Wow, $1067 bill on cell phone

[OldAgePensioner]

I moved to SF with a Chicago 312 area code. When I bought the phone it was all, no roaming fee, unlimited calls both local and natinwide.

I got a $1036 bill today from T-Mobile because I had a 312 area code in SF.

Is this real or should I sue?

T-Mobile you just ate some last time dust. Never again.

First thing tomorrow, corner of 3rd and Market, your shop will have an irate customer and turn in their phone.

 

[poboy]

OAP, some voodoo, witch doctor, gay rights activisthigher power in San Fran is telling you to get out of there.

 

[OldAgePensioner]

Some body is telling me to stop buying American goods and services.

I am on that theme.

F America. Buy nothing, reduce tax burden, avoid taxes.

Really good advice.

 

[Brat]

I would go to a local sales office of T-Mobile and ask them to explain the bill. After all your are only visiting SFO, right? Ask them for a copy of your contract and explain how it is that your bill is correct.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I've regularly used my t-mobile phones all over and never been overcharged at all.

You arent roaming are you? Perhaps theres some additional fee for roaming and you've just locked onto someones signal where you are. Most phones can be forced to use the 'home system' only.

 

[OldAgePensioner]

CnFB don't know but I'm going to T-Mobile in about 45 minutes and get some answers.

 

[astromeria]

Aha, perhaps those bums you photogrpahed were respectable folks ruined by cell phone bills...$1000/month might put me in the gutter

Good luck--hope it was some sort of error.

 

[justin]

It couldn't be the 346.48 minutes of 1-900 calls to dirty talking women charging you @ $2.99/min.

 

[OldAgePensioner]

Well here's the outcome, I owe the $1067. At no charge they gave me 1000 minutes instead of the 600 I had and I don't have to sign the normal 3 year contract. She made the 1000 retro in this billing period cause I was over and she gave me an additional 350 minutes this month till I get settled with the moving thing.

My plan is to get a regular phone as part of my RCN package and then go without a mobile after using up the 350 minutes + 190 I still have or 540 minutes.

The bill with all tax and bull stuff was $48 so I figure in 2 years I'll be even.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Sounds like you worked a pretty good deal.

I'm tied to a cell phone as long as I am taking call and working, but I really like the Corona ad once I'm FIREd; goes something like this:

Man and woman sitting on beach reading, you are behind them.
Beeper goes off, man slowly retrieves beeper, looks at it.
Woman slowly turns head to look at man.
Long pause.
Man tosses beeper into ocean.
Both return to reading their books.
Sip of Corona.

 

[LovesLife]

.

 

[justin]

Well here's the outcome, I owe the $1067.

So you still owe the $1067?

 

[uncledrz]

OAP
this just doesn't seem fair, or I'm not understanding what happened to you. We have Alltel, travel all over, and never get charged for roaming. Why did they charge you. Just doesn't seem fair to me.
Uncledrz

 

[LovesLife]

So this was the type of plan that while you were making calls within your area (312) regardless if it was local or long distance you were not charged roaming.

However, if you made calls outside of your area (home base of 312) you were charged roaming, even if the call you were making was local to SF.

 

[MJ]

Sounds like a rotten deal.
Will your TMobile be any good if you decide to travel abroad for long periods of time?

 

[OldAgePensioner]

Uncledrz, LL
when I got the phone I still remember the salesperson saying you have unlimited long distance calling. Well their "Unlimited" means you have however minutes of anytime for long distance and then it gets charged at some outragious rate.

I had to make a lot of calls during May and went over my 600 minutes.


vagabond,
I'm not even sure if my phone will work overseas. I'm going to Europe later this summer and I'll try using it.

 

[sailor]

I'm not even sure if my phone will work overseas. I'm going to Europe later this summer and I'll try using it.

OAP,
If it's a tri- or quad-system phone it should work, but you need to login to your T-mobile account on the web (or call them) and enable international calling.
I've been pretty happy with T-mobile international coverage and their rates are competitive (although it doesn't mean cheap and since you used your 600 minutes in May you might get a pre-paid SIM instead in the country you are going to)
So far I think I tested T-mobile in Fiji, Australia, Egypt, Czech, Netherlands, UK, France, Ireland, Poland, Germany and Italy.

