4000 minutes in a month on a cell phone bill!!

[J0hnny]

What if your daughter just got a cell phone bill for 4000 minutes?

Let's just say the phone is now smashed and sim card ripped out.

Cruel or justified?

Edit: She's now a freshman in college and just got a job at Banana (she never paid for her stuff before) and she did really use all those minutes.

Oh, and btw, she's not my daughter. She's a friend of mine!

 

[Chaotic42]

Sounds like my cousin.

I'd ground her from the phone for a year. I mean absoultely zero non-essential land-line phone calls.

 

[WhiteKnight]

If I ever have a daughter, she'll be paying her own cell phone bill. Her problem, not mine.

 

[NutBucket]

If they were all billed minutes then yes. In my case, its all cell-cell so no charge

 

[Fingolfin269]

How old is she? If she's old enough to work she's old enough to pay you back and learn a lesson that $hit isn't free.

 

[minendo]

I'd make her pay it.

 

[Ogg]

I couldnt use that many minutes in a year!!!!!!!


Likely justified





Oh and how old is she?:evil:

 

[KillyKillall]

Justified. It sounds like it is about time for her to get a job and start paying for some of her own bills if she is old enough, then she can understand the value of budgeting money and MINUTES.

Have her get something put in her name that she is responsible for and it is a great segway to start teaching some valuable life lessons.

 

[bandana163]

Did she really do it?

I know someone who could accumulate a monthly phone bill of 500-1000$ (until the company cancelled his line), but he was an alcoholic bastard who was hanging on the phone for hours harassing people.
How on earth could a little girl get 4000 minutes? That's like 3 days!

 

[Hossenfeffer]

Go with a pre-paid plan that maybe you chip in a bit for initially but that she has to maintain.

 

[Bryophyte]

I'm afraid to ask how much the bill was.

 

[mchammer187]

just make her pay for the overance charges

 

[Gurck]

That you even have to ask (*whiny sound* 'oh, no! I'm thinking of disciplining my child! It's wrong, isn't it?') is indicative of the lack of discipline which led to it in the first place. People need to raise their damn kids properly :|

 

[ggavinmoss]

Get that girl an MRI, stat!

-geoff

 

[Atomicus]

In a 30 day month, there is 43200 minutes. She used 4000 minutes on the phone. Am I missing something or is she blatantly wasting more time on the phone than compared to putting that time for good use such as an hour a day for studying/reading?

Justified for smashing the phone to smithereens :beer:

 

[vi edit]

When you break it down, it's 2 hours a day which isn't *TERRIBLE*. But if you are looking at a couple hundred bucks in overage charges, then yeh, that's pretty bad.

 

[KillyKillall]

Originally posted by: Vaerilis
Did she really do it?

I know someone who could accumulate a monthly phone bill of 500-1000$ (until the company cancelled his line), but he was an alcoholic bastard who was hanging on the phone for hours harassing people.
How on earth could a little girl get 4000 minutes? That's like 3 days!

Also, they used to have those boxes that could scan phones so someone else could use the number/account or something to run up minutes on someone elses dime. Are those still out there? Is that possible?

Instead of freaking out like many are saying here, I would sit her down and have a responsibility talk with her and make sure to be a FATHER, not a authoritarian rule setting bastard. You can set rules without being the bad guy.

 

[CanOWorms]

maybe she's operating a phone sex line

 

[yukichigai]

Second nomination for prepaid. It will be literally impossible for her to go over her monthly minutes. Though I think it's just shy of criminal that cell phone companies won't prevent you from making calls if you go over your minutes, if you request them to.

I wouldn't have smashed the phone since it was worth money. Confiscated, certainly. But smashing it is a waste.

 

[Bryophyte]

Why would you get her a phone that wasn't pre-paid anyway? I'd do that and make him/her buy the cards with money they earned.

 

[xEDIT409]

ask her to get a part time job. where perhaps she works once or twice a week.

that way, she can get a nextel phone with unlimited everything. ($200/mo)

 

[Viper GTS]

First off, check your bill - Make sure it's actually her fault. Were you on the correct rate plan? Is this a new plan? When I did T-Mobile support we spent a lot of time fixing dealer fvckups (put a customer on the wrong rate plan, etc.).

Second, how old is she, who pays the bill, etc?

Has it happened before?

I saw the full range of cases, from kids @ college racking up multi-thousand minute bills in blatant disregard of their rate plan to dealer fvckups putting someone on the wrong rate plan resulting in their first bill being $1000.

If she was blatantly ignoring her plan limitations (or loaning the phone out, etc.) then make her pay for it. 4000 minutes isn't nearly as uncommon as you might think.

Smashing the phone shows extremely poor restraint on your part though.

Viper GTS

 

[Ketteringo]

Make her pay it before giving back the phone.

 

[feelingshorter]

i wouldnt of smashed the phone, but instead cancel the account until she paid for cancelation fee, and the phone bill

 

[jamesbond007]

Originally posted by: CanOWorms
maybe she's operating a phone sex line

Haha!

Very justified actions, though. I don't understand how girls can talk for so long on the phone. I barely use 100 minutes a month. (total minutes, that's peak and weekend/nights, which are unlimited on my particular plan)

You should tell her that for every 30 minutes she spends on the phone, she has to spend 60 minutes doing homework or reading a book.

How old is she anyways? Not old enough to get a job and pay for her own bills, I'm assuming/hoping?