rip off charges for exceeding text limit on my son's phone whose contract I pay

Hammyman

grumbler wrote: »

I think this depends on the boy and on the parents. In this case I see some similarity between the boy's and the parent's attitude.

I have never had any problems with my son. And he had got a contract mobile with just 100 minutes p.m. well before reaching 14.

Likewise. I got my 16 year old son a phone on contract. The words of doom were spoken upon its inception and he religiously checks his usage and when he has had to make a call outside of his allowance, he has asked us.

jamespir

Guys_Dad wrote: »

jamespir

"I'm unable to answer my mobile phone right now but if you leave a message the news of the world will email me later!"

You will need to change your signature after Sunday :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

i know thats why i put it there

cazzanorm

What a load of unsympathetic people you are!

I have actually managed to get a refund of half the money from Vodaphone today so it was definately worth challenging.

We are all up against the greed and exploitation of big companies and should fight them when we can.

grumbler

If they really were greedy you wouldn't have got even 10% refund.
What an ungrateful person you are!

Guys_Dad

cazzanorm wrote: »

What a load of unsympathetic people you are!

I have actually managed to get a refund of half the money from Vodaphone today so it was definately worth challenging.

We are all up against the greed and exploitation of big companies and should fight them when we can.

You just can't see it, can you? Yes, big companies can be greedy and exploit people, but they were not at fault in your particular case. Obviously you are a fully paid up member of "it's someone else's fault, always" culture.

You got a result, so you were very lucky and I wish you well for that. But if you can't see that you and your son were 100% to blame for your dilema, then I am very sorry for you and your jaded view of life.

Can't wait till he takes his contract phone overseas and uses internet roaming!!!

T_T_2

So I see that the OP still hasn't come to terms with the fact that her son sent 2000 text messages in a week and that she is therefore responsible for the associated bill?

Can I just ask the OP, what actions have you taken to ensure that this doesn't happen again? Might I suggest that if your strategy doesn't involve giving your son a lesson in managing finance and understanding responsibility that you might want to go back to the drawing board.

There were three parties involved.
1. Vodaphone who want to make a profit (as they are a business)
2. Your son, who wants to text all his mates about naff all because that is what teenagers do.
3. You, who doesn't want to accept any responsibility for her son, because it is expensive to do so.

mobilejunkie

Yep; I'm afraid I'm another unsympathetic punter! What about all those large, exploitative companies who are going bust and putting thousands of people who didn't give irresponsible offspring blank cheques but who are now losing their jobs? Maybe the big exploitative companies simply weren;t very good at ripping off their customers....!??

Not good to see a society degenerating into the "take no personal responsibilty and accuse everyone else" category. If anything in this instance was being exploited it was Vodafone's generosity - and I would normally be the last person to take their side!

redped

cazzanorm wrote: »

What a load of unsympathetic people you are!

I have actually managed to get a refund of half the money from Vodaphone today so it was definately worth challenging.

We are all up against the greed and exploitation of big companies and should fight them when we can.

It looks to me like you're the greedy one. You know your son ran up a huge bill, and then complained about how much Vodafone (not Vodaphone) were charging. Rather than complain about greed and exploitation, why don't you say thanks to Vodafone for refunding half the money you owe them?

malcspring

No sympathy from me i'm afraid. Why didn't you put a cap on what was spent on the phone? You didn''t know you could? Ignorance is no excuse. I would give your son the rollocking of his life and tell him to work the debt off and not be so stupid in future. Blimey. with that amount of texts I am suprised his thumb didn't drop off.

Poppy9

jamespir wrote: »

this is why you dont give kids contract phones

surfbabe10 wrote: »

Look at posts 5 & 10 if they arent sarcastic I dont know what is. Me and op cant be the only ones guilty of getting a contract phone for their child. You think you are saving money by getting a free phone and what you think is a reasonable allowance for texts and calls. I dont think as you put dont think I deserve everything I get neither does op! Unfortunately you live and you learn and dont realise the extent to which your kids can use their phones. I hold my hands up to making a mistake and getting my son a contract one.

Hammyman wrote: »

Likewise. I got my 16 year old son a phone on contract. The words of doom were spoken upon its inception and he religiously checks his usage and when he has had to make a call outside of his allowance, he has asked us.

My 16 year old DD has been on contract since she was 10. In the days of 100% redemption and 12 month contracts it was the most cost effective option. She has never once gone over on her contract by more than £1.

I agree that UL texts is actually a rip off as you usually only get 3000 texts per month but Vodafone did inform me of this when I took out her contract.

Lots of good contracts out there for teens i.e. Tesco 500 mins, UL texts and 500mb of data for £10 a month. You just have to make sure they know they have a limit etc. or else they pay for the extras.