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> Things like unknowingly racking up $2,000 in cell phone charges, or $3,000 in overdraft charges of $50 each for 60 different tiny transactions when you had no
by jlarocco 8y ago
> Things like unknowingly racking up $2,000 in cell phone charges, or $3,000 in overdraft charges of $50 each for 60 different tiny transactions when you had no idea you were over the limit.
Was this predatory, though? Every phone contract I've signed for is pretty explicit about things like text message cost, data costs, etc.
From my perspective it seems more likely the parent's either didn't communicate that info to their daughter, or the daughter just did it anyway - both of which are parenting problems and not phone company problems.
Not to say the phone company handled it well, but the parent's signed the contract, too, so they should've had some idea.
EDIT: Now that I think about it more, I wonder if having the family on a business plan isn't part of the reason the phone company's being so stubborn about it?
- microcolonel 8y ago> Was this predatory, though? Every phone contract I've signed for is pretty explicit about things like text message cost, data costs, etc. Bell Canada is generally pretty bad about explaining the charges in the contract, and anecdotally I have heard many people say they were billed for things that actually didn't happen (and were able to get Bell to erase the charges with enough hours of phonecalls). It puts people under a lot of stress, even middle class people. Unlike the U.S, ordinary people in Canada have a hard time (or believe they will have a hard time) suing companies.
- pjc50 8y agoI've known several adults hit with big charges for overseas calls/data. It's not obvious when it's happening.
- scott_s 8y agoWhen the price charged for a thing is completely unrelated to the cost of that thing, it's going to be hard for people to intuit what they will pay for their usage of that thing - both adults and kids.
- jlarocco 8y agoBut there's no need to use intuition because the prices are spelled out in the contract. You probably don't try to intuit the price of other products, so why would you in this case?
- scott_s 8y agoPeople don't refer to contracts often, and we intuit costs all the time. We have many services and utilities which are pay-for-what-you-use, such as gas, electric and internet. I don't know how much it's going to cost me to turn on my tv, but I have an intuition it's not enough to prevent me from doing so. I don't look at the price of most of my groceries. I just do a mental "looks about right" at the final total before paying it. And none of this applies to a 14-year-old, who no one should expect to read a contract to figure out that normal use of a device will cost thousands of dollars a month.
- brlewis 8y agoIANAL and I am not Canadian, but I think in the US one could argue the contract unconscionable: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/unenforceable-contracts-tips-33079.html https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/unenforceable-contra...