Customers unintentionally racking up huge iPhone bills

[n2doc]

Hewlett Harbor man racks up $4,800 iPhone bill
BY RICHARD J. DALTON, JR. | [e-mail]
5:49 PM CDT, September 7, 2007


Jay Levy and his family took their iPhones on a Mediterranean cruise. Now the Hewlett Harbor entrepreneur feels as if he got taken for a ride, receiving a 54-page monthly bill of nearly $4,800 from AT&T Wireless.

While Levy, his wife and his daughter were enjoying the trip, and even while they were sleeping, their three iPhones were racking up a bill for data charges. The iPhone regularly updates e-mail, even while it's off, so that all the messages will be available when the user turns it on.

"They have periodic updates on their data files, and they translate into megabucks," Levy said. "This is akin to your bank having automatic access to your ATM machine and is siphoning money out during all times of the day and night without your knowledge."

Levy and his daughter each have three e-mail accounts on their iPhones, and they were each billed more than $1,900.

His wife's phone had one e-mail account, and her bill hit $890. One connection alone ran $223. Levy said he has complained all the way to office of AT&T's president.

Data transfers are not a problem domestically, where the AT&T Wireless plan includes unlimited data transfers for the iPhone.

But the iPhone's international plan in 29 countries, mostly in Europe, costs $24.99 for 20 megabytes. In countries outside the plan, charges can run from $5 to $20 per megabyte, said Ben Wilson, editor of iPhone Atlas, a Web site owned by the online news company CNet.

"It was a big surprise," Wilson said. "Consumers didn't expect that the charges were going to be so high and that the phone was going to be doing all this data transfer in the background that they weren't aware of."

more:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-ny-bzappl0908,0,4928954.story

[MissB]

1. Wow.

Three iPhones?

$4800 bill?

I'm not sure which is more surprising.

[Xipe Totec]

2. So much for the $100 rebate n/t

[WCGreen]

3. Well, no wonder Jobs lowered the cost of the IPhone...

So the people can afford to pay for AT&T...

One reason I wouldn't buy an IPhone is simply because you have to use AT&T...

Once an all encompassing uber greedy corporation, always an all encompassing uber greedy corporation....

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Yikes! Let the buyer beware...

And be sure to read the damn fine print too...:yoiks:

[n2doc]

6. all 6707 words of it!

from the article:
Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris said the company adequately discloses the potential charges on the Web site and when the phone is activated.

The 6,707-word terms and conditions document on the AT&T Web site says: "Substantial charges may be incurred if phone is taken out of the U.S. even if no services are intentionally used."

[XOKCowboy]

5. Jeez I check 7 email accounts

Of course I, like others here, wouldn't have anything to do with AT&T. They lost me years ago when THEY screwed up the billing on my account and then wouldn't credit my account because basically they didn't have to. I've never looked back.

[Skidmore]

7. Ka-ching!

A new way to gouge the consumer.

[Raine]

8. I would never access

my email on a phone that I had to pay for it. I'm not about to pay for a bunch of shitty spam, which I get enormous amounts of. :mad:

[hlthe2b]

9. I wonder how much of that email transferred... was SPAM...

Now that would really add to the pain....:mad:

[SeattleGirl]

10. Damn!

I think I'd faint the moment I saw that freakin' bill!

[Solar_Power]

11. I should buy some AT&T stocks :)

just kidding