I had a similar situation with Sprint. When I got the account, I went into the web site and disabled all online downloading and web access. I just got a $5oo bill. My daughter- who has picture mail- had "Viewed" her pictures online via her phone. Taking and uploading was included, but "wiewing" was not. When I called Sprint, I told them I had restricted web access for the phone, so she should not have even been able to get online to "view" them. The rep asked me where i had done that, and I told them in the "Online Services" feature of my account. They did not even know this existed. Even though I had set this on activation of the account, they would only give me a credit of half the additional charges.

Why not require such "premium" services to be charged to a credit card? I had a similar incident with Verizon allowing 3rd party vendors to charge my cell phone account. My daughter had downloaded "free" musical tones. The catch was the "free" tones came with a .99 cent completely useless text joke, usually a dumb blond joke. Fortunately, my daughter killed that scam quickly. Verizon said they are obligated to provide such "services" to their customers. I told Verizon that I AM a customer and I DON'T WANT the service. Verizon's response was unsympathetic. When my contract with Verizon expires, I'll shop for another provider.

Whether or not Sprint had a legal obligation, it had a moral obligtion to contact their customer that his bill was escalating. You'd think Sprint would have a fraud prevention department like a credit card company. Since credit card companies have a limit, legally, as to how much they can charge a customer when a fraud occurs, they have incentives to contact the customer as soon as they find irregularities. Without similar limits on the cell phone company, they have no incentive to stop the bill from running up. So, they just let it go--it's just wrong.

As usual, cell phone companies show nothing but contempt for their customers. A responsible company would put tools in place to allow the customer to avoid such unwanted services, especially considering that many of service users are teenagers.

All such third party premium text messages should be blocked by default, to be turned on only when the party responsible for paying the bill expressly authorizes the service. Another useful tool would be to not allow 'signup' to these services by just using the phone, but rather requiring a 'signup' by phone as well as on a website where the charges have to be clearly specified.

Common cell phone providers, step up to the plate for once.....

This situation keeps popping up...first it was text messaging when a parent didn't have unlimited messaging but did have a child with unlimited messaging capability. Then you hear about the roaming charges that total hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Think the cell phone companies are not there just to make a buck?

If anyone thinks Sprint is there to provide a service all you have to do is have Sprint service for a few weeks and you will see...Sprint Sux!!

Now you know why I don't have a cell phone, nor does my 17 year old son. We did fine before them, we will do fine without them. All it takes is planning and safety measures, something parents should teach their children anyway.

Excellent but disturbing article, Bob!

Considering that Sean Clark described his daughter, Amanda, as being "developmentally disabled", a bit of common sense strongly suggests that contacting an attorney who specializes in Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) law will be productive.

Intuitively, it certainly appears that it is difficult for any telephone company (cellular, ground, or web) to think that a $10,000 monthly bill for a personal telephone is in any way reasonable, because it is not the least bit reasonable, no matter how one might view it.

Especially when Mr. Clark specifically made a good faith effort to ensure there would be no surprises by turning-off certain types of features, as well as upgrading the service for unlimited messaging, this strongly suggests that a civil jury will not be very kind and gracious to Sprint, especially when the ADA component is added.

Since this likely happens more frequently than one might imagine, a bright attorney or law firm specializing in class action lawsuits might be very interested in this case, since it has an indisputably egregious element.

Instead of it being difficult for Mr. Clark to find an attorney, I think the only difficulty over the long run will be selecting from what soon will be a virtual festival of attorneys and law firms who will be thrilled with the prospects of earning a significant percentage of hundreds of millions of dollars in civil judgments against Sprint and its cohorts.

The key to this strategy is to get the case before a civil jury and, while as noted in the recent "Red Tape Chronicles" report on mandatory arbitration this might appear to be difficult, I think that the ADA component probably provides a clear path to court rather than to mandatory arbitration.

Present this case to a civil jury in Washington state, and Sprint will lose millions, if not hundreds of millions, of dollars, because there is no way that Sprint can justify it.

Thanks!

If Mr. Clark's daughter is under guardianship due to her disability, he may be able to legally get the bills thrown out. Under guardianship (depending on the state) the ward or protected person does not have the capacity to contract. In Minnesota, the guardian can go back 2 years before the the guardianship is established to set aside those types of transactions.

How is this Sprints Fault for not telling him about third party charges? This guy willingly gave his "developmentally disabled" daughter a phone, didnt talk to her about its usage and now has to pay the price!! You can look online at the usage, and being a responsible parent means monitering your teenagers ESPECIALLY ones who are mentally challenged as he claims his daughter is. Arent these the same kind of people who when thier kid runs off with some predator cry "why?"

Sprint has used this bait and switch tact like this on numerous occations on my account...changing services without answering plans honestly about causing large cost increases...where services like texting,,,and internet costs tagon for ordering a sinple ring tone.

if you ask me this guy is a moron for buying his disabled daughter a cell phone in the first place, if she is 18 and cant get herself a cell phone she is obviously to stupid to use one properly. He got what he deserved. Moron!

This is reminiscent of 10 years ago, when the internet porn industry was really starting up; you heard all kind of stories like this.

My old roommate, Tom E. just in case he is reading this “Yeah I remember when you did this!” gave his credit card for what ever site he was on and approved a one time charge of $3.99 for a 1 week pass to an adult site. By the time he got his bill a month later they had charged him an additional $1500. The fine print stated that the $3.99 was just for the 1 week pass and if he did not want to join then he had to send them an email within that 7 day period telling them so, otherwise it gave them permission to charge the additional amount of $1500. The lesson here is excessive drinking, loneliness and internet porn don’t mix, right Tom?

I do not know what ever happened with Tom and his battle with the Cayman Island Off Shore Porn Industry but I am sure there are laws or defenses that where applied for other people, like Tom, who were victims of the internet porn industry that could be applied here as well.

Saw the same thing here (on a much smaller scale). My son signed up for "flirting tips" and was getting $20/mon as a recurring charge.
Other than talking to the carrier there is no way to figure out where they are coming from, how to cancel them etc.
I have to believe this is a crime on a huge scale. Interestingly, the carriers are aware of what's going on because when I did call customer service they immediately knew what the issue was and seemed to have a "talking points" paper in front of them. BTW, you may want to go to this website www.m-qube.com which apparently is one of the biggest clearing houses for this type of rip-off.

bruce

I've asked Verizon to block premium text messages and they say they can't. The only option is to block ALL text messages. My argument with them is if they know they text message is going to cost me money, then they can surely block it. Premium text messaging is nothing more than a get rich quick scam for the providers.

This is part of a trend where companies are allowed by law to debit you with abandon. "Free" ringtones brings monthly ringtone subscriptions (my daughter didn't realize she had signed up for $65 a month in recurring ringtone service fees), "Free" plus a shipping charge brought my wife $57 a month in recurring fees when looking for a government grant. Companies are debiting checking accounts for a few bucks a month hoping to fly under the radar to debit millions of people. I once turned in a lease car and Ford added an extra $500 over and above the contract terms, openly daring me to do something about it when I challenged the charge. Why is it that cellphone companies, banks, and the government allow this kind of raiding of our bank accounts? It would be so simple for a cellphone company to allow a customer to "lock" the account features on numbers for our children so that they aren't lured into these kinds of rips.

If the phone account was the father's, the daughter should not have been allowed to make changes to the plan. They will not discuss an account with anyone but the primary, how can they allow anyone but the account holder to make changes to the plan.

I feel for the guy, I really do, but in this case I don't see where Sprint is at fault. And to be honest if his daughter is devemently disabled he shouldn't have had text put on, sorry, use some commen sense and some judgement. That may sound harsh but sometimes we do have to take responabilty for our own actions.

