"AT&T: Phone Stolen? You're Still Responsible For The $450 In Soft Corn Porn Downloads"

Mmm... Tasty, tasty soft corn porn.

Mmmm... Now I am thinking about hot chicks rolling around in creamed corn... Thanks Consumerist!

Best typo...ever!

At least the typos here are entertaining!

What's he doing with that corn??
;)

x3church.com might want to hear about how this popped up. that pun was corney

I was gonna let the title typo go, but it's repeated in the article :) You know, popcorn used to be a breakfast cereal way back when people didn't know what calories were -- served with cream. Now THAT's soft corn porn.

i like corn :)

Don't fix it! Don't fix it!

Didn't someone say in that other post that you can password protect your cell phone? I can't remember if that's for all calls or only international calls.

my suggestion for Tiffany is to go to ATT with proof that she was on a boat out at sea. Have ATT look at where the calls/downloads where made from if that doesn't fix the problem maybe it will take some more dollars off. If they're still jerks go to small claims and cite false billing or something similar. (standard warning I am not a lawyer...etc)

AHAHHAA. Oh god. I'm sorry.

@jake2600: It states in your contract that you are responsible for the charges until you report your phone as stolen.

Does she have a police report? She should provide a copy of the report, and look in her contract to see if there is anything in it about theft. Definitely consider a lawyer.

@sleze69: ... which was addressed in the post ...

@Rectilinear Propagation: You can set up GSM phones to require a SIM password when the phone is turned on. But if it was already on (and it probably was, even though I can't say for sure, since people don't turn the damn things off even in theaters) that does not help.

Still, I did that with mine -- it is better than no protection at all. And you can't even copy the card, at least with the SIM duplication gizmos cell stores have, without this PIN. I know this because I've been with someone when they got a new SIM card to replace an older one with less storage capacity, and the SIM duplicator (looked like a guitar pick) prompted for the PIN first. So it will also provide some protection against phone cloning.

Was she the only person on the chartered sailboat? No one, not even the captain, had a cell phone she could borrow for 2 minutes to report the phone stolen? AT&T's VRU handles stolen phone notifications, and cuts the service off immediately.

Cornbread... nothing wrong with that.

But seriously.. there was NO way she could contact ATT regarding her stolen phone? No ports had phone service? I hate dealing with ATT as much as anyone possibly could (I have Callvantage service at work)... but I think I can see where ATT is coming from on holding her to at least some of those charges.

What's the point of porn on a cell phone anyway? Seems kinda hard to see it (unless she had an iPhone).

If you can afford to charter a sailboat in the Virgin Islands then you can certainly afford to just forget about a $450 billing problem.

I had a similar situation, only with T-Mobile, and it didn't involve boats or sailing (I have a thing about whales).

I left my phone on a Metro train on Friday night, didn't realize until Sunday (because I call no one and no one calls me -- I have a cell phone because I am desperate for acceptance, any kind), and called the phone in. When I got my next bill, whoever had been kind enough to find my phone also thought they deserved some kind of finders' fee of a lot of crappy-assed rap songs. Like "Brenda Got a Baby" and something with "Sticky" in the title. My bill was over $300.

So, I call T-Mobile to complain. And I complain to T-Mobile for over an hour. The woman kept explaining the policy, and I kept saying, "I'm not disagreeing; I'm just hoping that, as a piece of customer service, you keep this from being such an expensive lesson to me." I argued history with the representative, too: "In the three years I've had the phone, have I ever downloaded anything?" She says no. "Have I ever even approached my 700 'Whenever' minutes?" Again, no.

Finally, finally, the woman transfers me to a supervisor, who says that as a once-in-a-lifetime courtesy, she will waive these charges. ONCE. But if it ever happens again, T-Mobile will never show me mercy again.

I'm stuck with the bastards for another year. And then, I'm cutting them loose.

@ptkdude:

Did you not even read the article? How about the part where they are in the middle of the Atlantic ocean?

What kind of idiot downloads soft core porn to watch on the tiny RAZR screen???

Agreed... that narrows the age of the thief down to about 12-14.

@ptkdude: @AngrySicilian:
Seriously!?! She was on a freaking boat in the middle of the ocean. It doesn't matter if she was in a lifeboat or on a schooner. If she had been on a giant cruise ship, then maybe I could agree with you.

I remember being a kid and watching Telly Savalas, or somebody, telling us about Traveler's checks. Remember those? If some douche-y looking guy stole your man-purse you would be hosed. Now that we're in the 21st century, they've reformulated the thought by saying, "Hey! If some douche-y looking guy steals your credit card, you don't have to worry. Those purchases made in Dominica by the douche won't count against you."

Why can't AT&T get their sh!t together on this? How are transactions via one media any differently than another? Total bullcrap.

Yet another reason to go prepaid.

@Jaysyn: The phone was stolen just before boarding. They were within range of the cellular networks for at least half an hour after leaving.