I'll let you know next week if if works in Greece, the Sailors are going sailing around Cyclades

 

[OldAgePensioner]

Thanks sailor,
well with you going off sailing all the time, I have a question if you don't mind. I have tried mightly to simplify my life but I seem just swamped by paperwork.
Leases, phone bill, cable bill, hospital bills, insurance documents, brokerage, bank, rental furniture, tax notices, tax audits, on, on, on.

I open my 6 in x 6 in mail box and it's nearly full.

How can you leave for long periods and survive the swamping?

 

[AltaRed]

OAP,
If it's a tri- or quad-system phone it should work, but you need to login to your T-mobile account on the web (or call them) and enable international calling.
I've been pretty happy with T-mobile international coverage and their rates are competitive (although it doesn't mean cheap and since you used your 600 minutes in May   you might get a pre-paid SIM instead in the country you are going to)
So far I think I tested T-mobile in Fiji, Australia, Egypt, Czech, Netherlands, UK, France, Ireland, Poland, Germany and Italy.

T-Mobile worked very well for me Intenationally. Most of my co-workers who travelled almost everywhere in Europe and Asia had switched to T-Mobile over the last few years. I never did check what the costs were....the T-Mobile invoices went to some accounts payable clerk and I never saw the charges.

 

[dory36]

Thanks sailor,
well with you going off sailing all the time, I have a question if you don't mind.  I have tried mightly to simplify my life but I seem just swamped by paperwork.
Leases, phone bill, cable bill, hospital bills, insurance documents, brokerage, bank, rental furniture, tax notices, tax audits, on, on, on.

I open my 6 in x 6 in mail box and it's nearly full.

How can you leave for long periods and survive the swamping?

Sailor can describe what he does, but when I was cruising, I had all my mail go to a mail forwarding service that catered to boaters. They had a "toss the junk" option if yoiu wanted to trust them to toss everything that looked like junk. That's what I did. I used them for about 6-7 years. Worked great -- I just called, emailed, or radioed them once in a while and said to send whatever was waiting to general delivery at ___, and please have it there by such and such date.

 

[OldAgePensioner]

dory36,
I'm curious because I lived overseas for nearly 20 years and a letter from the US to Australia took 2 weeks. A package took 30 days because the Aussies search every package that comes in. My mom once put just Aust. as the country and it took 4 months to get to me. It went to Austria first, back to the US, then to Australia.

I want to travel for a month at a time which means I'll be away from home quite a bit and your service sounds like the best bet.

 

[dory36]

The people I used are http://vmfs.com/ -- Voyagers Mail Forwarding Service.

I used them while living in Saudi, while cruising, and after becoming a dirt dweller, until I had a permanent address about 18 months ago. Wehn I start traveling again, I'll use them again, unless they have gone into FIRE...

Sometimes I'd give them a standing order -- send everything except junk every 2 weeks, for example. Other times I'd send them 2-3 future stops and pickup dates, and they'd have the mail waiting for me each time.

In the 6-7 years I used them, I think there was only one delayed mail delivery, and that wasn't their fault. I think it was when the anthrax in the mail thing was going on, and one mail delivery was caught up in the delays.

 

[moghopper]

Some body is telling me to stop buying American goods and services.

I am on that theme.

F America. Buy nothing, reduce tax burden, avoid taxes.

Really good advice.

T-Mobile is German.

 

[spideyrdpd]

Maybe thats a place to move some of that stock money to ? (DT)
You could look into vonage or something if your mobile but will have internet axis. I would call and try again cause I had a similar problem with at&t wireless and got some of the costs reversed.

 

[mdmiles]

"The people I used are http://vmfs.com/ -- Voyagers Mail Forwarding Service. "

Another forum listed http://www.boatmail.net/ for a similar service but I use http://www.remotecontrolmail.com - they scan the outside of the envelope and let me login to the web to see it, then I can choose to have it open & scanned, or shredded/recycled, or forward shipped to another location. Costs about $20/month depending on mail volume. They will even archive the mail so I don't have to deal with paper at all when I'm travelling.

If you're buying from the US for sending overseas I recommend www.myus.com since they follow all the international rules on contraband items (avoids nasty fines).