data cabling,Washington DC, cell phone billingThis happened to me. I had an employee and he had a cell phone. Even though I warned him that he had limited minutes, he abused the privilege and he started using the phone for HOURS every day. He racked up a huge cell phone bill that topped out at over $900 for one month.

I called Sprint and I told them my story and they were willing to forgive some of the charges. But I got into a serious discussion with the service representative regarding their pricing policy. They charge $.40 a minute if I exceed my monthly limit. I understand and feel that is excessive but I accept the pricing. It is part of the agreement.

No Warning on Huge Rate Increase

In the past, on rare occasion, I have been tardy on paying my bill. And what I know is true is that Sprint will send a text message and will call if I am late. They are a communications company. So, of course, that is not surprising. But if you reach your limit on your calling plan, do they send you a text message as a warning? No. And that was the contentious point in our conversation. I had a rogue employee making long calls and pushing my bill into the stratosphere and Sprint never used their technology to send me a quick warning.

I know it is not in their best interest to warn people of an imminent 400% price increase on every call. But is it fair to not warn its customers? Is it legal? Personally, I think it is abusive. But their excuse was that “all of the carriers do it the same way.” At that point I felt like I was having a conversation with an 8 year old and needed to ask, “If your friends all jump off a cliff, will you?”

I got nowhere but I wanted to tell my story. How do you feel about this?

Feel free to leave a comment.