telephone bill

[tinaburri]

my husband put a phone in his name for his daughter in her apartment. I called the phone company and asked to disconect it and they said that the final bill is $249.09.
we just recieved the final bill and it came to $619.76. $331.00 was added on for a phone perchaced his daughter bought from the phone company. The phone company said that when they called his daughter, she said that she had the ok to perchace this. I told them that they should have contacted my husband first before sending the phone to her.This could have been anyone making the perchace. i am very upset, do we really have to pay for this phone? can i fight this?
thank you,
tina burri
sheboygan, wi

 

[JETX]

Need to know a lot more about this...
1) Why was the phone in your name, yet in her apartment?
2) Was the telephone company advised to NOT accept requests or orders from the daughter??

Who do you propose should pay for this phone if you don't? The phone company?? Of course not! Either you or the daughter MUST pay for the phone. You decide which.

 

[tinaburri]

First, the phone company would not conect a phone in her name cause of some problems in the past.
And the phone company called that number and solicited her the phone. It could have been anyone that answered and just said yes, I have permission to perchace it. When I called to disconect the phone, before I could have access to do anything I had to give my husband's social security number. Why didn't they ask her before allowing her to perchace the phone. That is what I'm upset about.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

Never, never, never, ever, give your Social Security Number to anyone, for any reason whatsoever, except a Taxing Authority, like your State or the Internal Revenue Service.

Now, with that number, they can "track" you, and find out all sorts of information about you, in the event the phone company decides to sue you.

IAAL

 

[tinaburri]

my mistake, the phone company asked for the last 4 numbers of his SS number. Before I could do anything with the phone account. So why didn't they ask my step daughter that before the sold her the phone? I would think that they should not have sold her the phone unless she knew that. Because I know she doesn't know it.

 

[JETX]

The problem is, it very probably wasn't the phone company who called and sold her the phone. This is usually done by an outside marketing firm, whose only goal is to sell you the offered service. It really doesn't matter to them, nor do they have the ability to determine, who answered the phone call or whether they had the authority to order the product. They offered, she accepted. And the fact that it wasn't returned was sufficient for them to believe that it was in fact a legit order.

Back to the phone problem..... you admitted that the reason she didn't have a phone in her name was due to financial 'problems' in her past. By agreeing to install the phone in your name, you agreed to be the responsible party for the ENTIRE phone charges, not just what you agree to in advance. So, in closing, the phone company had no obligation to contact you for prior approval before any charges were incurred on the phone bill (unless you had a valid agreement to the contrary).

This is not unlike giving you giving someone the authority to charge to your credit card... you are still responsible for the debt, even if they charge far more than you 'thought' they would (or even that they agreed to). Your only recourse is to go after the daughter for repayment, not the phone company (or credit card company) for selling it to her!!