Sprint is big on screwing peoples bills up. My bill is incorrect 70 percent of the time.

What if this had been a credit card that a 14 year old had applied for and received? I believe the company would have been holding the bag. Maybe if these companies get stuck with these bills they will do more to prevent them, like limits. Credit cards start off with low limits and this would solve the problem for everyone.

Those text message services are despicable. That said, I found that too many parents appease their children by paying for unlimited text messages.

If you want your children safe, as well as yourself as you open your phone bill... CUT OFF TEXT MESSAGING.

I encouraged my girlfriend to cut her daughter's text messaging service as they refused to listen to her very liberal limits on texting. It took me getting angry at her complaining saying "It is YOUR fault because YOU DO NOTHING ABOUT IT! DO NOT COMPLAIN! YOU DID IT TO YOURSELF!" (Yes...yelling.) Then she got it through her skull that she had the power to take back control. She called and ended text messaging. Her daughters were initially angry, and still say it is "dumb" but they live with it and the only complaints heard is when an outside party brings it up when they are all around each other.

When those girls pay their own bills, they can turn text messaging back on. People do it when they drive, though... Dangerous stuff. They should outlaw text messaging in cars.

This is absolutely absurd. 10K for a month of Text Messaging? The companies should have the responsible party's email and send him (in this case, her father) any correspondence such as reaching a limit, changing or adding services, etc. These changes should not be approved by one of the "users" on the account but by the person responsible for the bill.

Another wrestling tip...don't give children cell phones. If one feels thier child needs a cell phone, prepaid fixed phones would be the way to go IMO

Kids can "text message" with lightening speed, apparently, as I have a daughter that rang up 800 text messages in one billing cycle...Remember that text messages usually result in the texted party, returning the message to the sender, thus an additional charge will show up on the bill. So, that put the grand total of chargable text messages at 1600 for the month. Multiply that at let's say 10 cents per message, and your new out-of-pocket expense shoots up to $160.00!!! And THAT'S on TOP of the regular monthly billing. Watch out, folks...phones aren't just for talking on, anymore.

This is a typical story that should be called,

"Fraud by Sprint!"

Unfortunately, Sprint's response just demonstrates their lack of customer service and there will be more 'Fraud by Sprint' victims in the future.

If the reader has doubts about this, well then, just keep in mind that Sprint has been cutting back in the customer service department for years!

I guess the point of this article is that I'm supposed to sympathize with this father and his $10,000 phone bill. I don't. The world is packed with clods like him, and not one of these clods is the least bit interesting.

What a dirty shame!!! Sprint/Nextel deserve the 60% negative customer service rating they have earned for themselves! There are laws emerging about predatory lending... what about predatory scamming!!!! This is an outrage! Especially iin lioght of the fact that the victim, yes, VICTIM, is developmentally disabled. To prey on the fanatasies of an 18 year old CHILD is reprehensible!! I have Nextel, but after reading this will promptly change service!!!! Do they feel they provided $10,000 woth of service to this family??? IS THERE EVEN SUCH A THING????

I had a similar experience with my then 16 yr old son...i got lucky i suppose since he was underage..
he had contacted adult related sites and i had to send his student ID as proof..but i got full amount deducted

If his daughter is developmentally disabled doesn't that negate her ability to make informed decisions about those purchases?

Of course this is just another example of Sprint do its very best to fleece its customers. I have never met a satisfied Sprint customer and wonder how it is they stay in business.

Depending on Amanda's "developmental disability", even though she is 18, there could be some issues of whether she is capable of enetering into a binding agreement on her own and whether it could be legally enforced.

While I understand the financial pain this has caused this customer, he has no right to demand any refund. His daughter is an adult and therefore responsible for her actions. I am tired of people pushing the responsibilities of their actions on others. No one forced you to give your daughter a cell phone and no one forced her to text premium services.

Companies that provided a legitimate service are entitled to be compensated for that service, no matter how terrible it may be in your eyes. They seem to have done their part by asking the customer to verify that they wanted the service. It is not their fault who uses or abuses it. That is up to the individual. Please stop complaining and accept responsibility. It is not up to society to bail you out whenever you get into trouble.

I too was a victim of these "Premium Text Messages" I am on a family plan with my boyfriend and he received a bill with extra charges for this service I didn't even know I had signed up for. These services are VERY SNEAKY about it. So beware of this type of thing.

it is disgusting the way some unscruplous companies prey on customers weaknesses, if the total cost of these services were required to be displayed in each message received this abuse would end. Also, from experience with my own young adult, canceling these services is usualy difficult. FCC & FTC should address this issue

What a Scam!!!!! Something should be done about this sort of thing. If a premium ad company advertises on MY PHONE service, they should have to pay ME for each advertisement. This would cut down on such junk and bilking.

This is the issue we face today. Money driven companies that only care about the profit not the consumer protection. The third parity company promoting chat with the opposite sex is no higher from the ocean floor than a telemarketer. Their entire life is to separate you from your money any way they can with the least afford.

Now a good company like Sprint, like your credit card company, you put your faith in, to contact and warn you of any out of line problems with your account. Now that I know Sprint will not look out for me, I will not trust or use them.

First - a user who is not the contracting party should not be authorized to incurr additional obligations. Next because Amanda is developmentally disaabled there is a significant issue of her ability to contract with third parties absent parental ratification. Capacity to contract is presumed for those 18 y/o and older but if there is a legal impediment such as a developmental delay the contracts are voidable by the party being charged. Last but not least both Sprint and the third party providers are on grounds that are close to wire fraud for their failure to disclose. The laws on these issues vary from state to state - but Dad may not be responsible for any of this since he didn't contract for it and daughter may not have had the capacity to entrer into a legally binding contract.

I am with Embarq and they did call me when my daughter's usage became excessive - 363 text messages to the tune of $48+. She also went over her allotted minutes, so I changed to another plan with more minutes and added unlimited text messaging. They advertise family plans like crazy on tv but do nothing to let you know about how easily it can be used to their advantage, you go over your minutes, kids text message too much, etc. I can't afford a huge cell phone bill and it's sad that these companies are so money hungry that they don't consider their customers by giving them good customer service. I am glad I am with Embarq.

Although my daughter was far from the $10,000 mark, I did catch a $10 "monthly" fee for one of these text services on my daughters phone bill.

Here is the number one problem with these add-on services, they are not subject to the same rules as "non-regulated" charges on your land line phone bill. This means you have to pay the bill while you are disputing it or you risk having your cell phone disconnected.

With a land line, should the same thing happen, you are only responsible for paying the regulated charges to keep your phone service working while you dispute the rest of the bill.

Personally, I think all cell phone companies (mine is Verizon), should offer consumers one of the following:

1) the ability to turn off all access to premium services

2) the ability to turn off all access to any third party services

The cell phone carriers are in cahoots with these third party providers, getting at least a fee for the billing and collection services, so they don't want to turn it off.

I'm not one for regulation, but I do think third party billing through any type of phone company needs to be banned completely. It may be a hassle for some to have to pay a second or third bill, but it is the only way to protect consumers from the unscrupulous.

I am with Embarq and they did call me when my daughter's usage became excessive - 363 text messages to the tune of $48+. She also went over her allotted minutes, so I changed to another plan with more minutes and added unlimited text messaging. They advertise family plans like crazy on tv but do nothing to let you know about how easily it can be used to their advantage, you go over your minutes, kids text message too much, etc. I can't afford a huge cell phone bill and it's sad that these companies are so money hungry that they don't consider their customers by giving them good customer service. I am glad I am with Embarq.

