• A Haiti relief worker who took advantage of T-Mobile's aid offer faces a $34,872 bill.
    33 replies, posted
[quote]Kerfye Pierre, a 27-year-old federal government employee, was visiting a pregnant sister in Haiti when the earthquake struck last January. When T-Mobile offered free phone calls to, from and within Haiti, she had a U.S.-based friend get her a phone so she could communicate with friends and relatives in the U.S. while she helped with the relief effort. Imagine her surprise when she found out the service she thought was free actually cost $34,872. It seems that only voice calls were free. Text and data were extra. A lot extra, apparently. On Pierre's regular plan, unlimited talk, text and data are $60 a month. She can perhaps be excused from thinking that a "free" plan would cost less. The Federal Communications Commission is considering new rules to help guard customers against "bill shock" and has voted to open its proposal to public comment. We have all paid a few dollars, or sometimes a few hundred dollars, when we've misunderstood the terms of a contract, used more of a service than we'd expected or ordered the wrong thing. But to be charged the price of a couple of years of mortgage payments for a month or two of phone service that would normally cost less than $100? On what planet is this acceptable? T-Mobile has agreed to cut Pierre's bill to $5,000, still more than the employee of the Federal Emergency Management Agency can afford, CNN's John D. Sutter reported. And Pierre certainly regrets taking T-Mobile up on its offer to help Haitians after the disaster. She told Sutter: We saw it as a really good gesture to the people in Haiti. In the future, I guess I really want to let them know that if they want to do something nice they have to just be kind -- not make profit. You can mislead people easily when people are vulnerable. The CNN story doesn't specify how long a period was covered, how much texting and data were involved, or whether Pierre's own $60 plan would have included "roaming" in Haiti. In the end, it doesn't matter. A cell phone plan should not be a land mine over which you have to step gingerly to avoid being attacked by bills so large you need to take out a second mortgage. Video: Microsoft's foray into phones Stories such as Pierre's are rare, but not rare enough. A Massachusetts family got an $18,000 bill for six weeks of data usage, which was forgiven four years later only after the family called upon the FCC and the media. More common are cases where families receive bills hundreds or several thousands of dollars over what they expected, often because of texting or data use by teens who don't understand the plan. If cell phone companies can provide unlimited data for $29.99 a month and unlimited texting for $5 (or sometimes nothing), they certainly can figure out a way to charge a reasonable amount for people who use more of the service than they had expected. The FCC will collect public comments for 60 days before voting on the proposed new rules. This is the basic proposal, as reported by Chloe Albanesius of PC Magazine: The proposed rules are three-fold. Wireless carriers would be required to notify users -- either via text message or voicemail -- if they are about to go over their allotted monthly voice minutes, texts or data. Alerts would also have to be sent out if users are about to rack up excessive international roaming charges, and mobile providers would be required to clearly post information about usage tracking technologies they offer. As FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said: "It's a simple idea. People should be told that they're risking extra fees before they incur them." But passage of the new rules is not assured. The industry opposes them, and several FCC commissioners expressed skepticism this week that new rules are required, Albanesius reported. The FCC should avoid "interfering with the host of applications and innovations to help people manage usage," Commissioner Robert McDowell said. "The reality is, businesses pass on their costs to consumers."[/quote] [url=http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SmartSpending/blog/page.aspx?post=1816391&_blg=1,1816391]Source.[/url] Doing this should definitely be illegal, lying to customers in need and taking advantage of them.
it was probably in the contract she signed that said text and data weren't free, so technically she is responsible for those bills, however clearly she wasn't totally notified and the bills should probably just be dropped unless t-mobile wants to look like a total DICK
Here's where I'd put an extremely witty pun about phones.
I bet she was crushed when she saw the bill
I'd shit my pants if I ever got a bill like that.
holy shit, almost 35k$, t-mobile reduced it by 30k$ but it's still ripped off like fuck
[QUOTE=tomoom165;25426535]Here's where I'd put an extremely witty pun about phones.[/QUOTE]"You owe us $34,872 for all those text messages!" "Can you hear me now? Good, NOW PAY UP!"
Since when did Bobby Kotick own T-Mobile?
[QUOTE=luck_or_loss;25426820]Since when did Bobby Kotick own T-Mobile?[/QUOTE] It was technically a mistake on her part for not asking what free meant
I'd Haiti to get a bill that large, I'd quake that straight to court.
