[bstone]

Americans love their cell phones -- most of us can't live without them. Yet the Better Business Bureau reports that cell phone providers are the No. 1 cause of complaints among consumers.

This is mostly due to incorrect billing, confusing fees, unexpected charges, and deceptive contracts. These can certainly add up, but I was shocked to learn that the most significant -- even devastating -- monetary damage can occur when your cell phone is lost or stolen.

A $26,000 Cell Phone Bill

San Francisco resident Wendy Nguyen was even more shocked to receive a bill for $26,000 after her cell phone was unknowingly stolen before she left for an overseas vacation. Cingular held her responsible for charges incurred after the phone was taken, up until the time Wendy discovered the theft and called the carrier.

She was able to prove via airline and passport documents that she was out of the country and couldn't possibly have made the unauthorized calls from San Francisco during that time, but Cingular still held Wendy accountable for all charges.

Not only that, they advised Wendy that if she couldn't pay the bill she should consider filing for bankruptcy!

Adding Insult to Injury

Eileen Perrera's phone was stolen while she was on vacation. She filed a police report and contacted Sprint immediately, but then received a bill totaling almost $16,000. Sprint claimed to have never received the call from her reporting the stolen cell phone.

Eileen was able to submit proof from landline phone records that she had indeed called Sprint customer service. As her late fees piled up, the situation remained unresolved for months.

Then there's Pamela Woodson's story. When her cell phone was stolen, she reported it the very next day. However, by that time her account had already incurred over $1,800 in unauthorized charges. Due to the suspicious nature of the fraudulent charges, she was actually interviewed by the FBI -- and cleared of all responsibility. Nevertheless, T-Mobile pressed on, insisting she pay the outstanding charges in addition to late fees and interest.

Can This Be Legal?

If you dig through all the fine print in your cell phone contract, you'll most likely discover a statement that reads something like this: "Should your cell phone be lost or stolen you are responsible for any costs incurred for unauthorized calls made prior to reporting the cell phone missing."

Unlike a credit card, cellular contracts are not required to limit liability for fraudulent charges. But it's also important to realize that the extent of your liability as stated in your contract is your provider's policy -- it's not a law.

The laws that give consumers the right to dispute unauthorized charges vary from state to state. In states where the laws do exist, they're not doing much good because there's no single independent agency set up to review evidence, enforce the laws, and provide a timely resolution.

Why? It all comes down to money. In California, for instance, the significant financial contributions made by the wireless industry to state government gives the telecommunications industry enormous influence over entities like the Public Utilities Commission. In effect, this allows the wireless industry to make up its own rules.

Avoiding and Responding to a Theft

Are we at the mercy of an unregulated industry that's free of consequences and penalties? Not if we learn how to defend ourselves.

This year, an estimated 600,000 cell phones will be reported lost or stolen. Here are the 10 things you need to know to protect yourself from cell phone theft and fraudulent charges:

1. Guard your cell phone like you would your wallet.

Yes, this is obvious advice, but frankly the best way to not get stuck with fraudulent charges is to do what you can to prevent unauthorized calls in the first place.

On a related note, think twice about what information you store on your device. A stolen cell phone can not only lead to a huge bill, but to identity theft as well.

2. Password-protect your device.

Check the user guide that came with your phone and start using the "lock" or "password" feature to potentially prevent a thief from making unauthorized calls. There are ways to override passwords, but at the very least you might be buying yourself some time until you discover the loss and call your provider.

3. Don't be fooled by cell phone insurance.

Purchasing cell phone insurance will provide coverage for the device itself, but it won't protect you against charges for unauthorized calls.

4. Call your cell phone provider as soon as you discover the loss.

Report your missing device, and be sure to keep meticulous records including the date and time you called your carrier, the name and ID number of the representative to whom you spoke, and what you were told.

Also note the state or region of their call center, plus their telephone extension number. Finally, ask for confirmation in writing that your device has been disabled. Some companies can even email this to you.

5. File a police report.

This may not help your chances of getting the stolen phone back, but it still provides an official record of the crime. Your carrier may even require the police report number when you phone in the loss.

6. Open an investigation with your carrier if necessary.

If you find that you're not getting an immediate resolution by working directly with your cell phone company, don't waste another minute. Call your carrier and request an investigation, then follow up in writing. Generally, requesting an investigation gives you a better chance of preventing any formal collections action to be taken and should also delay reporting to any of the credit bureaus.

When you request an investigation, advise your carrier that you'll be filing a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), your state attorney general's office, and your state's public utility commission (PUC). Your carrier is more likely to pay closer attention to you when they know you're an informed consumer.

According to a 2006 AARP/Roper cell phone survey (of adults 18 and over) 48 percent reported not knowing who to call in the event their cell phone carrier could not resolve a billing or service problem to their satisfaction. Items 7 through 9 below shed some light.

