English Deutsch Français Italiano Español Português 繁體中文 Bahasa Indonesia Tiếng Việt ภาษาไทย
All categories

One of my daughters lost her cell phone 1 1/2 months ago, she neglected to tell me this until we received a high bill of $600.00. She said she didnt make the calls and I believed her because the calls where made to countries like Peru, Cuba and various other countries. Cingular took the charges off then, but now the next bill is coming through as $7000.00 and the calls are made to the same area and now Cingular is telling us that it is not fraud and that the calls were made from my daughters cellphone and not a cloned phone. They are saying I am liable for the charges, but we did not make these calls. Paying $7000.00 right now would wipe us out financially and I need to know legally am I going to have to pay this money or is there a way for me to fight this? What kind of proof would I need because I never filed a missing or stolen phone report because my daughter didnt tell about the missing phone until after the first high bill came in.

2006-06-15 09:23:38 · 17 answers · asked by RoCkSoLiD009 1 in Politics & Government Law & Ethics

17 answers

first of all call the cell phone company and turn that phone off. End of story. Second do not replace your daughters phone until she has the ability to pay for it herself. Lastly, once the phone is off and no longer able to send you bills outside of the last one, make your daughter pay it back however she is able.

It is a responsibility, not a right, to have a cell phone. especially a phone that is not being paid by the call maker. If that phone is misplaced, for whatever reason, your daughter needed to tell you and/or the phone's company so that service was interrupted. That did not happen. Think of the phone as a credit card. If your credit cared was stolen you would call the company and have the service halted, right? Otherwise charges would be made that you would be responsible for up until you reported it as stolen.

The phone company is not just going to wipe out money off an account, just because you say you didn't do it. What happens if the phone company discovers the phone was not really lost? There would be hell to pay on that.

You would need to just easily call the cell phone company and cancel service for the phone. Yes there will be the end of service/breach of contract delimma, but if a police report also follows there is more to work with. Once the account is on hiatus, talk with a mangerial representative and not the normal person that would call for collection and see what options are available for you.

Isn't any theft over a grand called Grand Theft and a felony? Think about what has been allowed to transpire.

2006-06-15 09:34:18 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 6 1

There should still be a way to fight it because it sounds like your daughter didn't know any better to tell you that she lost the phone -- especially after the first bill came in. If you have any lawyer friends I would say get advice from them. Maybe there is some way you can prove it -- like having the company call her cell and see who responds or something like that that will prove you do not know the person in any way that took the phone. Maybe you should call the number and pretend like you got a wrong number just to see if anyone picks up (make sure to call from a payphone or somewhere where this person can't figure out it is the family that owns the phone). Good luck with that and I hope you win.

2006-06-15 09:30:53 · answer #2 · answered by blink182fan117 4 · 0 0

well it is very possible -- international rates are big... and if she lost it and somone used it for a couple weeks -- do the math what if its 1.50 per minute or more -- and some uses a few hundred or even thousands of minutes.... Cingular has to pay money for to work on other peoples towers -- that's why they charge you. The best thing to do is call cingular right away -- but remember that's a lot of money for them to lose too so they'll do thier best not too -- maybe get a lawyer involved for legal purposes.

2016-03-27 04:52:26 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

Contact Cingular and ask them to send you a fraud packet. If you pay/paid insurance on the phone, you are covered from theft. Proof that it was stolen would be helpful and will bring cingular around...get a police report to them. Good Luck to you, this is just the thing about cell phones, they get stolen, you get run over financially.

2006-06-15 09:26:53 · answer #4 · answered by Chasity 3 · 0 0

and make sure you keep RELIGIOUS records of every email, every phone call to cingular, even go back and retrace all steps and put them in a notebook. i would not pay cingular a dime until the case is settled. find out first if not paying will affect your credit in the case where you do nothing or it does not go to court. a lwayer can consult on this for less than $100. but if you pay cingular kiss the 7k goodbye.

p.s. make sure the exact details of your daughter's part in this are known; if it does go to court you have to have a clear, consistent story. good luck.

2006-06-15 09:32:03 · answer #5 · answered by wyderp 4 · 0 0

You HAVE TO pay the money.
You are legally, financially responsible for this debt.
If you do not pay, you can be taken to court, and incur court costs ON TOP OF the money you owe.
Think about it- if it were that easy to just shrug off a phone bill, everyone would and no one would pay.
This is why some parents make their children pay for their own cell phone.
I think you've learned a painful, but very valuable lesson.
Best of luck.

2006-06-15 09:31:48 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

The company should have deactivated the phone when you put them on notice of the lost phone. If the $7,000 bill came after wards, you have a good argument that it was the negligence of the operator you spoke with that led to the high bill because she failed to deactivate the phone.

Speak with an attorney who deals with debtor-creditor issues. Have him write a demand letter stating that you contest this bill and you are paying them the normal fee and nothing more. Inform them that if they report this on your credit you will file suit.

Let the lawsuit be a last resort because if you file suit, they will force you into arbitration (see arbitration clause in your service agreement).

2006-06-15 09:39:55 · answer #7 · answered by bestanswer 2 · 0 0

Not for nothing but I would see if there is a way they can find out where the calls originated at? Location wise. Most modern cell phones have GPS trackers, it wouldn't be too hard to track it that way or maybe by which towers the phone was using at a certain point. Other than that, you really should have shut the phone # off.

2006-06-15 09:36:35 · answer #8 · answered by Aaron G 2 · 0 0

Wow lousy luck. When Cingular took the first set of charges off they should have asked you then if you wanted to cancel your account. It may take alot of aggrevation and red tape, but I think you can come out of this ok. And I hope your daughter realizes now that she needs to be more responsible. Good Luck

2006-06-15 09:34:12 · answer #9 · answered by sparkie 6 · 0 0

the minute the phone bill came in at 600.00 you should have cancelled the phone instead of letting it rack more minutes on it. Cingular is probably saying it's your fault since you didn't file a stolen phone like people do when they recieve bills of 600.00!

2006-06-15 09:28:50 · answer #10 · answered by abenn09 2 · 0 0

fedest.com, questions and answers