I am with Embarq and they did call me when my daughter's usage became excessive - 363 text messages to the tune of $48+. She also went over her allotted minutes, so I changed to another plan with more minutes and added unlimited text messaging. They advertise family plans like crazy on tv but do nothing to let you know about how easily it can be used to their advantage, you go over your minutes, kids text message too much, etc. I can't afford a huge cell phone bill and it's sad that these companies are so money hungry that they don't consider their customers by giving them good customer service. I am glad I am with Embarq.

There is rampant fraud aimed at pre-teen and teen children.The providers have known about this from day one, and are therefore complicit in this practice. It's a disgrace!
It's a shame that more consumer advocates are not out there, fighting this abuse.
I attempted to have my daughters phone restricted to only local text messaging on our calling plan but was also surprised by this premium service charge.
My daughter feels guilty , but not enough has been said about how she was victimized by these questionable tactics that cell providers allow on their network.
They can certainly block these unscrupulous providers from accessing our children through fire-walling and security measures such as content filtering.
This is a network that we subscribe to and should be protected by the network provider!

when are people going to start taking some responsibilities?! Why should the phone company waive the charges or give him a refound? He chose to get his developmentally disabled daughter a cell phone with the available services. He chose to not monitor his daughter's activiteis. Why should the phone company or anyone else play babysitter?

I'm sorry---but I fail to see where he has been scammed. The text-messaging companies clearly state on the magazines, and in the follow-up text, how much their services are, which are equivalent to the 900 numbers we are used to seeing in the states.

In addition, his daughter is legally 18, and unfortunately the states do not make a distinction in this case between the developmentally disabled or not.

I think the smartest course in this case, would have been to limit the numbers she could have texted in the beginning, or better, to provide her with a pay as you go phone, so that she would be unable to text, after a certain limit. I did the math---she texted the companies a total of 333 times a day, every single day in one month, not including her normal texts to friends/family, etc.

Boo Hoo, Another case of a parent not supervising his child and blaming everyone but himself.

My sister is developmentaly disabled, she went on a day trip to the mall with a group of friends just like her.
They stopped at a kiosk and the people there signed every single one of them up for cell phone accounts. My sister is on a strict budget, now she is paying $80.00 a month for a cell phone. But since she is 39, there is nothing we can do.
Luckily, we have got her into a program that will help her with her bills and paying her rent. She has no idea what a budget is, she signed up to get the "free cell phone" the provider promised.
People take advantage every where they can.

I agree with Mr Clark. Industry best practices should alert the bill payer of higher than usual activity. Just as some credit card companies have been doing for years now. It seems to me that this mobile communication industry has fewer and fewer consummer freindly practices as the companies merge and restructure. Again the small guy gets hurt.

Why do kids even need to have the ability to text? Just give them a stupid phone for emergencies, and leave it at that! How can families afford a couple hundred dollar phone bill on a monthly basis anyway? No wonder we can't pay our mortgages.

i hate text messages. why can't these kids just call someone on the phone? it's cheaper and easier. i just don't get the hype. if they want to chat, go on the computer for free. it's called laziness. we need to take these cell phones from our kids. if it's an emergency need, get a prepaid $20 phone.

It should be illegal to sell expensive services to children just like it is illegal to sell tobacco or alcohol to children. To play on a young person's emotions with promises of meeting cool guys or girls just for money gain is almost the lowest of the low.

This is just one more example of how our government does not protect us or our childern.

This is crazy, I would not even think about paying the bill, take me to court. There should be a password that only the account holder has that can access any services, when sprint saw the service they should have alerted the account holder.

Why doesn't dad spend more time with his daughter so that she doesn't spend all day and night texting? Go biking or hiking, take up golf, etc. I just located Bothell, WA, on Mapquest's site and it looks like there are plenty of things to do in the area. Put down the phone!

Wow ..If Sprint don't waive the charges "he still has a recourse" but will get hit with a black mark on his credit report (better then paying 10 grand). Just cancel the Sprint account and pay the ETF to Sprint.

Sprint is an "agent" for the 3rd parties ! it's up to the 3rd parties to collect from a terminated agent account. Sprint should not "hit his credit history" as he made a clean break with Sprint !

Those 3rd parties will just drift away as it's to much hassel to track down a discontinued cellphone number !

Just another reason I do not own a personal cell phone. My employer provides me with one. I was a customer of GTE Mobilnet (now Verizon) for 16 years and at one point I required a new phone but was told I'd have to pay full retail or sign a contract for two additional years. I dumped Verizon and will NEVER use them again. Even if they are the only game in town. P/S I also do not have cable or dish. I don't have extra time to scrutinize every bill I receive and most importantly I don't trust any of these companies to act responsibly. I also don't trust any of these companies to safeguard my personal information to the degree I do. None, not one of these providers will change their business practices until it becomes financially suicidal to not do so. Unfortunately we are not there yet.

Personally, I don't feel that more regulations is the answer to this issue. Regulations just add costs that are always passed on to the consumer, one way or another. The best way to combat these practices is to use our collective voice as consumers and switch providers to ones that employ the controls that we desire.

Just look at the Don Imus situation. He was fired based on the threat of a massive consumer boycott.

As consumers, we are not powerless against the big corporations; it is our appathy that gives corporations the green light to treat us like this.

Another case of "it's not my (daughter's) fault, wah, wah, wah...I want somebody to hold my (daughter's) hand all the time, wah, wah, wah." Grow up and take responsibility for your (daughter's) actions. You apparently were aware that she "liked to send text messages." Deal with it.

Hi Sean,

I feel your pain. I have a 16 year old and a niece 15 who are both on my family plan with Sprint. I too have the special unlimited text messages via Sprint and their phones are blocked from web use. Earlier this year I received an outrageously high bill, that was 5 times my normal monthly bill. Of course, as you did, I called Sprint and the investigation revealed charges for premium texting as well as international text messaging charges (go figure?!) Yes, my 16 year old and 15 year old niece had authorized the premium text messaging - as much as minors can authorize anything else I guess... and Sprint immediately removed the international text messaging charges citing an error on their part..but suprising to me is what I was told by the Sprint folks - that they could give me a website for the 3rd party companies (yes there were multiple) for the premium texting, but could not assist me in any other way as I would have to negotiate with the 3rd party companies for the refund. The Sprint supervisor, however, did think it was necessary to assist me in my child rearing by advising me that I need to be more aware of what my child is doing and in the future I could avoid situations such as this if I kept a closer watch on my "teenager." In the end, I paid for the charges as well as the $175.00 cancellation of contract charge.

It appears that the daughter may not have been competent to enter into a contract for the premium service and is therefore not liable for such charges. If the father is the account owner then he must agree to the change in service for such a change to be valid. The suit should be against all parties including Sprint. Let the posibility of public knowledge about its conduct sway Sprint's decission to get involved in this case.

This is neither Sprint's job to fix nor is it the company that his daughter contacted to text "guys". It is the parent's job to mind what their children are doing...and how many parents seem to be doing that anymore? If they ever did; even when I was in high school I saw third graders with their own computers and cell phones, neither of which I had until I was well out of high school. It's not everyone else's job to babysit other people's kids nor should it be anyone else's fault when this kind of thing happens. It was pointed out she was a "developmentally disabled 18-year-old" and that he had given her UNLIMITED TEXT MESSAGING. She might, in all honesty, not have realized that she could not use these premium services, since she is supposed to be "developmentally disabled". And yet he gave her her own phone and was shocked this happened. And since when is 18-years-old a child?

It is a fraud. Typical legal-because-not-closed-yet loophole abused by gutter-corporations. It is a scam, like penny-stock and fake meds and should be punishable under new spam law.