This young lass obviously lacks fundamental communication and commerce skills. By accepting a 1/3'rd reduction in said bill, she is acknowledging her disputed charges as valid. Furthermore, what is she doing on the phone with a CSR for that long?

The intelligent person would draft a letter and cc appropriate parties, enclosing proof of her extenuation circumstance (maybe even a police report from her first port of call), etc; not whine about her lack of appropriate action and thieves viewing choices.

In the end, owning a phone and signing that contract is a responsibility. AT&T is right in that it is the contract holder's responsibility for the where'abouts of her phone and the calls made to and from.

It's funny how easily "I forgot my phone somewhere" always becomes "they stole it and racked up charges!"

Far be it from me to usually take Goliath's side on anything, but unless it was stolen literally moments before she took off on the chartered boat, she could've also gone online to report it stolen.

I'm begrudgingly taking Ma Bell's side on this one. What's to stop me from downloading nearly a gig of porn on my 5MB data plan, and then calling and reporting the phone stolen to get around the charges?

She's very clear that this happened before she got on the boat. How long before is the key.

So how was Pillow Fight Girls 3? Was it as good as Pillow Fight Girls 2?

@Maude Buttons: So you're phone is lost and you fail to rpeort it for 2 days and are mad at T-Mobile and are going to leave them over that? It's your own damn fault. Same with this situation. As much as I hate AT&T, they're correct in not waiving the charges. I highly doubt it was 100% impossible for her to report it immediately.

Moreover, only her phone is "stolen"...hmmm. Ask yourself this, when traveling out of country (when the usage of a domestic cell phone becomes handicapped by the exorbitance of cost) do you usually just carry it around seperately from your purse, bag, wallet, etc? Was she mugged for her phone?

Not likely.

@theWolf:

Softer.

@bedofnails:

Personal responsibility, what a concept.

@YG17:

Yes. What I was being charged for -- song downloads that clearly weren't mine -- are intangibles. By that I mean, because someone used my phone to download a copy of "Brenda Got a Baby," that doesn't mean that no one else can now download a copy of "Brenda Got a Baby." It also doesn't mean that T-Mobile has to now spend money to buy more units of "Brenda Got a Baby."

I was completely in the wrong. I admitted to being completely in the wrong in the phone call with the customer service rep -- that I should have reported the phone as missing sooner. (And yes: I lost it. No one "stole" it, so much as it was picked up from where I left it.)

What bothered me was how, with all the information that T-Mobile had on me as a customer, they couldn't see that (a) these song downloads were not something I would do; and that (b) waiving the charges is a nice, customer-servicey thing to do.

@Raze50: I would panic the second I thought my phone was MIA. You can spot me in the grocery store sometime franticly padding down my pockets until I realize the phone is in a different pocket than normal for some reason.

Don't go sailing across the world until the company is notified of your phone being lost/stolen.

If you fail to notify CC companies in a reasonable period of time, you ARE liable for those charges. Take a look at your contracts there too.

@bedofnails: and Agreed.

I'm surprised the AT&T Mall has $450 worth of softcore porn.

Having worked for a short period at AT&T, she's lucky that she got a single cent taken off of her bill, and honestly, as a previous CSR I wouldn't have taken a single cent off myself in the place of the person she managed to bully into providing credit.

Honestly, this report stinks.

I'm one of the very last people you'll find defending AT&T, but its pathetic that she couldn't contact someone to report the phone stolen, I find it strange that she either wouldn't notice the phone was stolen until after leaving port, and I can almost -assure- you that there is a phone line or internet connection somewhere on that cruise ship.

Whether or not you have reception, on a cruise of this nature I highly doubt that a cruise employee couldn't get you in touch with AT&T. They must have some method of communication, and I'll wager that they have phones and that she was either too lazy to look up the 1-800 number for AT&T or simply felt that it wasn't her responsibility to take care of it immeadiately.

I bet that even gigantic titties look really small on a Razr screen.

But if it was already on...that does not help.

@Buran: Ah, ok. Thanks

@Consumerist: AWW! It was FUNNY!

I encountered the same policy at T-Mobile just last week. I accidentally left my phone on my desk at work one night and found it gone the next morning (I work in a supposedly high-security building). I didn't jump to any conclusions about theft; I knew it had been ringing off the hook because people were looking for me, so I thought it a fair possibility that an annoyed coworker had maybe picked it up and turned it off. I sent a mass e-mail to the office enquiring after my phone's whereabouts, but also kept a close eye on my call log throughout the day via T-Mobile's website. Around 3:00, suddenly 4 calls appear that were made to the same number in Mexico City. I called T-Mobile right away to report it as theft and found that they were still going to hold me responsible for the $25 in charges that were obviously not mine. The very friendly T-Mobile rep told me to be grateful that they only called Mexico, since rates were relatively low. Nice.

