Schoolgirl runs up a £3,800 phone bill

[Still Waters]

A schoolgirl enjoying a dream holiday ran up a £3,800 bill after uploading pictures of her trip onto Facebook with her mobile phone.

She eagerly told friends about her visits to the Empire State Building, Central Park and Times Square and uploaded a series of pictures with her iPhone.

But she was unaware of the massive bill until her father’s bank account - which funded the phone - suddenly went overdrawn after the holiday.

http://www.dailymail...oliday-U-S.html

[rashore]

I don't feel sorry for the girl at all. Quite often phone companies charge for out of country or roaming. And charge for going over limits. It's normally laid out in the plan, and laid out in the contract. I'm pretty sure that normally phone companies have it in the contract what charges are as well.

Unfortunately, a lot of people don't pay mind to their plan or contract.

[Purplos]

I always wonder how and why this stuff gets in the news. If I were her parent, I wouldn't be calling the papers or anything. I would be absolutely mortified that my daughter could be so dumb. Of course, I would've made sure she understood her phone plan before she had the phone too.

[Ashotep]

I can't say that I feel sorry for them and I don't think the telephone company is guilty of extortion. Read your contract, if you don't like it don't sign it.

[Michelle]

If I had children, heaven forbid, they would get a prepaid phone. When they run out of minutes that's it for the month, unless they want to pay for more of course.

[Beckys_Mom]

If I had children, heaven forbid, they would get a prepaid phone. When they run out of minutes that's it for the month, unless they want to pay for more of course.

I agree the pay as you go would be more useful, and not as tempting to go nuts on..

I still don't get why these things make news though... I remember my sister running up my moms phone bill ( Back when she was a kid and cell phones were practically unheard of ) There was this - Cool FM radio call in show, to win chocolate bars, that happen to by my sisters favourite...She got carried away and ran up a large enough bill , not in the thousands, but in around -£200.+ just for one number, this added to the rest of my mothers bill....My mom nearly took a fit..She was reading through the itemised telephone from BT, and instantly my sister said -" Its our Geri, she is never off the phone " ( the lying cow lol ) .

I looked at the bill, and Cool FM phone number all the way down the pages... She had been doing it for several days...She was also ringing in for placing some song request and some other quiz... She didn't think it would add up....In fact she admitted, she never gave it a thought how much that would cost, NOR did she listen to the radio when they say - Before calling, please ask permission from the bill payer... Ha ha not likely..!!

[Kowalski]

If I had children, heaven forbid, they would get a prepaid phone. When they run out of minutes that's it for the month, unless they want to pay for more of course.

If my son wants a cell phone, he can get a job to pay for it, just like me and my husband, had to do, when we were teens. When it's their money paying for their own minutes, they don't do c**** like this girl did. That's just my philosophy, though....

[Sweetpumper]

Talk about a reason to stab your kid 90 times...

[+Link of Hyrule]

It's been said, but I simply have no pity for her. Her parents, a little, but not much. They should have been crystal clear on the costs of International Roaming. Unless the kid was told and defied her parents anyway, in which case she'll be punished (I'd make her earn the money herself to repay it). If the parents didn't inform the kid though, they should simply accept that they should have been more thorough and cop the loss as a learning experience.

However, in some instances, the matter might not be so clear-cut. She was in a different country, so she has no excuse. But a friend of mine was on a three-day cruise down the Australian East Coast. They were out at sea, but still in Australian waters. However, despite this she was unaware that Australian waters doesn't necessarily mean Australian rates, and she was sometimes charged Australian rates, other times she was charged International rates. She appealed to the company and after talking to several reps, they agreed that she was not reasonably expected to know that she'd be charged International rates, and therefore they refunded her money.