OK, I understand that this service is essentially the same as sex-phone type thing with etra charges per minute, HOWEVER the cell companies should blok such access by default and unblock it only on explicit customer's request.

Sounds like just another sprint/nextel scam.. i had cancelled my services with sprint paid the cancellation fee 2 yrs ago and somehow im still being billed monthly from them.. even though ive talked to a zillion reps and supers and wow no one left notes for the other agent..sprint is just a pure scam company

SUE, SUE, SUE FOR A REFUND. THIS IS BULL@%&*

This is what happens when we try to provide our children with everything they want, whether they need it or not, without knowing the full range of consequences. Pay up and shut up. You did this to yourself. Consider it a very expensive lesson and learn from it. And to other parents who don't know how to say "no" to their "instant gratification, please" children, get a clue.

"Developmentally disabled" as mentioned in the third paragraph, perhaps that's where the problem originated. Maybe he should look into a pkg that would allow only "so many" texts in a day or month and then the service isn't available until the next month??

WOW

It probably seems cruel, but poor Sean "little Amanda" is not without blame. If she's old enough to have the cell phone and he was foolish enough to give this unlimited use of test messaging, so be it.

I think this comes under "instant gradification". It obvious that "little Amanda" is not old enough or intelligent enough to have a cell hone.

Going further, Sean should accept his responsibilities as well. He's the adult or should be and should not expect other people to shield him from legally charged fees.

Where is the Federal Trade Commission and the FCC on this issue? They should have stepped in long ago and stopped this practice of third party billing. They should not wait for the cell-phone companies to regulate this, after all they receive about 1/2 of the money and are in no hurry to give up this lucrative scam - I guess that's why Sprint decided to at least give up their half of this blood money in this particular case.

This 3rd party billing turns your cell-phone into a credit card with no protection - no credit limit, no monitoring capability (you can't find what you owe until you are mailed the bill), no fraud protection. It is certainly unethical and should be illegal.

My suggestion is that until the appropriate government agencies (FTC, FCC, etc.) and the cell-phone companies can jointly come up with reasonable protection for consumers (including giving consumers, up-front, the option to block 3rd party billing) this practice of 3rd party billing should be immediately stopped.

Simple solution that would get the cell phone companies' attention, terminate your cell phones for your kids, and let the companies know why.

I'm not at all surprised Sprint took an indifferent approach on this. They're not even good about publishing their OWN fees and costs in a visible fashion. Nor do they warn users of potential billing pitfalls within their own plans. I'm currently having to fight with them through the Better Business Bureau because they didn't clearly divulge a billing caveat until after I'd run up hundreds of dollars in fees because of it.

Unbelieveable! Perhaps he should contact the appropriate government agency in the U.K.. I imagine someone there would frown strongly on taking advantage of a developmentally disabled person and could lean on the company. That is the flaw in the arguing with Sprint and the 3rd party provider--letting them frame it as "well, she is 18". I wonder what her doctors say her mental age is, obviously under 18.

Wireless carriers bill on behalf of the third party content providers and do not have access to "screen" orders placed with the third party content provider the services are ordered from. It is important to remember that when you provide another individual a waireless phone tied into your account that you are accountable for any charges associated with the use of the service even though it was not you that authorized the charges. I would highly recommend that any parent considering providing their child a cell phone to go with a prepaid service to prevent issues with airtime overages, or unwanted subscription services. Accountability is not only the responsibility of the carrier to provide means to block services, but is also the responsibility of the individual providing the cell phone to a user on their account.

Not a surprise... and sometimes you don't even need to send a text message to to be signed up for a service - just someones phone number. I had a similar problem a few years ago with a "ringtone" and/or text message service someone signed me up for (via Dirtyhippo.com).

You have to deal with the phone company who says they aren't responsible, then you have to deal with the billing company (Mblox in this case who didn't have a phone number to deal with billing errors and told me via email finally they aren't responsible either. Finally you deal with the product supplier who doesn't have a phone number or any other way to contact them available. Thanks to public records I finally tracked them down and got all my money back after 5 months. And all of this was probably because someone typed their number in wrong at the first website for a "free" tone/wallpaper/text.

The cell phone companies need to be held responsible if they are going to pass through charges from companies like this. Or at the very least they need to switch to an opt-in feature that allows customers to only access charges like this after being told what could happen.

That won't happen though because they make too much money off of bilking people.

This is a sign of our times. Without a doubt, many of the advertisements are on the edge of fraud. Misleading statements, applied goals and rewards, flood the consumer. The word "guarentee" itself is not a protection to the consumer or acknowledgement to the quality of the item, it has become, "let me sell you some junk that you pay for at the start, you will find it doesn't work, and my guarentee says that I will refund your money someday. Thanks for the free loan of alot of money for a long time". American advertizements and media who show them should be ashamed.

Charging for text messages and "minutes" should be illegal. It should be simple flat rates, like what I pay with my Cricket phone. I get unlimited texts, local and long distance calls. My bill is always the same $50 a month. Not a single problem.

What cell phone companies do is commit crimes against american people day in and day out. Its disgusting. I cant even begin to tell you all the problems my girlfriend had with Sprint and T mobile. Those were some of the worst experiences ever. Even the customer service representatives are in the dark at these companies. You can call and call and call, get put on hold, transferred over and over, and get nothing done. Do they do that on purpous?

What is even more absurd are thes enew iphoney commercials where a guy claims to have 2 phones(1 for texting, one for calling), an i pod, and a camera...2 phones!?!?!? Imagine what his bill is when these criminal companies make an error or just plain nickle and dime the naive consumer. Speaking of the consumer...how many people can actually afford to have two phone services!?!? The "middle class" and whatever the hell that is just doesnt exist in the corporate mind anymore.

Dont even get me started on internet service providers and there pricing. These companies need a huge reality check.

This is another example of an un-fair business practice. The cell phone company should absolutely alert you if your phone bill makes a huge jump, just as a credit card fraud department does. (And generally does a very good job)

There is no reason this cannot be done, just run a program that monitors for a abnormal change or delta of the average bill and once a threshold is reached, a notice should be sent to the person responsible for paying the bill. Seems simple and it is just that. But what do you expect from a company who's common business practice is to give someone off the street a MUCH better deal on their service than you, an existing customer.

Companies have a obligation to their customers to protect them from such nonsense. To say that a jump from a couple hundred dollars a month to ten thousand is not obviously a problem is insane. The first is paying such an outrageous bill. The second is you are most definately going to lose a customer, forever!

It is time to stand up and say NO MORE. Because the next outrageous bill might just be yours!

1. He shouldn't have to pay the bill because the 3rd party's "+std fees" weren't fully disclosed to his daughter. I had a similar dispute with AT&T and they found their website was missing some information and I received a full refund because they disclosed the wrong cost.

2. The cell phone companies DEFINITELY should provide subscribers with the ability to opt-out of access to 3rd party services like this. (and yes they already have the ability to do this)

And the reason why the cell companies don't allow you to block them? They get a kick back from the 3rd party providers!!

This is an area that definitely needs more regulation - we can't trust these companies to regulate themselves.

3. For those blaming the father, put yourself in his shoes. He wants his daughter to have a cell phone for safety, he wants her to have the ability to text her friends so she can have a social life, and he put her on the unlimited plan for text messaging. He had no idea 3rd party text services existed, and he also has no way of even verifying they are legit charges. Being told to check the bill (what daily?) online is laughable - the company's should alert customers about activity like this. And again, the reason they don't.... they get a kickback.