7. Contact the FCC.

The FCC will forward your complaint to your service provider, requiring a response from them within 30 days. You can contact them via their web site or call them directly at (888) 225-5322.

8. Contact your state attorney general's office.

According to ConsumersUnion.org, state attorney general offices will handle complaints about cell phone fraud and contract disputes. This office has filed lawsuits against wireless companies based on consumer complaints, resulting in refunds to consumers and agreements by some companies to reform certain practices.

Find the contact information for your state attorney general's office here.

9. Contact your state's PUC.

Each state has a government agency, usually called a public utility commission, that oversees telephone companies. To locate your state's PUC online and to file a complaint, visit the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners web site.

10. When all else fails, contact the media.

The wireless companies are particularly adverse to negative media attention, so until effective laws are put into place you may have to resort to contacting your local TV station.

* * *

Thanks to Jeanette Pavini and CBS 5 of San Francisco, Calif., for their assistance with this column.
http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/arti...lionaire/30108

I do fear for the poor ladies who get such outrageous bills. There outta be a law....

Ahh, a happy ending afterall...

After months of frustration, Wendy called CBS 5 News. Shortly after we contacted Cingular, the company notified Wendy that all charges would be dropped. Spokeswoman Lauren Garner says Cingular now has a new system to alert customers of suspicious calls. The program was put in place after Wendy’s case. cbs5.com - On The Hook For Cellphone Fraud

Geez...they sent her to a collection agency (scummiest job EVER). Poor woman. I am glad I fired Cingular years ago. There is a reason why Consumer Reports consistently ranks them as the worst cell phone company in the US.

I also used to have a US Cellular phone, but fired them when they began charging me for roaming. I paid for a nation wide plan with no roaming. They decided that if you spent too much time as a roamer then you would would be charged. Their "unlimited roaming plan" was really "roaming up to a point" plan. Blah. Gave them the heave hoe also.

[brassplayersrock²]

wasn't there a story a time ago about a family getting absurd charges on cell phone use because their soldier son was only able to call them via cell phone from over seas??

[Atomic Rooster]

How can someone (a thief) rack up a 26,000 dollar phone bill? That's a lot of yip yapping.

[Atheist]

Once I moved to the Caribbean I got a pre-paid phone. Every month or so I "top it off" with $20 or $30. I only pay for the calls I make. No plan, no fees, no commitment. I'll never sign a phone contract again. If I want a new phone I just order it online or go to the local phone store, pop in my SIM card and that's it.

[Buckaroo]

Originally Posted by Atheist 

Once I moved to the Caribbean I got a pre-paid phone. Every month or so I "top it off" with $20 or $30. I only pay for the calls I make. No plan, no fees, no commitment. I'll never sign a phone contract again. If I want a new phone I just order it online or go to the local phone store, pop in my SIM card and that's it.

This sounds like a very good idea. You will never have to worry about a stolen phone.

[torsoboy]

Originally Posted by Atheist 

Once I moved to the Caribbean I got a pre-paid phone. Every month or so I "top it off" with $20 or $30. I only pay for the calls I make. No plan, no fees, no commitment. I'll never sign a phone contract again. If I want a new phone I just order it online or go to the local phone store, pop in my SIM card and that's it.

I do the same thing. With T-Mobie To Go I pay $100 for 1000 minutes and that lasts me over a year (I just have it for when I am at the store and need to call my wife about something). It is WAY better than having a $40-100 a month bill.

[placebo1969]

Around 1995, my cell phone was cloned. I got a bill in a manilla envelope that was at least a dozen pages. I wish I kept it for posterity. The bill was several thousand dollars. Luckily AT&T understood that my phone was cloned and I didn't have to pay it. I did pay $500 to get one of the first digital cell phones at the time, though.

[IceEnclosure]

I got a $5000+ bill for data charges (using my razr as a bluetooth modem for my computer). The lady said it was one of the largest monthy data usage charges she'd ever seen. Took a couple of weeks but I got the charges removed. I had asked them for data svcs. and they never put it on my plan, twas the problem.

[Big Mac]

States apparently need to insert stop loss requirements in phone contracts.

[SeSawaya]

oh just wait till my iphone gets here! You aint seen nothing yet!!!

[brassplayersrock²]

exactly, we aint seen nothing yet when it comes to the iphone getting here

[Mac Write]

In Canada it's $1.600 per GB of Data. 25¢+ for LD, over-seas calling starts at a $1+ wanna talk roaming $4-$9/min+. There is zero competition in Canada. I get my new phone checking it out, every other button connects to the Internet when you think it doesn't. I had no choice but to block all data including MMS, Also the fake "Goverment service and license fee." Rogers with their new "HDPA" super 1-2mbps wireless charges…ready for this…based on 185KB/sec $9.25/second for data or $555/min for data when fully using the connection (say with a laptop) wanna start guessing at the cost to use the iPhone? hint $XX,XXX if your very lucky. They abolished there Unlimited Data plans and changed them to $100/200MB $5MB over that.

