$933. cell phone bill !!!
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$933. cell phone bill !!!
| Wed, 04-26-2006 - 12:36pm |
I was paying bills last night, and I opened up the cell phone bill. It is usually $102., but this month it was $933. Evidenty, STBX has blown through all our rollover minutes (we have 800 m/p/m), and had incurred $775. in extra charges for his number! We have a family plan with 3 phones. My son and I used about 400 minutes, and USUALLY, STBX will only use about 400 minutes per month by using the call forwarding feature from his business phone. WELL... he incurred 3,945 minutes this month, 3,251 of which were calls to/from his girlfriend. STBX was supposed to have his number switched to a new account a month or so ago, and I guess he hasn't done that. I'm going over to Cingular this afernoon, and see if I can get him OFF my plan once and for all. I paid my share and my son's share of the bill (I had an additional $50., and DS had an addition $20 on our portion), but I'm not footing the bill so STBX can yak with his floozy. The total for the month was 54 HOURS with his g/f. I haven't told him about the bill yet-- I will do this AFTER I get the grocery money from him for the week.

I went through this with my stbx! I ended up taking his name off the account, turning off his phone completely and paying a $150 disconnect fee (with Cingular) once I saw that he was still racking up minutes talking to the OW. I never warned him I was doing this and he went without a cell phone for over a month before we agreed to get him a pre-paid phone that couldn't result in a bill like that out of the blue. He's too immature and irresponsible to keep track of minutes, however, I need to be able to reach him and he doesn't have a land line.
He was VERY upset that I turned off his phone but he got over it. Besides, I needed money to pay other bills, buy groceries and diapers, etc...I couldn't keep letting him use our joint money to talk to the OW. If he wants to do that, he can do it with the "allowance" he gets for his food, haircuts, gas, etc. until our finances are separate.
I would suggest taking him off the account if you're the account holder...and if he's the account hold then maybe you could consider getting you and your son a different account. Just an idea.
I would recommend, as the other poster did, to look into separating your cell phone bills... if he is the account holder, pull you and your sons off and get a new account set up, ASAP... if the other is true and you're the account holder, turn off the service for the phone, as your stbx will just continue to abuse the priviledge of having the cell phone and you don't need that (and neither does your credit)...
My xh cut off my (and my Mom's) phone one day, without warning... and we weren't the ones who always went overboard on minutes... I was annoyed as anything when it happened, but it needed to happen... I waited until I ~needed~ a cell phone and then got my own account and put my mom on it later on...
Just look at this as the first of many official dividing of the bills -- you shouldn't be liable for his chattiness with the ow and he needs to take that responsibility...
Good Luck!
Julie
WOW. That so sucks. I thought that the $221 bill that he racked up (also 3000 minutes but it was for two months) was bad. I would go ballistic if I got your bill. Well be sending you hugs. Get him off the plan if you can.
Summer
UPDATE:
I went to the Cingular store today, and had STBX's # temporarily suspended (I am the account holder). I explained the situation to the customer rep., and he said to call customer service and explain the situation to them, so that the account doesn't go to a collection agency.
My dad tried calling STBX's # late this afternoon, and reported to me that he got a number is out of service message. I haven't told STBX about the bill yet, as I have been unable to contact him... I stopped by his place at 1 p.m. this afternoon, and the place was wide open, but STBX was nowhere to be found. I waited 1/2 hour, and he never showed.
STBX & I have a counseling appointment (for DS) tomorrow, and I will show him the bill, and tell him that I expect him to pay his share.
Thanks for the update... It kinda sucks that it is in your name (since you could still be held liable for the charges), but at the same time, I'm thrilled to hear that you had his number suspended...
Good Luck and let us know how it goes tomorrow!
*hugs*
Julie
That's a lot of yakking!!!!
Good thing about the phone being in your name.... you could turn it off, and I'd sure as heck flag them to be wary if he strolls in and wants a plan in his name.... GET A BIG DEPOSIT!!!
Karen ~ wildlucky4me
Karen ~ wildlucky4me ~
Sounds likes your STBX is a winner like my ex!
Back in 1996 after he went on a 3 week business trip (which turned into 9 weeks) he called me on the phone from China (7 weeks into the trip) stating he wanted a divorce. I was devastated. He came home 2 weeks later and avoided the subject for another 2 weeks. Then one day he walked into his bosses’ office and quit his job (without another). Four days later, he received some suspicious mail at work (we worked together). The person sorting the mail gave it to me because it looked like a personal letter, not business. They were love letters and pictures from a woman in China. I wanted to kick his butt
out, but I couldn’t. He had no job, no driver’s license, no family in the area, so I gave him another chance. About one month after he quit his job we got our phone bill (house phone-thank God cell phones weren’t popular then!). While I was working to keep the household from falling apart he was on the phone to China. He racked up over $1000 in calls in one month!
When he finally got a cell phone (Nov 2001) it only made it easier for him to cheat on me. But, I was way smarter than he gave me credit for. I was able to cross-reference his numbers to his work numbers. (BTW the way-he has been working for the past 9 years at a job that I wrote and submitted his cover letter and resume to.) Three years ago I found a suspicious number and called it. It was his girlfriend in Thailand (who he was on vacation with at the time). I also found out about another affair that week. I kicked him out, booked a room for him at the local Residence Inn, packed all his belongings in black trash bags and left them in his car which was parked at his work. He stayed there for 2 weeks. When he left there he charged the room to our credit card and refused to give me any money for it. He called it a “marital expense”.
During the time before we separated and divorced he had some really high cell phone bills. He claimed they were work-related. I would pay the bills out of our joint account. He would go months without submitting expense reports-so he said. I actually think he was socking the money from his reimbursements in another account. He probably had the statement go to his work address.
The sooner you sever all ties, the better off you will be.