FROM PRIOR EXPERIENCE WORKING FOR A MOBILE PHONE COMPANY, IT IS NOT THE MOBILE PHONE COMPANIES FAULT, BUT THE USERS FAULT.TEENAGE KIDS CAN CERTAINLY READ AND CLICK YES AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO ACTIVATE THE PREMIUM SERVICE.IF YOUR SON OR DAUGHTER CANT READ,PERHAPS THE PARENTS SHOULD SIGN THEM UP FOR SERVICES ENABLING AND DISABLING.
SORRY, BUT THE USERS ARE AT FAULT HERE.WHEN IN DOUBT, GET OUT

How rediculous! Why do people assume that they are not liable for the things that they willingly do? And as for that poor 18 year old - disabled or not - she should get her own phone, but only if she pays for it. If she can text like that, she can do a lot of things, like pay for her own bill.

But, in the end, why does anyone just have to have ring-tones, and text/email, and on and on? Seems like those people are a great target for free enterprise to charge them for all the goodies that they just have to have.

Hang it up, folks!

I had a similar problem with 3rd party vendors using Sprint to make money off of text messaging. Some of these vendors do not inform people of the cost associated with there service until after a person text back a yes or text stop, if you don't text stop they automatically start sending you text and bill you.
I received 1 charge and I called Sprint and they removed it, I also put a block on all premium text services.
I think the F.C.C. and F.T.C. should go after these vendors for fraud because they use deceptive practices in trying to get people to accept there offer.

Is it possible that spending over 80 hours a month texting a chat line would go unnoticed by an attentive parent? 20 hours a week is a part time job, so how would somebody not know somebody in their house was text chatting all that time? Still, it is obvious to me that some safeguards should kick in whether the person rolling up the exhorbinant charges is an adult or not. I think if the phone companies are able to keep track of charges, even if it only on a week to week basis, that they would have safeguards in place for when somebody is charged over 2000.00 in one week.

Simple solution: Tell your kids they are not to text people they don't know, or if they can't do this they will have no cell phone!

No matter what the situation we have to remember that companies are there to make profit. We must also remember that parents are there to guide their children and to make sure they are doing what is correct and beneficial (or at least not counter productive). It is really amazing to see that when a parent gets in a bind due to his/her child misbehavior/mistakes the first thing to come to mind is to try to put the weight on someone else. Sprint, or anyone else, has no reason to waive the fees. Why was he not going through her phone to make sure that was nothing fishy going on? If the enterprises are there to make profit, parents are there to care for their children, guide them, and care for them. Seems like that's something we've forgotten about.

If Sprint allows these charges to be billed through their billing system, then they are no doubt receiving compensation from these third party providers who rip people off. It is Sprints' responsiblity to establish guidelines and safety measures to assure that the growing number of kids with cell phones don't break their parents' bank accounts with third party charges that parents don't approve of in advance.

Laura of Gainsville Florida has got it right. Mr Clark is the typical parent who wants the "establishment" to raise his kid. You expect Sprint to lookout for you. This is like you gave your daughter a loaded gun and told her not to shoot people, but you didn't teach her the gun has the ability to fire if handled improperly. Just pay the bill and take the darn phone away from the daughter.

Is the father not the account holder? How is it possible for services to be autherized with out the acount holders autherization? Was he informed that his account information was going to be given to third-party vendors? It sounds that he was trying to be careful, but the companies went around him.

I don't see why the phone you're using can't keep track of your current charges showing accumulated charges. If the company can cram all these useless apps and advertisements for their own services on the phone, a periodic bill update to the phone shouldn't be that big a problem. I recently got hit by $214.00 in roaming fees and other assorted charges when I took my phone with me down to phoenix for relocation stuff. I was so mad about that my face was red. Once my contract is up, I'm getting something else, I'm tired of paying $39.99 a month and getting charged up the ying yang for BS charges.

I had the same thing happen with my daughter's phone - although the dollar amount was much smaller - I argued with verizon that I was purchasing "Cell Phone Service" not an "Unlimited Credit line" - these 3rd party providers are using the cell companies as a collection hammer for their scams ... I should be able to block any additional charges made to an account that I am responsible for ....

When similar incident happened to us a while back, Sprint assisted us in removing our name from the third party provider and removed all the charges on our account.

Go figure....it's a Sprint customer. Nothing surprises me when it comes to Sprint. They are a pathetic conglomerate of losers that deserve to be driven out of business. They have no customer service skills. I believe that no other phone carrier would allow a bill to reach $10,000 without first contacting the contract holder. I mean come on $10,000 give me a freakin break!

So why is every mistake a consumer makes the companies fault? Can we not start taking responsibilities for our own actions. Why didn't the father have something set in place to monitor his daughters usage? It is laughable that everyone is mad at the telephone company for providing a service to it's customer.

This is why we got pre-paid phones for ourselves and for our kids. When the oldest 2 were no longer dependents and were responsible for their own phone charges, they were aware of exactly how much everything cost. They were unable to spend more than I was willing to spend on their phones without paying for it themselves. No credit in the phone, no text messages, no access to calls, etc.

Look sprint has now implicated spending limits to many accounts so a customer will get alerts or their service when their pill gets to a specific amount however if i wanna look at $50.00 worth of porn a day and then call in and complaing when I feel I didnt get my moneys worth and make someone pay for half my bill for me then im an idiot anyway. bottom line i pay taxes to support other people so why should i pay extra on my phone bill to support them. If you or someone you know is to inmature to use a phone properly then they shouldnt have it.

Children cannot enter into contracts. Selecting to add premium services amounts to signing a contract. Simply tell the phone company that they have entered into a contract with a minor and it isn't valid.

I understand that this person is not a minor but the same principle applies if she is not capable of understanding the consequences of the contract.

sprint should not be allowing 3rd party vendors to charge their customers these kinds of 'services'. This is non-sense.

EXACTLY, WHY I QUIT USING CELL PHONES WHERE I GET A MONTLY BILL FROM THE PROVIDER ! YOU CAN'T TRUST THEM EVER ! YOU CAN'T TRUST THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE EITHER ! I NOW USE ONLY A PREPAID PHONE, WHICH I ONLY USE IN EMERGENCYS. I FOUND MYSELF SPENDING SO MUCH TIME ON HOLD LISTINING TO STUPID MUSIC, OR BEING CUT-OFF BY THESE CELL PHONE COMPANIES/PROVIDERS, THAT I FINALLY DECIDED TO START BILLING THEM FOR MY TIME JUST LIKE AN ATTORNEY WOULD, AT 300.00 AN HOUR PLUS TIME FOR ANY WRITING LETTERS OR ANY ZEROXING OF THEIR BILLS TO STRAIGHTEN OUT THEIR MESS THEY CREATED THEMSELVES ! I WON'T PUT UP WITH IT ! I DON'T HAVE THIS PROBLEM WITH MY UTILITY COMPANY, OR THE MAGAZINE I SUSCRIBE TO, OR ANY OTHER SERVICE I MIGHT HAVE, WHY SHOULD I TOLERATE IT FROM THESE FRAUDSTERS, NEITHER SHOULD YOU ! ITS ALL SMOKE AND MIRRORS, FUN AND GAMES FOLLOWED BY GIMMICS AND EXCUSES WITH THESE PEOPLE, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, SHUT DOWN YOUR CELL-PHONES AND END THE SERVICES !!

If industry can't regulate itself, then there is a need for government regulation to intervene. Phone companies need to be held accountable.

I've been paying through the nose and would like this to stop! I have 6 phones on one account after spending almost $2500 on phones I CANT SWITCH!!!Class action lawsuit any one?

this may sound like a dumb question, but if the phone's in the name of a parent and an 18 year old child does the authorizing/chatting, could you not argue that since the parent never authorized the premium service and didn't even know about it, that the parent's not liable since the service didn't get authorization (much less attempt to notify) the parent? i mean, the parent's the one paying the bill... they should have been notified.