Don't even get me started on wirelsws carries. Want to know why Wide-spread low cost/free WiFi isn't around…one guess

[Cadaver]

$9.25 per second!? How is that legal, even in Canada?!

[Mac Write]

Welcome to a Virtual monopoly. Also very few people know about that and even have HDPA (SP) capable phones (3G). based on 5¢/KByt with no plan. Even with the highest end plan at $100/200GB/$5 MB/over, ouch. the connection can do (if I am not mistaken) 1.5mbps or faster. so that's 11MBytes/min. even with the best plan it's still $10/min if you saturating the connection. Welcome to 3 companies who secretly work as one.

[Kevin]

Wait I thought only American companies were evil and greedy. What the...

[olePigeon]

wtf. Is Humboldt (Arcata, CA) a dead zone? I can't find a single GSM carrier that has coverage up there. Cingular, T-Mobile, and Alltel don't work up there. Sprint doesn't have coverage. Looks like it's 100% Verizon, which is lame because now I'll have to buy a new phone just for college, then buy yet another phone when I move back.

Why can't everyone just be GSM?

[Jawbone54]

Question: how much more expensive do you think that it is for a company like Cingular to put through calls internationally? With the world shrinking rapidly, do you think that there will ever be a flat rate for all calls (no matter where to/from)? Are we looking at 5/10/15 years?

[residentEvil]

isn't there a vonage plan that all calls (anywhere in the world) are included in the the monthly price?

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by residentEvil 

isn't there a vonage plan that all calls (anywhere in the world) are included in the the monthly price?

Woo-hoo...ooo-hoo-hoooo....woo-hoo....ooo.hoo-hoooo....

[Dakarʒ]

*dons lobster costume and gets stuck in a revolving door by the tail*

[IceEnclosure]

Originally Posted by Mac Write 

Welcome to a Virtual monopoly. Also very few people know about that and even have HDPA (SP) capable phones (3G). based on 5¢/KByt with no plan. Even with the highest end plan at $100/200GB/$5 MB/over, ouch. the connection can do (if I am not mistaken) 1.5mbps or faster. so that's 11MBytes/min. even with the best plan it's still $10/min if you saturating the connection. Welcome to 3 companies who secretly work as one.

dude, your two posts in this thread have my mind frazzled. stop it.

[CMYKid]

these all make great news stories I suppose, but regardless of the fine print (which byt the way also limits your recourse to arbitration rather than a lawsuit) a formal complaint to the FCC would've made all of these disappear in a matter of days.

if you're ever having that serious of a problem with your carrier then just fill out the complaint form. those are forwarded from the FCC directly to upper levels and in an industry where everyones customers pretty much hate everyone equally the main thing that the carriers are really afraid of is congressional regulation. The respond to those FCC complaints pretty damn fast!

[©öñFü$íóÑ]

I make it a point to never use the cell phone unless it is an absolute emergency, like if somebody's having a heart attack or if a house is on fire. No social calls, no texting, no music, no web browsing or anything. I'd rather do all that at home, where I can use my communication channels to do exactly the same thing for however long I want, for a flat fee, and to ultimately have less headaches and less stress.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by ©öñFü$íóÑ 

I make it a point to never use the cell phone unless it is an absolute emergency, like if somebody's having a heart attack or if a house is on fire. No social calls, no texting, no music, no web browsing or anything. I'd rather do all that at home, where I can use my communication channels to do exactly the same thing for however long I want, for a flat fee, and to ultimately have less headaches and less stress.

Well then have I got a phone for you!

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by ©öñFü$íóÑ 

I make it a point to never use the cell phone unless it is an absolute emergency, like if somebody's having a heart attack or if a house is on fire. No social calls, no texting, no music, no web browsing or anything. I'd rather do all that at home, where I can use my communication channels to do exactly the same thing for however long I want, for a flat fee, and to ultimately have less headaches and less stress.

I never call anyone just to chat. I don't text and I don't have internet on my phone. Most of my calls are for meeting up with people or getting info on what's going on.

[macintologist]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

I never call anyone just to chat. I don't text and I don't have internet on my phone. Most of my calls are for meeting up with people or getting info on what's going on.

Cosigned

[©öñFü$íóÑ]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

Well then have I got a phone for you!

rofl!!!

[Rumor]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

wtf. Is Humboldt (Arcata, CA) a dead zone? I can't find a single GSM carrier that has coverage up there. Cingular, T-Mobile, and Alltel don't work up there. Sprint doesn't have coverage. Looks like it's 100% Verizon, which is lame because now I'll have to buy a new phone just for college, then buy yet another phone when I move back.

