My aunt is one of those people who just has a cell phone for emergencies. She added a line for my cousin. While my cousin was in Jamaica for a couple weeks she lost her cell phone. When my aunt got the bill it was $15,000 dollars. Is that legal?? I mean I have sprint and i've asked for a cap to be put on my phone so I wont go over a spending limit and I've lost my phone overseas and they took off the charges which was like 10 dollars. It would have been more but when I realized my phone was stolen I used someone elses phone to call my best friend back in the states to tell her to call sprint and suspend my phone. (FAST THINKING)
Anyway I think if Cingular saw that this bill was getting really high they should have notified the customer...especially if their average monthly bill is like 49.99
Well I've seen another post about a $7,000 cell phone bill so I guess other people have experienced this! Its starting to mess with my aunts credit score....Any ADVICE???
2007-03-20 08:40:42 · 12 answers · asked by Stephanie D 1 in Consumer Electronics ➔ Cell Phones & Plans
Why didn't she call Cingular to report a stolen phone once it was missing??? If she would have called, they would have suspended her service so the thief could not use it.
Now it looks like she will be liable for these charges. I really doubt Cingular will credit her account because these are Roaming Charges that she is being billed for. And when its Roaming Charges, most of those costs are from the roaming carrier in Jamaica who is carrying the calls....not from Cingular. So the company in Jamaica will bill Cingular for the calls made from the Cingular phone on their network. And since Cingular can't go to that company and get a credit, they most likely will not credit her. In the USA, you would have been able to involve local police to investigate the theft via tracing the calls that were made after the phone was stolen. I doubt the Jamaican police department will offer any assistance with this.
I know it sounds harsh, but if she would have simply called Cingular to report her phone missing, she wouldn't be liable for any of this as no calls could have been made from her phone.
2007-03-20 16:29:30 · answer #1 · answered by Jeff S 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
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2016-08-14 06:48:09 · answer #2 · answered by Edmund 3 · 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.
2007-03-20 08:46:17 · answer #3 · answered by Okaydokay21 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Your Aunt needs to call cingular and report her phone lost or stolen, and explain the circumstances in detail. See if cingular has a security dept. which could initiate an investigation
2007-03-20 08:45:57 · answer #4 · answered by mark747 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Unfortunately it IS legal. I don't agree with it though. I think that phone companies, cell phone companies, credit card companies, etc..are off the charts with misuse of fees and costs.
I am sure something could be worked out..but in my experience, Cingular won't budge.
2007-03-20 08:43:52 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sounds like you are paying for roaming charges which would explain the high phone bill. Why didn't someone call the Cell Phone Company as soon as it was discovered it was lost?
2007-03-27 07:22:43 · answer #6 · answered by Honeyluv 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
eek, I think your aunt should talk to the people at Cingular... That isn't right especially if its really not that high and she doesn't talk on it that much, Jamaican cell charges may be higher than the USA.
2007-03-20 08:44:58 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
its possible if this person who used it was jamaica then you were probably roaming which is alot higher than regular calls. they could have downloaded ringtones. surfed the internet etc. you could call the cingular company and tell them the situation.
2007-03-20 08:45:39 · answer #8 · answered by jack 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
if your cell phone was stolen than you should call cingular and tell them that it was stolen and they might drop the charges.
2007-03-20 08:58:19 · answer #9 · answered by stephen G 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
same thing happedned to my uncle when he went to korea
he lost his phone there and when he got the bill the bill said $1,500ish
so he complained to his provider and they decided to just drop it
which is a very good thing cuz that would suck to have to pay $1,500 in phone bills
2007-03-26 19:41:04 · answer #10 · answered by mauiwaui16 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