@Raze50:

Frankly, I call shenanigans. I've been cruising in the BVIs, and you're RARELY out of cell coverage, except maybe on the run out to Anagada. Certainly, the vast majority of anchorages have coverage, so she could have called in within a day or two, at most. She didn't want to be bothered to call in, so I fail to see how AT&T should have to eat the cost.

I've seen so many similar stories about stolen cellphones and exorbitant charges. Why don't cellphone companies provide a simple solution whereby users can set the max dollar amount per month after which there account will be disabled until user calls in and overrides after verifying his identity.

Or use prepaid accounts as someone suggested. I have t-mobile to go and $0.10 per minute is perfect for my needs and I cant lose more than $100 if the phone is lost or stolen.

one word, or three, whatever
Ship-To-Shore

If you know your phone (or ATM or credit card or whatever) is stolen, you SHOULD report it to avoid this kind of thing. It's not like AT&T knows it was stolen if you don't say anything. Why should they be on the hook because the user was too busy sailing to bother informing them that someone was misusing the service. At some point, someone has to pay for this use, it's either going to be AT&T or the consumer... it seems here that splitting the damages is a somewhat reasonable solution.

Tiffany, here's your solution: Call back. You'll get a different CSR. Calmly explain the situation. If they refuse to help, thank them for their time, hang up, then immediately call back. Repeat the routine until they fix it.

Don't think this will work? Citibank screwed my account up and charged me over $1,500 in interest at 36% due to their mistake. They agreed to put my interest rate back where it belonged but refused to credit the $1,500. I spent over an hour on the phone begging, pleading, then finally threatening a supervisor with no luck. She insisted they had a policy and they "do not, ever" credit interest. I told her I'd declare bankruptcy and stick them for the entire $20k balance if she didn't fix this. She told me to go right ahead and do so.

On a hunch, I called back a week later (after filing complaints with the BBB, state attorney generals, etc). I played it off as if this was my first call, started from scratch, explained the situation. CSR this time said, "We're so sorry for the mistake. I'll credit this right away."

AT&T will do the same thing, I can all but guarantee it. Don't work through their chain of command, just keeping calling until someone does the right thing. I got AT&T to sell me a new Razr at the same price new customers would pay (they had a "deal" that wasn't valid for existing customers, even if I signed a new contract - I wasn't under contract at the time); I called 4 different times, first 3 reps gave me 3 different reasons why they could not do it. 4th rep said, "Sure, not a problem."

@Maude Buttons: Doesn't matter if it's intangible or not. T-Mobile still has to pay licensing fees and royalties to the artist and record company, and as we all know from reading the Consumerist, the RIAA and it's record companies are greedy bastards. I doubt much of the money you pay for a song ends up in their pocket.

She's obviously in the wrong. But... it would be nice for a customer service gesture for AT&T to waive the fee. But... only to the point that it costs them nothing. Minutes used off of the AT&T network are charged back to AT&T, i.e., AT&T are responsible to pay "Virgin Islands Mobile" for the airtime used, so I can tend to understand their unwillingness to completely erase the charges.

In any case, if you lose your wallet and some creep spends all your cash, should your employer be on the hook for the cash because they're the ones who provide the money?

@geek22:

That's exactly what I was thinking.

I made $700 in purchases one Sunday morning and the next day, my CC called me at 9:30 or so wanting to verify the charges (or alert me that my card might have been stolen).

When somebody regularly pays the $40 or $60 plus tax for years and then suddenly runs into the hundreds with random foreign calls in downloads, somebody ought to investigate. But, since they have no legal liability to forgive the charges, they can tell the customer to pay up or get their credit screwed.

I'm the "Tiffany" in the original story. First off - no, I did not call it in for 7 days. Yes, that is my fault. I didn't even realize it was missing until two days before we got off the boat, but even if I had, the cell service in the BVIs for US carriers is non-existent where we were regardless of what Mr I Wasnt There says. Second, I was only on land for one day - the day it was stolen. I didn't know that someone had taken it and was using it. By the time I figured out that it was missing - I thought I had just misplaced it somwhere on the boat. Again, my fault. I accept that.

My entire point is that the policy stinks. Fraud should be treated like fraud and companies like AT&T should try and protect their consumers from obvious fraud instead of passing the buck. I realize that losing the phone is ultimately my responsibility, but AT&T should treat this type of fraud as other companies (such as credit card companies) do and at least pretend like they are doing something to protect the consumer from theft.

BTW - I had the name of one of the movies wrong. It was "Wild Pillow Fight Girls" not "Pillow Fight Girls 3" I didn't want any of you out there searching for the wrong title to download on your RAZR.

@ptkdude: Not everyone stares at the contents of their purse (or whatever) like a hawk. I've dropped things before and not noticed til the next day. You're expecting everyone to be perfect, which is unreasonable.