my son ran up his cell phone bill ouch!!!! with texting!!?

Question

my son ( he is 14 years old) ran up his t-mobile cell phone bill to almost $1000 dollars, he used the aol bulletin text messaging . he swears up & down he wasnt aware his phone was getting charged since he was actually on-line via the computer & he says must of accidently clicked a button that said to send his messages to his cell also. & now they are holding my mother since it was under her contract responsible. Is there anything at all to do to get out of paying such a ridiculous amount should I see a lawyer. T-mobile the worst cell Co. ever dosent even care that we have been with them for over 4 years & that we never had this happen before. Like I asked does anyone know the best way to handle this situation? Signed wheeping nikki :(

Answer 1

" Is there anything at all to do to get out of paying such a ridiculous amount "

The truth is that he did used the cellphone, it's not like it was stolen or something like that.
Why would you want to see a lawyer about that? Just pay the bill and change plans/carrier. This should be a lesson for your son to be careful about what he is doing.

Answer 2

unfortunately they will give you the song and dance about how since the phone was in your posession you are responsible for all the charges. so you need to keep calling them over and over, the customer service can really vary from time to time -- some are nice, some are nasty. ask to speak to the customer service manager. they should be able to give you leeway because your son made an honest mistake. say that he'll never do it again. in the meantime have all the text messaging and internet blocked on all the lines -- who needs it anyway. I went through the same thing with verizon but it wasn't that much and so i just paid it and had all the additional features blocked so it wouldn't happen again. if you still can't get through to customer non-service then you will have to write a letter explaining what happened, and also threaten to switch over to another cell phone carrier. stupid cell phone companies, you have to keep fighting though, I've been there, done that. whatever you do, DON'T PAY it.

Answer 3

i am so sorry that it happened but i really dont think that there is anything you can do because they would say that you are responsible for him and you should know what he is doing. you might be able to get the amount knocked down if you switch to a plan that would up youre texting. i would say that you should change cell phone providers and go to one with unlimited texting. also get youre son a phone that he can only text no internet that way he cant make a 1000 bill again. as well as make sure that he takes off the option on his computer.

Answer 4

Well first off I do not believe you can just hit a button on your computer and it does something to the cell phone. I do not have a cell phone but I know your son had to be text messaging to friend or sending emails to his cell phone.

Your son was most likely using his cell phone alot. I would get a flat rate cell service. 1000 minutes a month or 500 minutes and restrict his use.

For a 1000 bucks I could be on my land line phone 24/7

I have a flat rate of $40 and I can talk as much as I want.

You need one of those buddy plans.

Check them out and other than that just pay your bill.

On the cell phone you get change coming or going.

Remember that too.

Answer 5

hey nikki,

you should see a lawyer or anything like that, what i would advise is to get the unlimited text messeging and the intertnet data plan which should cost about 30.00 dollars that way the same problem is not to occur again. the data plan is unlimited internet use so the aol bullentin messeging wont add extra cost. the data plan varies from phone to phone for blackberrys it cost more than a sidekick. i hope this helped some i hope everything goes well dont blame him i mean all that online stuff is confusing and you know how phone companies are cheap and do anything to take advantage of you.

Answer 6

Boy that is rough, not sure about your case. However, if you really feel like you are in the right here you can go to Planetfeedback. This is a good place to start. A useful place to go as they help you write emails to companies that you feel have wronged you or have done well. I have found it a good tool and the letter email I wrote to Bell as I was unfairly treated and next day I got a call from Bell and they worked things out with me. You have to sign up but it can be worth it for your cause. I am not the owner of the site just someone who got help from them.

Answer 7

I had a similar experience with them when my step-sister's cousin "borrowed" my step-sister's phone and ran up the bill to $1500. Unfortunately there was no way out of it and we ended up just paying the bill. From what I can tell by your story, getting a lawyer will only just waste more money by paying them, since you signed the contract to get the phone.

Answer 8

if it truly was the first time this has happened, you should be able to call somebody and tell them that you had not be told of the fees and you should at least get som money off because if you had been informed of the fees you would have put a spending limit on you sons cell so that this would not have happened, you gotta get dirty sometimes .......mention the fact that you will report them to the better business bureau and the local news

Answer 9

We got unlimited texting for my daughter(14). She signed up for one of those jokes of the day off the t.v, and thought it would be free since she has unlimited texts. But it wasn't of course, so we called Alltell (our provider) and explained it all and they credited our account for the whole amount, and told us how to stop the texts from coming in. I would keep after the company. Even if they credited you some of it, it would help. Good Luck.

Answer 10

For a minute there I thought you were my mom.... some plans have cheaper ways of texting or you can simply call your service provider and have them prohibit texting from your phone.