This annoys me. If you're dumb enough to just sign a contract without reading it you deserve this. Stop blaming the fucking company when you're stupid enough to fall for this. Now if T Mobile had a clause in saying we can change this whenever we want, take it to the FCC or whatever. But its her fault she didn't read it she deserves to pay it all.
Have you never made any mistakes dark?
What are you naive? Of course he has.
[QUOTE=darkrei9n;25427941]This annoys me. If you're dumb enough to just sign a contract without reading it you deserve this. Stop blaming the fucking company when you're stupid enough to fall for this. Now if T Mobile had a clause in saying we can change this whenever we want, take it to the FCC or whatever. But its her fault she didn't read it she deserves to pay it all.[/QUOTE] Did it say in the contract "In event of Haitian earthquake, we will offer UNLIMITED FREE CALLS but NOT DATA OR TEXTS" Something tells me it didn't.
[QUOTE=darkrei9n;25427941]This annoys me. If you're dumb enough to just sign a contract without reading it you deserve this. Stop blaming the fucking company when you're stupid enough to fall for this. Now if T Mobile had a clause in saying we can change this whenever we want, take it to the FCC or whatever. But its her fault she didn't read it she deserves to pay it all.[/QUOTE] what do you mean we cant financially ruin your life? it was in the fine print.
[QUOTE=Eluveitie;25428909]What are you naive? Of course he has.[/QUOTE] Then why is he like "fuck this bitch fuck her life she made a mistake"
[QUOTE=darkrei9n;25427941]This annoys me. If you're dumb enough to just sign a contract without reading it you deserve this. Stop blaming the fucking company when you're stupid enough to fall for this. Now if T Mobile had a clause in saying we can change this whenever we want, take it to the FCC or whatever. But its her fault she didn't read it she deserves to pay it all.[/QUOTE] Companies should not be allowed to hide behind legalese.
Oh they reduced a 35,000 bill to 5,000, when they claimed it was free for those helping and in Haiti What saints they are
[QUOTE=Tetracycline;25426850]It was technically a mistake on her part for not asking what free meant[/QUOTE] Because free can also mean "Really Fucking Expensive" :downs:
i guess she got T-Bagged
what a bunch of greedy dick heads. that's alright they'll probably go out of business sometime in the future.
[QUOTE=BANNED USER;25430614]Because free can also mean "Really Fucking Expensive" :downs:[/QUOTE] They said free but were assholes and didn't specify what was free, and they may or may not be able to hide behind such reasoning, even though that's the most asshole thing ever
Phone calls do not equal text or data. Is it a dick move? Yes. Are they in the wrong? No.
[QUOTE]When T-Mobile offered [B]free phone calls[/B] to, from and within Haiti[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]It seems that [B]only voice calls were free[/B]. Text and data were extra[/QUOTE] She deserves the bill.
[QUOTE=Captain Proton;25426526]it was probably in the contract she signed that said text and data weren't free, so technically she is responsible for those bills, however clearly she wasn't totally notified and the bills should probably just be dropped unless t-mobile wants to look like a total DICK[/QUOTE] Actually there's significant precedent in courts for the "nobody reads those things" defense. In other words, if there's a reasonable expectation that the customer didn't read the fine print, and there's something ludicrous hidden in it, it can't be enforced.
[QUOTE=Antdawg;25432610]She deserves the bill.[/QUOTE] Yeah I mean what a great life it'd be, having to skeptically read every last bit of purposely confusing fine print in a multi-page contract just so you don't get fucked over by somebody who profits from fucking you over. Bitch deserved it :arghfist::downs:
When they say 'Free Calls to and from Haiti', what part of that mentions texts or internet access? It's not a case of not reading a contract thouroghly, because it blatently fucking says Free Calls right there, and it does not say free texts or internet. I don't even think T-Mobile are assholes for doing it, virtually every contract company has a 'stop' point, where you can tell it to stop you making calls/texting/going online if you go more than X amount over, and if you must do it then you can text them and they will remove the block.
Texts and internet access are not calls, that's not difficult to figure out.
Regardless of her faults, the bill is absurd. They supposedly bumped it down to 5000 but that still ridiculous. They should just let it slide.
fuck phone companies in general
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