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| I hear this woman screaming at me in my dreams. |
I have always been a fan of TV court shows. The People's Court, Judge Judy, Judge Mathis, all of them. In all of the series, there are common themes. Don't sign for anyone on a car note. Never pay for repairs up front. Don't ever, ever get a cellphone for anyone.
After all my years of faithful TV viewing, one would think that I would know better. I recently added my parents on to my cellphone plan. My folks are in a rough spot and I try to help where I can. I have been reviewing their bills and getting interest rates lowered, packages bundled, and the like.
I almost fell out of my chair when I looked at their cellphone plan. They both had ATT phones - years, yes, years off contract. They were paying almost $150 for 2 phones that did nothing but make phone calls. No texting, no data, no ring tones. Just phone calls. By adding them to my plan, it knocked their bills down to $50-$75 total. After much hand wringing, I added them to my plan, but with rules.
My biggest rule was that Mom can't call information on her cell unless it was an emergency and if it was an emergency she was supposed to call 911 or me. This is the same woman that uses her yellow pages because it is more reliable than the internet thingy *eyeroll*.
I opened my bill and guess who was making 411 calls at $1.99 a pop? This is not going to be a pleasant conversation when she gets home.
I feel your pain. We put my sister on our plan to help her out with a lower monthly by being with our family plan than on her own. She was doing 411, going over her "unlimited" texts, and not paying us her portion. We ended up having to kick her off, and she's still working on paying us back.
ReplyDeleteI too feel your pain! I added my Mom and step-dad b/c doing so saves us all $ (mostly them.) For my reward, I get a monthly headache! I used to have my bill on auto-pay, now I have to check the bill and pay my portion monthly. Plus my Mom calls me all the time with questions. ugh.
ReplyDeleteUT OH Mom's in trouble.
ReplyDeleteI understand. I am the mom though in my story. I have problems getting the share of the phone bill from my most technical son. He "thinks" I should bill him each month to get paid - rather than him setting up his checking account to send my checking account money on the same day each month.
I recently warned him for the last time that he is very close to being off "excommunicated".