of your cell phone plan.

I don't give a damn if you accept all charges and everything else. Why are they allowed to charge exactly 266 times your normal data plan bill?

Even if you accept the charges, just to reiterate how much charges you are accepting, you should be sent updates on your usage and cost of the usage... That would put it into perspective, because not everyone understands what they are reading.

You think it's someones responsibility to understand tech talk?

95% of people i talk to don't even know what 6 cents per kb would even amount to. They would think that's a small charge.

Now use your phone normally and all of a sudden you're paying 8000 dollars for a minuscule amount of actual data.
 
w00t69 said:
Honestly, there is no reason a bill should ever be this high. It should automatically shut off when it reaches an equal amount to the cost of your cell phone plan.

I don't give a damn if you accept all charges and everything else. Why are they allowed to charge exactly 266 times your normal data plan bill?

Even if you accept the charges, just to reiterate how much charges you are accepting, you should be sent updates on your usage and cost of the usage... That would put it into perspective, because not everyone understands what they are reading.

You think it's someones responsibility to understand tech talk?

95% of people i talk to don't even know what 6 cents per kb would even amount to. They would think that's a small charge.

Now use your phone normally and all of a sudden you're paying 8000 dollars for a minuscule amount of actual data.
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What tech talk? If you're outside of the borders of the United States of America, you are roaming on international towers and you will be charged up the ass for it. There's no tech talk here.
 
eh, how hard would it be to program a phone to give a message like,

"Turn data roaming off when abroad to avoid substantial roaming charges, at your data usage rate the cost will be around $2300 per day"

the answer, would take 15 minutes.
 
If the person actually did call Virgin Mobile before going on his trip to EXPLICITLY
inquire about travel abroad and his phone Virgin Mobile bears the great majority.

I mean what does everyone think that a customer service rep is supposed to do. I mean the job description is in the name of their job title.

Google 'Verizon can't do math' sometime to see what I mean. I feel for this guy if the above (that he called Virgin prior).
 
I wouldn't have known it would have been that expensive.

There is a huge difference between saying, "If you turn off data roaming, there will be substantial charges", and saying 8,000 dollars for 3 days normal use. That is ridiculous. That is way more than substantial.

You tell me I am going to get substantial charges when my phone bill is only $100 a month, I could see a $300-500 bill fall under that. But eight fucking grand? That is far more than substantial, and the cost should be adequately reflected in the terms used to describe the price difference.

Don't tell me its going to be substantial and then charge me the cost of a car for using a fucking phone.
 
wow that is insane! the worst is the phone company does not know how to calculate properly other then stealing money from people! one reason I yet to have a cellphone, its ridiculous, if my home phone cost me $30 per month, I expect a cellphone to be cheaper.
 
EVIL CORPORATIONS!!!! QUICK!!! CALL THE GOVERNMENT!!!! THEY WILL SAVE US!!!!


Go international, get an international plan or shut it off. Not a very hard concept to grasp. Again, my 69 year old Father in Law even knows this.

Nobody is responsible for their actions or stupidity anymore... EVIL CORPORATIONS PREYED ON ME!!!! ZOMG!!!
 
Azhar said:
If you're outside of the borders of the United States of America, you are roaming on international towers and you will be charged up the ass for it.
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Pardon my ignorance, but why? I can understand that international roaming will be more expensive than domestic calls, but $8000 for a single person's phone?

Maybe I'm just an average person since I just can't see any reason for being charged an insane amount for a fairly trivial activity.
 
An $8000 phone bill is ludicrous no matter how you slice it! This makes a 2-day marathon with 1-900-hotties look like a walk in the park. The UK has laws against this kind of this BS. Not to mention you can receive calls without your minutes being used. Wow - what a concept! The wireless/cell market in the US is a complete sham. Now with corporations blank check to Washington, I'm sure we'll not ever see any sort of much needed regulation.
 
SockMan! said:
Pardon my ignorance, but why? I can understand that international roaming will be more expensive than domestic calls, but $8000 for a single person's phone?

Maybe I'm just an average person since I just can't see any reason for being charged an insane amount for a fairly trivial activity.
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I'm not saying I agree with the fees. I'm saying there's nothing technical about it when explaining to customers. Ignorance is his own fault.
 
schizrade said:
EVIL CORPORATIONS!!!! QUICK!!! CALL THE GOVERNMENT!!!! THEY WILL SAVE US!!!!


Go international, get an international plan or shut it off. Not a very hard concept to grasp. Again, my 69 year old Father in Law even knows this.

Nobody is responsible for their actions or stupidity anymore... EVIL CORPORATIONS PREYED ON ME!!!! ZOMG!!!
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Remember the story says that he called Virgin Mobile to express his concerns about going overseas and what that would mean in context of his cell phone.

If that is true than Virgin Mobile screwed up. Either your customer service reps provide CUSTOMER service or they don't. Which side of your thick skull is the thinnest so simple concepts can be pounded through?
 
jinjuku said:
Remember the story says that he called Virgin Mobile to express his concerns about going overseas and what that would mean in context of his cell phone.

If that is true than Virgin Mobile screwed up. Either your customer service reps provide CUSTOMER service or they don't. Which side of your thick skull is the thinnest so simple concepts can be pounded through?
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What makes you believe the guy didn't refuse the plan to begin with? His stellar reputation? LOL. He sounds like an ignorant fool in the article that was too lazy to get an international add on, then wants to pretend he was preyed upon by an evil corporation and is now a victim of predatory lending.

What a load of crap.
 
piscian18 said:
I can call bullshit I go over there all the time. Massive warning comes up on your iphone letting you know you're roaming outside their network and can expect huge fees. He accepted it, he's a douche.
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His doucheness began from when he first got the iPhone.

*ducks for cover* :p
 
bacon said:
You are the one who posts twice as much as anyone else in any Apple thread.

Pot>Kettle>Black..:rolleyes:
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Post what though? Irrational anger about how Apple abused me as a child?
 
schizrade said:
What makes you believe the guy didn't refuse the plan to begin with? His stellar reputation? LOL. He sounds like an ignorant fool in the article that was too lazy to get an international add on, then wants to pretend he was preyed upon by an evil corporation and is now a victim of predatory lending.

What a load of crap.
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Didn't say that was the case... Just going by what the story said. Some times you have to resist enjoining in 100% conjecture to have a fact based discussion.

I am assuming that he didn't call Virgin Mobile just because the CSR sounded cute.
 
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