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anyone familiar with this possible scam?
Tube
Registered User admin
Registered User admin
I just got a call from an automated line saying it was my phone service provider asking me to pay an outstanding bill. I don't have an outstanding bill to the best of my knowledge but these things happen. I then got a text claiming to be from them saying my bill of 1340 pounds sterling was still outstanding.
After shitting a fucking brick (I leave the country in two hours) I phoned my father who pointed out to me that it could be a scam. Is this a known thing?
After shitting a fucking brick (I leave the country in two hours) I phoned my father who pointed out to me that it could be a scam. Is this a known thing?
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holy fucking jesus christ
How the hell do you end up with £1300 worth of phone bill?
You paid the bill?
Did you at least look at the detailed invoice to see if its not some fluke?
Also - using a phone internationally will usually rape you through the pants as you see here.
Hopefully its a fluke and you can get them to credit your account for that $texas
You probably could have worked something out.
This is probably what got you. International calls from mobiles quickly add up, and I bet the internet access was charged at some extortionate rate too because you were abroad.
And if they cancelled while you were abroad, just get a pay-as-you-go in the states and an int'l phone card. I remember Stale having a similar experience with his iPhone in the bahamas or soemthing, might want to hit him up and see what he did.
You could have leveraged the money to work something out with the company. Now they have zero incentive to work with you on this bill as they got the money.
Chalk it up to experience and try not to agonize about it, but I would still try contacting the provider to work something out.
While if you did stop the original payment you could bargin with the provider to lower the bill so you only pay a fraction of the cost. ("Sorry, I simply don't have that money but I can give you £650 if you would accept this as full payment"), you may want to consider if and how this would be reflected on your credit score.
Edit; eitherway, I would strongly recommend getting a detailed bill and going over it with a fine tooth comb, you may be able to claim some of the money back if you can find a huge error on their part.
edit: Red_Cascade has a point. Hard place and a rock man
it usually depends on the amount and the time it is outstanding.
the phone company might have accepted partial payment but they probably would have cancelled your phone or put some kind of limitation on it to make sure you didnt do that again.
so you did the right thing if not the cheapest thing.
You didn't pay attention to the fine print concerning international calls (which should be on your checklist of things to know before you leave your home country... especially the rates for data transfer, which is expensive in general, let alone international use), and now that you've paid the bill (which was entirely valid), you are in no position to try to debate the charges with your phone company. They will take the stance that you must have felt the charge was valid since you paid it. Or they'll just tell you to get bent, since they already have your money.
This will have to be one of those painful life lessons that some people just have to learn, like "look both ways before crossing the street" and "don't drink bleach".
Next time you're in the States, have someone here pick you up a disposable Trackphone or something for the duration of your stay. You won't have internet access, or the ability to call your friends and family in the UK, but you also won't have a $2,100 USD phone bill either.
Steam / Bus Blog / Goozex Referral
LINK
Resulting phone bill? Just shy of 30K.
Don't use the internet on your phone in a foreign country, go to a cafe.
Still, don't use a cell phone internationally unless you have an emergency or you specifcally have an international plan.
Holy fucking shit. You're joking right? I would think the company would bump it down to something not as.. life ruining.
Haha. Why would they do that? The guy legitimately used the service at their rate. What companies WILL do, though, is if you basically tell them, "There is no way I could ever possibly pay this, I will have to default on it," then they will try to negotiate down to the most you COULD pay them. Getting less money from you is better than getting no money from you.
Hence the problem with the OP having already paid the bill. (Though that was the right thing to do, if you know you legitimately used their service that much.)
That is what I meant, as in the guy said he couldn't pay that and they bumped it down. I wonder what a negotiated price could be though.
Christ. All that for phone bill. Sorry Tube.
Should a similar situation happen again though, I'd recommend sucking it up and picking up a cheap pay as you go cell in the states.