Jul -- News: Over-texting daughter lands near-$5K phone bill

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Posted on 04-10-09 09:23:59 PM

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All I can say is that she's fucking lucky school's almost over (I think? not sure how it is there).

If it was the beginning of the year it'd be a bit harsh to keep her grounded THAT long, though - I'd probably go insane, quite literally, personally.

I had a cell phone when I turned 15. I'll occasionally shoot a message back and forth with someone, and make the occasional call... but with a prepaid plan it's actually ridiculously cheap with how I use my phone.

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303darthbobby
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Posted on 04-10-09 11:57:26 PM

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Originally posted by Linked Page
That poor phone...How violent! shame on the parents too! That poor phone, its like beating the dog for barking.

Yeah. I think I would've done more than a hammer actually.

emcee
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Posted on 04-11-09 12:08:15 AM

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I made a point of disabling texting on my phone. Without paying extra for an unlimited plan, you actually have to pay if someone sends you a text, even if you don't read it. Having you're bill increase based on other peoples actions is just dumb.

I never really saw the point anyway. If something has a speaker and microphone, and no keyboard, that tells me I should talk into it.

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Posted on 04-11-09 12:09:48 AM (last edited by Xkeeper at 04-10-09 09:12 PM)

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I really can't agree with this unless I know some of the details.

a) Her parents thought texting was disabled. If Verizon said this and didn't actually disable it, that's their fault, not hers.
b) Did they explain to her she wasn't supposed to be texting?
c) Did they explain that it cost money per message?

Given (a), I don't think they did either (b) or (c)... so I really, really can't fault the kid for this.

...except for the grades. But even then, her parents really should've been move involved in this.

P.S. Hiryuu: My family's plan includes unlimited text messaging for like $20, which is a godsend considering... most of the conversing I do with my family is actually via text.

Originally posted by emcee
I made a point of disabling texting on my phone. Without paying extra for an unlimited plan, you actually have to pay if someone sends you a text, even if you don't read it. Having you're bill increase based on other peoples actions is just dumb.

I never really saw the point anyway. If something has a speaker and microphone, and no keyboard, that tells me I should talk into it.

Phones have keyboards, just like the PSP

Just because they're not QWERTY doesn't mean they're still not very capable of entering letters.

As for the charged-to-recieve, well, yes; that is utter fucking bullshit no matter how you look at it.

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Posted on 04-11-09 05:02:30 AM

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Cell phones? Pah. I don't even know how to send a text message, and my average cell phone conversation is 7 seconds.

I resisted getting one until I was 18 and even then refuse to use it because it harms my ears.

I have over 2000 prepaid minutes though...

Shouldn't give a cell phone to a child that young, anyway...

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Posted on 04-11-09 07:40:47 AM

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	Jul Mosts 2009 That's funny...all I saw was DURP DERR DUUUHHHHH when I read that article. My idiot translator must've stopped working. ____________________

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Posted on 04-11-09 03:56:54 PM

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Originally posted by Xkeeper
I really can't agree with this unless I know some of the details.

a) Her parents thought texting was disabled. If Verizon said this and didn't actually disable it, that's their fault, not hers.

Totally true. The parents shouldn't have to pay that bill. Verizon is at the least, supposed to give you a courtesy call after so many texts are sent, asking if you would like to add a plan. The fact that the bill got that high without anything being said is just ridiculous.

Originally posted by Xkeeper
b) Did they explain to her she wasn't supposed to be texting?
c) Did they explain that it cost money per message?

I don't think they did either (b) or (c)... so I really, really can't fault the kid for this.

...except for the grades. But even then, her parents really should've been move involved in this.

I would agree with this, except I totally understand how this could happen. I have a sister who is more than capable of racking up a $5000 phone bill despite all of the above being implemented, and she is 20. If she had a phone at 13, I guarantee you something similar to this would have happened despite my parents explaining every detail to her.

I can totally see a ditzy 13 year old knowing that texting costs money, and knowing that they aren't supposed to be texting, but still doing it constantly just because "it's fun!" Most kids that age have no real concept of money or responsibility. They don't care that they're not allowed to text because "how would their parents ever know?". They don't care that it costs money because "it's not theirs," "their parents can buy anything," and "25 cents per text message is cheap! It's only 25 cents!" *facepalm* The reality doesn't hit them until the phone bill comes in, and even then they whine and make excuses claiming it wasn't their fault and their parents are evil for punishing them.

Kids should not have a cell-phone unless they completely understand that owning a cell-phone is a responsibility. As you said, the parents are at fault if they handed her the phone no questions asked, and didn't explain any of the consequences to her. If, however, they really had grounds to believe that the kid knew what the consequences of her actions were, and would be responsible with the phone, then the kid is at fault for breaking that responsibilty. She should not be allowed to have a phone until she is mature enough to handle one.

It could have gone either way though. If the parents went out of their way to disable texting on the phone, they might not have bothered to explain texting to her since they didn't think she would be doing it. If that's the case, then it's not really the kid's fault. The kid might have thought that texting was free or covered by the plan. However, its not really the parents' fault either, because why bother explaining it to to the kid at all if the feature itself was supposed to be disabled? The fault in this case is solely on Verizon. However, they could have disabled texting because they knew the kid would be irresponsible with it, and were trying to have more control. In that case, the kid would have known exactly what she was doing, and you really can't call her an innocent in this. In either case I can't really fault the parents. It seems like they were trying to be involved, and manage how the phone was used. It's just that certain things happened without their knowledge despite their efforts. You can't really fault them for that. Also, in either case, the kid still behaved in a totally irresponsible manor. Its just that in the first case, you really can't blame her for the bill if nothing was ever explained to her.

Still, in this day an age, usually if a kid knows how to text, then they definitely know whether or not they should be able to text, and that it costs money. I highly doubt that she truely believed that all of that texting was for free. She probably knew that her parents at least WANTED texting to be disabled, and probably thought they forgot and could get away with it. If she really had no idea that her parents wanted texting diabled, then she may be faultless, but in either case, she has proven that she is not mature enough to handle a cell-phone, and should be punished for her irresponsibilty. It's just I wouldn' take a sledgehammer to the phone unless the bill, not just the irresponsibilty, was her fault too. Considering that her parents know more about the situation than we do, and they chose to use the sledgehammer, I'd say that the girl probably knew she wasn't supposed to be texting.

Anyway, regardless of whether or not the girl knew that texting costed money, the fault really lies on Verizon with the bill being that high. Verizon fucked up major on two accounts. First, they should have disabled the text messaging when asked. Second, they should have sent a notice, courtesy call, or something, informing them of their current charges and asking if they would like to add a texting plan, LONG before the bill reached $5000. As far as I know with other verizon customers, that is standard procedure when texting reaches a certain limit without a plan. I really can't see why they wouldn't in this case other than greed.

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