Why can't everyone just be GSM?

If you are going by their service map, don't. I have Cingular and live a couple of hours south of Arcata. My phone works fine for me at home and Arcata.

[Dakarʒ]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

I never call anyone just to chat. I don't text and I don't have internet on my phone. Most of my calls are for meeting up with people or getting info on what's going on.

My current cell phone has 5,000 roll over minutes.

Needless to say, txting is my preferred method of communication. Though I'm not excessive about it.

[IceEnclosure]

4-5 years ago I was using ALL of my 2000 minutes/mo. These days, I never ever go over my 900 minutes, and I have a gazillion roll-over minutes. I'll be moving to a 600 minute plan soon, but I need texting and such. Chicks send me nice photos on occasion. Sometimes texting is super easy and the perfect method for communicating in certain circumstances. And other times it's not.

[CMYKid]

If you're consistently rolling over minutes then you're likely paying too much and need to change plans. Seriously, you dont think that they implemented rollover minutes to save YOU money, do ya?

[Dakarʒ]

Originally Posted by CMYKid 

If you're consistently rolling over minutes then you're likely paying too much and need to change plans. Seriously, you dont think that they implemented rollover minutes to save YOU money, do ya?

Plans only go so low. I'm on the 450.

[Rumor]

Originally Posted by CMYKid 

If you're consistently rolling over minutes then you're likely paying too much and need to change plans. Seriously, you dont think that they implemented rollover minutes to save YOU money, do ya?

Originally Posted by Dakarʒ 

Plans only go so low. I'm on the 450.

Same here. The only time I come close to 450 is when my girlfriend is visiting. Her phone doesn't work where I live, so she uses mine. I currently have 941 rollover minutes.

[CMYKid]

Originally Posted by Dakarʒ 

Plans only go so low. I'm on the 450.

Of course it all depends on what you're paying but IF you happen to care virtually all carriers have lots of unadvertised plans, especially for smaller buckets of minutes.

I'm not the Clark Howard type, but my friends are

[Dakarʒ]

If it on their website, I should've seen it. You can't get a plan for under $40 these days.

[CMYKid]

Originally Posted by Dakarʒ 

If it on their website, I should've seen it. You can't get a plan for under $40 these days.

thats pretty much what I meant by 'unadvertised'. Not on the site, have to ask.

my dad has a 100 minute one that I think he pays about $12 for.
anyway, can't look up yours without knowing the carrier and et cetera
but info for the masses at least.

[Dakarʒ]

Originally Posted by CMYKid 

thats pretty much what I meant by 'unadvertised'. Not on the site, have to ask.

my dad has a 100 minute one that I think he pays about $12 for.
anyway, can't look up yours without knowing the carrier and et cetera
but info for the masses at least.

Well, I'm up for renewal this summer. I'll try and remember to ask.

Edit: I am a bit pessimistic that they'll tell me anything better exists since they've roped me in already, tho.
Edit2: It's Cingular, FYI.

[CMYKid]

Yeah, you basically have to go to websites like Howardforums.com and check out what other users on that carrier have gotten, then ask for it. Most all carriers have vacation/deployment plans too, so if you work abroad or are deployed you can keep your number/not get charged for breaking contract. They're usually between 10 and 20 bucks a month.

Virtually all landline carriers have unadvertised plans too, usually referred to as the Poverty Package. It's basically dialtone only, with a very small number of minutes or none and a per-minute charge. I think around here it's about 7 bucks. Its cheap if your main line is a cell but you still need 911/burglar alarm/TIVO. 98% of my friends are girls, living alone, and I always make them get it for 911 if nothing else.

[CharlesS]

I think that Cingular's unadvertised plans don't include rollover, though, so it's like Verizon with the "use only 30% of your minutes most months, but then one month something happens and you end up going slightly over and surprise, $150 phone bill!"

Cingular knows that if they offered a 250 or 300 minute rollover plan, a huge chunk of the 450 customers would switch to that and use it exactly as they have been, and Cingular would lose a lot of money.

[Atomic Rooster]

I read the other day that you can now use a cell phone at the top of Mount Everest. There is now a tower within range in China. No one has done it yet but I also heard some cell company is sponsoring a climb for a commercial and some publicity. I forget who.

Hi Mom, guess where I am?

Sure dear.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Atomic Rooster 

I read the other day that you can now use a cell phone at the top of Mount Everest. There is now a tower within range in China. No one has done it yet but I also heard some cell company is sponsoring a climb for a commercial and some publicity. I forget who.

Hi Mom, guess where I am?

Sure dear.

Would a cell phone even work in that temperature?