Get the Message?
by Peter McKay
I read this week that two men in their 20s from Philadelphia set a new record for sending text messages: In March alone, they sent more than 217,000 text messages to each other. They'd evidently signed up for one of those unlimited texting plans and thought they'd see how far they could push the envelope. They were trying to set a new world record. The cell phone company also set a new record, socking one of them with a bill for $26,300. The cell phone company has an investigation going, tryi ...
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Posted by: Dylan
Comment: #1
Thu May 14, 2009 1:40 PM
Pete, I can't begin to imagine what it was like for that guy to get a $26K phone bill, especially if he actually had a comprehensive plan with unlimited texting. Talk about shock! I get particularly riled when people are stuck with huge, often erroneous cell bills; I hear about this all the time because I work for the consumer advocacy website http://www.fixmycellbill.com , powered by a company called Validas, where we slash the average cell bill by 22 percent. Consumers like this guy may not have been actively misled by their wireless providers, but his example seems to illustrate that cell plans are clearly not impervious to problematic charging and subsequently many “unlimited” plans remain vulnerable to significant usage. I could go on and on about how shifty these cell companies can be in their attempts to make you overpay. I'll mention that at Validas, we stop them and have currently put over $5,000,000 back in the pockets of consumers. You can check out Validas's fixmycellbill.com in the national news media, seen recently on Good Morning America at http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=6887412&page=1.
Good luck to everyone trying to cut your wireless expenses in this rough economy.
Dylan
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Posted by: Syeds
Comment: #2
Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:21 AM
As much as I enjoy reading Pete McKay's weekly piece, I was a bit annoyed at one section of this particular one. This segment: "This past week, a man in Saudi Arabia divorced his wife via text message. To be fair, divorce is a lot easier over there. You just have to confront your wife, say "I divorce you!" three times in a row and then run like heck." I have no problem with humor, but I do have a problem with inaccurate information. It is not true that a man in Saudi Arabia has to simply say these words three times and it's over. There is a process and the opportunity for counseling and reconciliation as divorce is hugely frowned upon in the region. It would be nice to see someone use something other than misinformation like this about the middle east and make THAT funny.
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