This is a catch 22. People never read the fine print, because it's written in a foreign language...legalese. But it's written to protect companies from frivolous lawsuits from consumers.

Regardless; if a company has a product, clearly intended to scam people out of money for a ridiculous product such as text messaging...that company should be sanctioned heavily.

I made a stupid mistake myself that ended up costing me over $800 bucks for a month of cell service. Because I was on the "I'm a poor college kid and can't afford an unlimited plan" plan, I racked up a bill taking to a long distance girlfriend during our breakup.
Long story short, they charged me $800 bucks, no warning of my overage, not willing to change me to a more expensive plan to reduce my bill. Just stuck, broke, and PO'd at AT&T for life. Had they made amends, they could have made much more that $800 off of me as a loyal client. Just like Sprint could make much more by clearing this up, saving face, and being the good guy for once.

After reading quite a few messages I think a compromise can be made.

1 - The father is responsible for obtaining and letting his developmental disabled use a cell phone, therefore I agree that some penalty should be incurred on him but certainly not $10K or even $5K. $1K should be enough to remind him of his responsibility but also not break his checkbook by scheming scamming third-party companies.

2 - Telephone Companies like Credit Card companies should have a limit as to the amount of text messages that can be sent/recieved that way if someone hits that mark the phone powers off after a warning saying, "Text Limit Reached" and with the phone off that will cut the person off until either the bill is paid or the phone plan is revised.

3 - Telephone Companies in general should be looking and blocking these third-party companies. That would add both good customer service and good service quality.

Ladies and gentlemen if all else fails don't get your children a cell phone. They can use a house phone, it doesn't have text messaging but then a gain how many of us had 'text messaging' when we grew up? I'm twenty-three and I can say that I didn't and survived just fine.

So can the children of today.

They can survive without all these electronic gadgets and read a book or maybe actually get together with their friends instead of relying on text messaging for social interaction.

These parents really need a wake up call. Your daughter is 18 what did you expect the company to do. He needs to be getting on his daughter.

I think he did all he could do to try to prevent this situation. I have three kids myself, all with cell phones and unlimited texting. The key is education of your kids - they know not to sign up for anything, and use their texting to communicate with friends but more importantly, me. As a single mom, I have to work and can't be home when they get home from school. It's great that my kids text me real quick, to let me know they have made it home, or are doing homework at a freinds house. It's shameful that Sprint doesn't have any kind of "charge alert" in place. If they make enough customers mad, I guess they will figure it out!

I've been with Sprint for 7 years, and yeah there are some pitfalls, but I've had nothing but good experiences with them, even when they make errors. They've always found a way to make it up to me with discounts, removing charges, etc. I do not feel bad for this father at all, and I don't think that Sprint should be to blame. It's nice they took away half the charges...that's $5,000, but why should they take away all of it? It's a third party company that his daughter made a contract with, and they are the ones he should be going after if he feels she is mentally unable to form a contract. Leave Sprint out of it. Also, why isn't he going online to check usage? I do this daily. It's the responsible thing to do.

I bought a chainsaw from verizon and gave it to my 12 year old daughter. Verizon never told me that it might be dangerous...and I was too busy to read the manual or teach her how to use it. Lefty and I are switching chainsaw providers next month. This guy should eat the 10 grand and thank God his daughter isn't a statistic.

Keep electing Republicans, who believe in letting the "free market" rule, and you will keep getting this kind of bad corporate behavior.

I currently have Sprint and I also have billing problems with my phone. I'm on my parents' plan but our bill is always wrong. One time I had a charge for an international text message....It was only 15 cents but it was the principal of the matter..I didnt text anyone outside the country...They dropped it with no problem, however there also was a $3.99 charge on there for a ringback, which I dont have on my phone. They told me that it was a third party billing and that they didnt know who the third party was but they weren't going to take it off my bill. I was very upset but I was left with no choice but to pay the bill. I hate to single out Sprint but they are a rip off

These third party vendors are being kept in business by cell phone companies. Take for instance purchasing a Motorola RAZR, the phone is supposed to have some rather cool features like blue tooth file sharing, and it comes with some ringtones, as well as the ability to be programmed from your home computer. The problem? The problem is that companies like SPRINT disable these features that are built into the phone, then provide you the same features, but now with an additional cost. So in reality the "big cell phone companies" are the ones giving the "propietery vendors" the market to exploit in the first place.

I have Verizon Wireless and have many years, since the old days of GTE. In Verizon's defense, I actually received a call from my local store after my text messaging expenses had gone over $25 a month 2 months in a row, offering to sign me up for unlimited. I had just gone in the day before and signed up but I appreciated that they were monitoring and offering me a cost-saving measure. Get into a store and stand in front of someone. I just wish my other providers were so pro-customer, cable, electric, insurance.

Maybe you need to help your developmentally disabled daughter find another way to entertain herself. Lots of folks live full lives without receiving any text messages. Just like lots of folks don't drive fancy cars, pay for cablet TV, have vacation homes, wear designer clothing, etc. We find ways to live within our means and let limits. And, we don't feel like dinasaurs.

I don't think Sprint is totally responsible. Take the cell off her daugther!!!! He deserves it for having a spoiled daugther!

I second the suggestions above about attacking the daughter's ability to contract. Also, I'd check out an attorney who practices consumer fraud law. Most states have very strong consumer protection acts, and a jury would love to get a hold of a service that bilks customers in this fashion. Moreover, there's probably no reason ever to go to trial--file the suit and then mediate, and offer to settle the suit for the companies' dropping the charges. That beats the damages plus treble damages or punitive damages plus attorney's fees, which is a common penalty for violation of consumer protection laws in some states with which I'm familiar.

Sprint and every other company is all about making money. Unfortunately, the majority of them don't have a fraud dept to monitor excessive usage. Besides fraud wasn't really the case in this scenario. Deceptive practice, perhaps. In any case, if you want responsible teenagers then get them a prepaid phone and make them pay for it.

Last year I activated an additional phone line on our Verizon family share plan for my daughter, and immediately after activating it she got a text message with some stupid joke. When I got the bill at the end of the month I noticed a weekly premium text message charge of $1.99. When I called Verizon, they said it was a premium service that my daughter must have signed up for. I assured her that she did not, and they said they couldn't waive the charge but gave me the contact information for the 3rd party service. After a week of back and forth emails (which mostly blamed me for not monitoring her cell phone usage), I was finally able to convince them that the service had been activated by the previous user of that cell phone number by insisting that they check the date that the service was initiated against the date that I activated the phone. At that point I had them and they agreed to provide a refund.

So, be aware...if you activate a new phone line and start getting these premium text messages, check into it immediately because it's a huge pain to get it refunded. The cell phone companies are of no help because it's an external service (even though it shows up on the bill they send you), and the premium text companies are very difficult to get ahold of and deal with.

My mom got me a cell phone when I was 17. She told me it was for emergencies, but I'm allowed to talk to my friends briefly. I did just that. I only called her when I needed to, and only called my friends to set up plans. I used aim to talk the majority of the time, and I never used even half my minutes. Why is it kids that age now can't listen to their parents rules and just use it "as needed?" If they have an obsession with texting, either get an unlimited plan, disable texts, take the phone away, or make them pay for it.

