I'm in SCHOCK !!!

Last month my only son had been unreachable for several months. A grown young man, but I had no idea how to reach him.
One afternoon the phone rang and a mechanical voice asked "Will you accept a collect call from? at which time he said his name. Push 1 for yes.
Of course I pushed one and then told his daddy to make it short, because I thought it would be over $2 a minute.
We kept the call to under 3 minutes.

Well I got my phone bill and I had $29.06 in "other company" billing. Yes that less than 3 minute call at 4:23 pm was $29.06.
The carrier is ILD Teleservices.
I called their 800# and they said I should have asked the automated voice what the charges were going to be.
I always ask machines questions, don't you?
They said they would adjust my bill by 35% bringing it down to $21.21.
That's still too much! I am still outraged and it appears unable to do anything else.
I know the pay phone people just love for someone to call collect.
I believe if you dial 1-800-callatt, that you get a reasonable rate albeit still more than the dime a minute Ma Bell generally charges, and that may be more now.
Please educate your kids on how to and not to place urgent collect calls.
Just thought you would all like to know.
Sign me,
"Duped in Jacksonville"

I know what you mean. Our daughter went to Hilton Head and we had her use our calling card thinking cell phone charges would be too high (years ago when roaming charges seemed excessive). Our other daughter in NC called us collect. Turns out that the collect call was cheaper than the hotel charges (added on top of the ATT calling card). Ever since, we told her to use the cell phone. Lesson learned.

We are going to Thailand next month and heard that you should never use the phones there because of exorbitant prices. The suggestion is to call your cell phone provider and have them add international calling for a nominal fee for a month so my wife got that done with a call to our provider ($5 per phone for a month plus a small usage fee per minute).

I remember when the goverment broke up Ma Bell, because they were worried about a monopoly.
Phone rates were livable then, been going through the roof ever since.
Bernie

and heres another goodie! Just got this from the florida dept of agriculture alert messages:

Return Call Scam
A telephone scam that has been around for many years has appeared again.  This scam involves returning calls to the 809, 284 and 876 area codes that originate in the British Virgin Islands.

The caller leaves a message on your answering machine, gives their first name and leaves a message such as “Sorry I missed your call.  . . please call me back I have something important to tell you.”   The reasons you are asked to call back vary and can include such things as a family member is ill, someone has been arrested, died or to let you know you have won a prize.

If you call the number back from the United States you will apparently be charged $2425 per minute.  Why this can work is that the above area codes can be used as “Pay-per-call” numbers like 900 numbers and since this is in the British Virgin Islands it is not covered by US regulations which require consumers to be notified and warned of charges and rates.  There is also no requirement that the company provide a time period during which you may terminate the call without any charges.

If this happens to you and you complain to your local phone company or long distance carrier they will most likely state they are only providing the billing for the foreign company.    You may end up spending hours trying to resolve and deal with a foreign company that will argue they have done nothing wrong.

Well my son called from Eastland Mall in Charlotte. I would not expect this from that location.
Sidney

Here is some good info about the above.
http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/809.asp

It IS hard to know the scams ......but I don't agree that the phone rates are worse now. There are SO many ways to get cheap per minute charges when YOU make the call. I remember getting into a nervous twit in years passed -- if a call was long distance. Now - w/ rates as low as 2.5 cents per minute / any time/ any where / no monthly charges .....I can talk to a dear friend for an hour and not bat an eyelash. The other nice thing is that the routes I use have you pay in advance - so you are not running UP a bill, but using up your already paid for minutes. No terrible surprises that way.

The whole point of this thread is to warn our young of how irresponsible and costly it is to NOT pre-plan, or pre-pay. Also to NOT accept any collect calls without asking a machine what the charges will be.
;)

Sidney,

Although things have changed a lot this past year or so, my ds was not always thoughtful of his mom's pocket book.

During his rough times, he would call me collect (he was in town, mind you) rather than pan handle a quarter. It cost me $2.50 for a local collect call. Take that and multiply times everyday of the month. You get the picture. I quit accepting collect calls from him.

You are certainly correct that you must listen to the entire automated message when accepting the charges on those calls. It's possible your son had no idea what he was bestowing upon you either.

:^((((
Molly

Oh you bet Molly and he is here now. I'm a great deal sterner than you, once was all I was going to accept his call, wheather it was $2.50 or $.25.
I just couldn't have ever phantomed $29.06.
He is doing great has a new career started with the IBEW and is going into their apprenticeship. I wish my home were bigger. I really like having him around and he is paying for that call.
Sidney

Sugarweed - sorry if it seemed I missed the point. My kids have been grown and gone for so many years that I "did" skip over that most important issue.

Collect calls are always expensive. I asked my son who works for the telephone company once and he explained why, but it was all pretty technical to me about using different service areas or something.
I just gave up trying to figure it out and never accept calls anymore.
My husband called me from another state once and since I didn't have At&t and the place he called from did the call was about triple the usual amount.
I use 1010 220 whenever I call out and don't have a long distance provider anymore.

Sugar, I'd e outraged too. I can't believe a common collect call could be so much. And how do you ask a machine a question?

Has anyone gotten the call where a voice tells you to stay on the line for an important call? Stay on the line? Are they crazy?

I am going to have the secretary at the Mall office call me collect from that phone this week and see if I can ask the machine questions. I am also writing to the editor of the Charlotte paper and advising the folks there of this BANDIT. I am also contacting the on TV help folks to see if they cant make these Hold-up folks eat this bill totally.
;)

Amen!

And about that "Please hold call" I did and they said they were a collection agency and that I owed Ma Bell $5. I told them that I didn't and to not call back.
I think they were Phishing and wanted my card info.
I'll never give it over the phone like that. They have to send me a paper bill to get my $>
Sidney

I knew something was wrong with someone calling me and expecting me to hold for them.

$5, oh brother!

No as Pooh would say "Oh bother"!
;)

Laughing!

We had this problem also with a collect call. Our phone company said that the pay phone was owned by a company that set their own rate. That is the way it is since deregulation. We could fight it with that company but would eventually just pay it.

My son Had a cingular prepay and I looked it to it as It was hard to believe he had it right. But I was told that you prepay your minutes and were also charged 1 dollar a day everyday you used it. I told them they were a rip off. Tracphone doesn't do that.