The mobile phone rip off

by J Mon Mar 04, 2002 23:24

Yes they are a rip off but take heed it is not just your credit rating you can mess up, phone companies have and are taking people to court which could prove expensive. It is not easy to evade them as getting a contract phone involves a lot of ID. One reason why it is worth getting a contract phone is to see when they rip you off. In their early days the DO'B crew had a habit of recharging for calls already paid for. These used be hidden well inside the bill. You only avoided paying them if you spotted them.They blamed their technical equiptment and offered refunds.

Other tricks to watch for include when Meteor started last year, the same phone company who had their dirty linen aired a t tribunals, blocked messages being sent to 085. You the sender were charged but they never arrived. Customer Care staff informed you there was a dispute betwenn two companies but were not able to guarantee that you would not be charged. Instead they advised you to wait and see when your bill arrived in 4 weeks to see if you were charged or not.

In case anyone from Dodgyphone is reading I have retained the evidence of your fraud.

by penniless Mon Mar 04, 2002 16:50

surely it is obvious that the way to the phone companies is through their bills. don't pre-pay, you're giving them the money before you even spend it. get a contract phone, make whatever calls you need it for, ignore the bills and savour the glow you get from sticking it to them for the hundreds to thousands of pounds of overpriced call charges you're not paying. They won't cut you off for several months and then if you've still not made enough phone calls you can once again go pre-pay.

'fuck up your credit rating, it's the first step to freedom'

by chris Mon Mar 04, 2002 10:14

"These companies are exploiting us! Its clear as day that they are..But how can we stop it?"

Gee, I don't know. Don't buy a mobile phone?

by Paul Kinsella - ATGWU (Personal Capacity) Mon Mar 04, 2002 00:00 paulkinsella53 at yahoo dot com 53 Lorcan Grove, Santry, Dublin 9, Eire 087-9748511

The comment "Sure landlines are a rip off too"
by the anti tony o'reilly and dennis o'brian, smurfit front certainly got me thinking and I did some exploring and hey presto! Our Landline charges are an outrage! Not only has Ireland the highest call charges in the British Isles but our Landline calls are amongst the dearest in the whole of Europe. NTL, Eircom, Corus etc certainly are ripping people off like mad. As has been mentioned already in the UK a local call from a payphone there is 10p. Here it was 25/25p before the euro changeover. As regards call charges from your house phone the rip-off is even worse but they're cute hoors and they have such a complicated formula that's far too detailed to explain properly here suffice to say that we're really being taken for a ride in this country! Not only does this force up your phone bill but it also puts up the cost of Internet and Email access as they are also charged as Landline call charges so this is also restricting Internet and Email access. One could be cynical here and wonder is this part of a vile Government conspiracy to deliberately restrict Internet and Email access from large sections of the population. Obviously the Government takes the view that "knowledge is dangerous" i.e. it's a threat to their cosy, capitalist, establishment set-up.

by Paul Kinsella - ATGWU Sun Mar 03, 2002 19:45 paulkinsella53 at yahoo dot com 53 Lorcan Grove, Santry , Dublin 9 , Eire 087 - 978511

Yes! I agree with shane. These mobile phones and their companies are complete rip-offs and something drastic will have to be done about them! However rowan has also raised many good points in reply ("use a landline"). Certainly landline calls are dirt cheap at weekends as rowan says 1p/min weekends. I certainly find that if I'm talking on my mobile for longer than 5 minutes that my ears start to burn. That's one reason why the kids mostly use text messaging instead of mobile voice calls these days. Perhaps the kids have more savy than we give them credit for! Having said that mobiles are very handy if you're in a remote area or if you're alone at night. It does certainly give you peace of mind that you can call for help if you feel unsafe or unsure anywhere. In fairness shane also mentioned about the great rip-off that's text messaging. As shane says text messaging costs 13c per text message.

by the anti tony o'reilly and dennis o'brian, smurfit front Sun Mar 03, 2002 19:38

These companies are ripping us off.. Meteor are having a laugh with the price of phones that are worth and made for probally less than €50 in some sweat shop.

Vodafone are corporate scum. and digifone well two words dennis o'brian (i know hes gone but i hate the guy)

Landlines are a joke. NTL, Eircom, Corus whatever are ripping people off like its going out of fashion. Ireland has the highest call charges in the british isles.

Take the UK a local call there is 10p. here it was 25/25p before the euro changeover.

by rowan Sun Mar 03, 2002 17:37

1p/min weekends. I'm sure you can wait to get home / or to somewhere with a landline b4 calling UK. Also no brain frying radiation from landline.

If you don't like mobile prices, don't use them. Or, go on hunger strike outside a vodafone shop until they lower their prices.