Does anyone besides me find everything having to do with taking your cell phone abroad to be an absolutely maddening experience?
Photo: FaceMePLS
Despite all the models and service options that exist, there are no fewer than one million frustrations I experience when traveling with my cell phone. There’s SIM card switch out. Roaming fees. Spotty service.
And that’s just for starters.
But I guess I should be grateful that I’m not Alex Dobson.
Dobson, an 18 year old Canadian who traveled to Peru last year, didn’t intend to take his phone with him at all. When he reached into his pocket and realized he hadn’t left it at home, he threw the phone in the bottom of his backpack and didn’t think anything else about it.
That was until he got home and learned that he had a $13,000 cell phone bill.
Dobson’s phone was stolen along with the rest of the contents of his pack. The thief apparently had lots of friends or relatives outside the country. Making calls to the tune of $3.49 a minute, he racked up a bill that eventually totaled more than $24,000.
Though Dobson canceled his cell phone service and reported the theft to his service provider, Bell Canada, the company continued to send him bills for calls the thief was making. After “investigating” the matter, Bell Canada decided that since the situation didn’t involve fraud (huh?), Dobson was liable for all of the existing charges.
And I thought these shenanigans only happened in the US.
Dobson’s mother, though angry, says “If we’re eventually held to have to pay it, we’ll have to pay it.”
Would YOU pay the bill for calls you’d never made? Share your response below.
Community Connection:
Want to forgo cell phones altogether but still need to keep in touch while you’re on the road? Check out “5 International Phone Plans for Telecommuters” and “Pimp Your Skype Experience” to learn more about Voice over Internet phone (VOIP) options.
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4 Comments... join the discussion!
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I live in Canada and I have to say that we are being raped by the minute by all cell providers in the country. My wife is European and she could not believe that we have to pay for incoming calls, never mind how MUCH we have to pay.
We do not have a home phone at all anymore because we are never there, so we pay $300 on an average for our bill. If I were to take it over seas I would have to re-mortgage our house just to postpone our disconnection.I have absolutely no doubt that Bell would try to do that. I have heard many similar stories before. But I would absolutely not pay one penny of that bill either.
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Bell Canada can not run or hide anywhere, when there is the fraud police right in their face. So if it is not my bill,i will never-ever pay for it.
So just say NO, to the lying Bell Canada`s people.↵ -
Tell Bell Canada`s people,NO-WAY that i will pay for a call made by someone that i know nothing about.
I know that Bell Canada thinks that it can do anything that it likes to do with your billing,but Bell Canada can not do what-ever it wants to do with your bills.
Just call the police fraud squad and send it over to the Bell`s payment office with something like a fraud charge.
When the police are in their face,Bell`s people will have no place to run or hide.
I will never- ever pay for a bill that i do not know anything about.
Bell Canada`s people are always trying to make-up fake bills.
So only you the bill holder, can say NO-WAY to Bell`s made-up bills.↵