I started paying for my phone myself a half year later when I got a decent job, and now, years later, I'm spending $10 a month for unlimited texts with Verizon. Why? It's much faster to text "I'm on my way home, see you at 5:15" than to call him, sit and wait for it to ring, then tell him the same sentence. Same goes for all my friends. My minutes are only used to call mom and dad now since I don't see them that much. Take control of your kids. If your daughter gets a long message that tells her to respond, tell her she needs to bring it to your attention. And for gods sake, keep track of your minutes online.

Oh please! Of course we would love it if Sprint was willing to cut charges, but come on! When are you people going to get it through your head that Sprint, like ALL companies, is out to make a buck? This isn't a new thing, it's been happening for YEARS! That's why it's so important that people take responsiblity for THEIR OWN ACTIONS! Novel concept, I realize. Instead of crying and whining about how the big, bad companies did something wrong, and expecting the companies to PARENT your child, perhaps parents should take some responsiblity themselves. Gee, maybe if companies didn't have to deal with all the entitlement junkies ALL THE TIME, they would be willing to work with people a bit more. But since they are inundated with it, they just say no to everything. Remember, companies are in business to make a profit, not to offer a service for free.

Hmm...developmentally disabled and you gave her the keys to the kingdom?

Enjoy paying that bill off, dude.

Ah, yes, just another example of a parent handing a foolish child a phone and expecting the phone company to watch their kid for them.

Pay the bill and spend the $5000 you saved on some parenting classes.

Another rediculous trick manifesting charges that have little or no precedence. I am seeing similar things with Altell now that they have bought out Midwest Wireless. These major cell companies seem to be just as bad as Credit Card companies with hidden charges and fees. For those of you who commented the father should not have given his daughter a phone, get real. A mentally challenged person is still a person and if she is capable of using a phone - how could you suggest she be denied that privilege? I think those commenters and the Cell Phone companies should have more consideration for humanity and less on their bottom line.

I think the government will have to step in to stop the use of text messaging. Not only is it costing us tons of extra money but our children are getting killed behind the wheels of their cars trying to use this feature while driving. I heard a recent news artilcle that texting and driving is quickly becoming as dangerous as drinking and driving.

Everyone is talking about the responsibility of the Sprint. How about the responsibility of the parent. He was the one who trusted his daughter with the phone and without proper guide lines. If he didn't do his homework through enough, he learned a hard lesson. I'm sorry for him but he does have a responsibility in this matter too.

Before cell phones the big thing was long distance carriers. I continually got "slammed" by companies who claimed to be my long distance carrier, and my local phone company would pass their hook up fees on to me. I ended up going to the cell phone and leaving them all together.

I don't know if this is how it still works, but when I worked for Sprint, data charges and text charges don't accumulate like overage minutes. Minute overage charges are added on in near-real time. If you go over your spending limit (credit challenged customers) or if you accrue a couple hundred dollars in a couple days, the account is usually disabled until they speak with the account owner. But for data and text, charges don't hit until the end of the billing cycle. This is why those with spending limits can go over their limit.
I changed my plan a couple years ago and the rep didn't change my data plan with it. So as a result, I got a bill for $5k. It was reversed thank goodness, but it sounds like they haven't made any changes in that department.

I feel for Rean and hope Sprint learns from this, absolutely absurd that they didn't contact him as his bill grew, they need to implement a customer service call as the bills grow to 20-30 times what it is normally, I hope Clark get's this bill thrown out.

I had a similar problem when my 13 year old got his cell phone. He of course wanted the cool ring tones that you have to subscribe to but are advertised for "free". When I got my bill I called Verizon and calmly explained that a minor,in almost every state, can only enter into a contract to purchase necessities (e.g. food, shelter and medical care). Ring tones, premium texts are not necessities. Verizon informed me that I agreed to pay the charges on the bill. I then informed that my minor son cannot bind me to a contract since he is not my agent nor does he have any authority over my account. I am an attorney. Verizon nixed me off until I visited the local store found the agent who sold me the phone and informed every one in the store that I was filing suit and would subpoena the entire sales staff to appear at trial. I was then credited for the surcharges and received a refund check from one of the premium service providers. These types of situations scream for class action. Further, you have to believe that the cell phone companies do not place these premium service charges on the bills for free, they are getting a percentage of the take and are as guilty as the premium service providers for the charges.

Hi, I actually worked for one of these premium text message companies. It is all set up to use and abuse the customers. These companies are raking in the money. The "best" part is that few people understand that there are fees above and beyond their texting plans... and they make it extremely difficult (try jumping through flaming hoops) to cancel their services. Good luck!

I very much agree with Tony in Sacramento. It is extremely alarming that there is such rampant irresponsible use of commercially available services, which are intended to generate a profit for their providers. Rather than these providers having a responsibility to advise users of impending disaster, it is the responsibility of the user to control their own useage. It is such irresponsible use and the resulting clamor for relief that produces the plethora of government regulations which hinder commercial development of new technology and create "add-on fees" to all of the utility bills.

Bottom line --- Sprint has the worst reputation in the whole wireless industry.. They keep coming in last place in all customer surveys, and they keep screwing their customers over and over and over... I left them a few years ago and i am so happy i did it.

People should not have to worry about $10,000 bills. Sprint should have done the right thing and contacted this person once his phone bill reached a certain limit, maybe $50... Or they should have disputed these charges with the other company...

DO YOURSELVES A FAVOR AND TERMINATE YOUR SPRINT CONTRACTS, GO WITH TMOBILE INSTEAD(BEST CHOICE) MAYBE EVEN VERIZON... BY LOOSING CUSTOMERS SPRINT WILL REALIZE THEY ARE NOT KEEPING CUSTOMERS HAPPY AND THATS WHEN THEY WILL BE FORCED TO CHANGE THEIR WAY...

Perhaps its time for us the consumers to file class action law suits against the providers, It is clear that the companies have bought off congress and the states can't do anything about it, Its under the control of the FCC which they own.

I'm sure their is a Law Firm out there just waiting

to take up a case like this.

The cell comapanies are selling your personal information to other companies. Iv'e had the same problems with Verizon.

Phone complains stating that they can not turn off these premium services is not true. I have a phone through a group provider and can not order any sort of preium content, so there is a way for them to turn it off. They just choose not to.

Seriously, it's not the 3rd party's fault, it's not Sprint's fault. Mr Clark, this is all YOUR fault. Why on earth would you give a "developmentally challenged" child a cell phone to begin with? Would you give her a credit card, let her run up the bill and then plead to the bank to reverse the charges because she didn't understand the consequences of her actions? How about put her behind the wheel of a $20,000 car, let her wreck and kill someone and tell her "It's o.k., it's not your fault, you didn't understand the consequences, daddy will take care of this for you as well"???? How about keeping a better eye on your child or telling her to get a job to pay off her cell phone bill, like the adult she's supposed to be. This is America... you have to pay to play....

I upgraded my plan with ATT. Prior to the upgrade, didn't pay a dime for texting. After the upgrade, 15 cents for each message sent or received. After several phone calls to ATT management, I was able to get the charges removed and put my son on a text plan. My fault for not reading the fine print and ATT was nice enough to waive the charges. Now after reading this, I think I will have to call ATT again and see if they will shut off premium text messaging. Some of you are right, it's best to just get rid of Cell phones alltogher! PS, Sprint screwed this guy and his daughter over!

I am willing to guess the 18 year old could not enter into a contract without a guardian to cosign. It does not matter if the companies disclosed their billing information, she lacked the ability to understand the information.

I would call the local papers and television stations with your story. While it may be technically legal it is morally wrong. Give them enough bad press and they will pay you just to get you to shut up.

And you might just get this practice outlawed, as it should be.

For the gal who's sister signed up for a "free cell phone" call your attorney general. People in this kind of situation can not make informed decisions or sign contracts. In the US there are laws to protect them.

I recently switched cell service providers, trading in "Cricket", which is a flat fee every month for unlimited calling in their service area, unlimited long distance, unlimited text. Any "additionl" feature, such as ring back tones, etc. is just an additional $5 per month, and with two cells thru this service, our bill was a flat monthly of $110. Unfortunately, Cricket doesn't have nearly the reception that other cell companies have. My cell IS my main phone, so dropped calls were more than just an annoyance. So, in August, I switched to Verizon. I was offered two free phones, and the first bill was within what I thought I would receive. My second bill, however, was nearly $500 due to text messages overage (we only had unlimited txt for the "IN" network), ring back/ring tone d/ls, and I actually went over on minutes with 1400 shared. I called and spoke to Verizon, trying to remain as calm as possible and explained that I switched from a provider where NONE of these things were charged in addition to my bill. I was used to being able to receive unlimited txts from ALL providers, internet didn't run into my "minutes" as it was a flat $5 monthly fee, and all of our ring back or ring tones was only a $5 monthly fee. I was actually suprised when he offered to drop $67 off the bill (I was expecting NO sympathy), but even with that "discount", I still have to pay a $419 phone bill. Verizon also offers a 17% discount thru my employer, so I went in to set that up thinking it would be effective immediately. My bad. It will take two billing cycles for it to be effective, tho I am sure if Verizon employees wanted their employee discount from my company (Hilton), they'd get it immediately. Ha ha. So far, I am happy with the reception under Verizon, and now that I know my new "limitations", I can stay within my means. My new bill was only $150....so WHEW!

When are people going to stop wanting everone else to be responsible for them. If you give a kid a credit card & they use it & run up a high bill it is YOUR FAULT. If you give a teen the keys to a car YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE. If you open a cell phone account & give someone a cell phone to use on YOUR ACCOUNT YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE. Take responsibility for YOUR ACTIONS. Call in, log on, or what ever but keep up with your account especially if you are letting someone else use YOUR ACCOUNT. If Sprint calls you then you get mad saying this is your account & they are bothering you. GROW UP.

Texting is still at PRIMITIVE stage in USA. People will eventually learn lessons but as learning ability of US citizens is concerned, I don't see any hope here.
That's why US may be only country in the world to pay for 'RECEIVING' cellphone call!!!!!!!!!!!

I am a girl about his daughters age and yes, you can limit your text messages. thank god for my parents who have taught me responsibilty. I pay for my own cell phone and when my texting charges were geting a little out of hand, i managed to stop texting as much. its not that hard. I still do text, but limit it when i know im reaching a certain number. Personally, i think it is dumb that he is complaining about this. It's his own fault.

Cell-phone companies should not allow any changes to a previous plan, like adding extra features, without written signed consent in person of the customer with a complete final cost printed underneath the signature. Then there can be no vagueness of fraud, misunderstanding, or surprise bills.

BTW - Sprint is one of the worst cell-phone companies ever. Excellent players of hide-n-seek when it comes to answerings customer's concerns!

oooh this one is fun. Remember how credit cards, in the hands of kids, got charged thousands of dollars magically? Now you can get a special account for your credit card that has a limit. I think family cell phone plans should do this - the parent's phone is whatever they want, but they can choose a $ limit for the kids phones - that way, if they tell their kids, ok, you have unlimited nights and weekends, 300 texts a month, and 500 min of talk time... and if you use it up in a week, you'll be stuck with a useless phone (except nights and weekends) for the rest of the month! I know if there was a plan like that, no matter WHAT company offered it - it'd be a great deal... as long as it works. I'd be comfortable with telling my daughter she had a limit, and if she exceeds it, well... next month, she'll be more responsible. It TEACHES them responsibility, AND enforces it!!!

So... Amanda still could have signed up for premium texting on this service. BUT... she could only send like... 10 texts! That would have saved her dad soooo much money.

One thing that was never mentioned in the article, though - Amanda is developmentally challenged and she's signed up to meet hotties by texting. Ok... I'm worried. $10k worth of hotties and her, texting back and forth... and I'm going to take for granted that these "hotties" are not screened for age, looks, or... criminal record. OMG am I the only one that sees this? Here's Amanda, at the mall, with her friends. She gets a text - "hey, I'm a Hottie you wanted, meet me at the arcade" - and, next thing you know... the article isn't about the $10k phone bill.

Why attack this guy about getting his special daughter a phone? He made a good faith attempt to protect himself and the multi-national greedy corporation took advantage of his daughter, obviously without knowing she was disabled. These corporations prey on 18 year olds in hopes of hooking them into bogus contracts. Even without the disability, most 18 year olds don't know jack and need a parent for proper guidance. Sprint knows this but preys on them anyway because the law permits it as long as they are 18 or older. Mr. Clark has a loophole of his own and that's his daughters disability. I hope Mr. Clark gets his day in court. Sprint should be crucified for taking advantage of children. Of course Sprint will cry foul and say that civil suits like this drive up the cost of doing business and thus would need to raise rates to make up for (potential) losses. This is total bull and everyone knows it. Sprint will have to find another loophole to ripoff unsuspecting teens.

This is just one of the reasons I prefer prepaid cell phones. My T-Mobile ToGo is prepaid, and if a fraud or any other thing happens, including loss of the phone and unauthorized usage, the most I can be out is the balance on the prepaid SIM card. At least for people who don't use a cell phone much this kind of deal is great in price and safety.

Why don't we start holding the appropriate people responsible in this country. THE PARENTS. No one is holding parents responsible and I think THAT is BULL$H1T!!!! Keep an eye on your kids. Take some time to see what the hell they're up to at night. Stop blaming everyone else for your crappy parenting skills! Everyone always wants to pass the buck. It's always someone else's fault. If I had done this after my 18th birthday, believe me, my mother would have made me pay this damn bill.

Sprint has become the official "title loan" and "payday loan" look-alike of the cell phone industry. What a corrupt, stinking mess. They prey upon kids in the military, the poor, and disabled.

What is gauling me is that Verizon suddenly is copying some of Sprints business practices. My wife and I learned about Sprint by watching them cheat my two sons in the military while they were deployed in Iraq (they secretly activated their accounts and range up bills...both were supposed to be prepaid account, but Sprint switched them with no warning and NO CONTACT), we learned that AT&T, T_mobile and the resyt of them have customer service that is too awful to even imagine, so Verizon looked like a good bet in comparison...at least you don't have to speak Urdhu (Indian) to communicate with customer service. Now, however, we suddenly have started to get these notivces that they are making changes to our service contract. We are apparently locked in, would have to pay some penalty if we cancelled or changed our contract, but they can make changes while we're locked in and get away with it? Something ain't quite right here!

Texting scams are nothing more than the new, high-tech iteration of the old "magazine subscription" scam, aided and abetted by cellular companies which get large kick-backs from these third-party billers. Sprint is no more interested in doing the right thing in this case than they are in identity-theft cases because they stand to make a lot of money. Two words: Virgin Mobile.

Hi, I actually worked for one of these premium text message companies. It is all set up to use and abuse the customers. These companies are raking in the money. The "best" part is that few people understand that there are fees above and beyond their texting plans... and they make it extremely difficult (try jumping through flaming hoops) to cancel their services. Good luck!

I work in the credit card industry and I'm in the technology side of this industry designing and supporting highly scalable systems. I have years and years of experience in this field and industry. It is quite easy to put in alerts and/or immediate squelching and blocking of an account once some threshold has been reached that is out of the ordinary or even some default ceiling like 25% of the previous six months average bill. At the very least there should be a cap on maximum charges that cause an account to al