Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

re: Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

Ben — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:39:21 GMT

Only in some cases can texting be useful. Otherwise its pointless. Think about it, your sending text to someone on a TELEPHONE. Seroiusly? It's a phone! Talking to someone for a shorter amount of time more directly and expressively makes more sense than extending the conversation to hours by sending one sentence through a device that's initailly capable of halving the time. I think we as a society have killed the true purpose of the phone. Texting is the biggest culprit. I'm 18 and I'd rather call someone than text them. It's more personal. I send maybe 8 text messages a month. That's it, cause that's all I find necessary. Is that really too much to follow? You make calls on a phone, you don't text on them. It defeats the purpose of having one on your person anyway. This is a virus among my generation that has no cure, and I don't need that virus to admit that it makes me sick.

re: Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

jebeccabe — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 02:57:21 GMT

There's a lot of responsibility in the situation. Yes, she should be punished for sending so many text. But, as a parent of a 13 year who sent 3k text in a month, it happens and it happens quickly. It is not Verizon's job to call and let someone know that their bill is going up. Does your electric company call you when you leave the lights on? When you sign the contract, you accept the responsiblity. They did the "good" thing as a company and at least they adjusted the family's bill. Now, what would grounding this girl for months do? Nothing but create stress and anger unnecessarily in their household. Do you know what my son said when I presented a $330 cell phone bill to him? I didn't know! He had unlimited in texting, but not out of network and as a parent, I never thought to check and see which of his friends were "in". Oh, and blaming the teachers...not even! They have enough to do without having to parent our children, too. Kids sit with their cell phones in the pocket of their hooded sweatshirts and text while the teachers lecture away! My son's girlfriend can text with his eyes closed! This is just an unfortunate situation - PERIOD. BUT...as a parent, it is good to know that I am not in that boat alone! :)

re: Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

jerry hsieh — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 05:35:52 GMT

who is dena's bff?

re: Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

jerry hsieh — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 05:44:16 GMT

wow...so lame. the school has been contacted. which school does dena go to???

re: Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

Dena's bff — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 04:14:47 GMT

Ok all you people need to get a life and leave my best friend alone

Everyone makes mistakes and it's not fair that dena has to be in the spotlight

All I'm asking is for you guys to give her some space

re: Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

Elisaeth — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:27:50 GMT

Ok I'm In college and I don't text that much. My parents got me unlimited texting for 30$ a month with Att People I really would think about getting unlimmited texting it's so worth it, and not chariging up the bill. And the 30$ month is for the whole family 1 price. Get it!!

re: Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

sillayy — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:11:27 GMT

it's definitely the kid's and the parents fault. They can't blame the teachers for this. what is this idiot girl doing texting 300 times a day? seriously? i'm also a teenager and allowed to text, but the amount she spends in a day, i spend less in a month. She's absolutely crazy. and the parents? are you kidding me? How did they not find out about this? I read another article about her and she's only grounded until the end of the school year. if my kid spent $4000 in a month for TEXTING of all things i'd definitely ground her for more than a few months. Verizon should've also notified the parents about her expenses. dena, you deserve way more than you're getting and should be happy to get off so easy. My parents would never let me have a cell phone again unless i could pay for it. this girl needs some discipline.

re: Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

Dylan — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 06:24:56 GMT

Hannah, nice article but that story is insane; I can't even begin to imagine what it was like for the parents to get a nearly $5K phone bill, especially when they thought texting was unlimited. Terrible! Even though the charges incurred are apparently legitimate, the sheer cost of the bill particularly riles me because I work for the consumer advocacy website http://www.fixmycellbill.com, powered by a company called Validas, where we slash the average cell bill by 22 percent. The Christofferson's may not have been actively misled by Verizon, but they were clearly unaware of the capability of their daughter's phone to incur massive texting charges. I could go on and on about how shifty these cell companies can be in their attempts to make you overpay. At Validas, we stop them and have currently put over $5,000,000 back in the pockets of consumers. You can check out Validas’s fixmycellbill.com in the national news media, most recently on Good Morning America at www.abcnews.go.com/.../story.

Good luck to everyone in keeping your wireless expenses down in this rough economy.

Dylan

re: Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

Megan C. — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 05:04:55 GMT

I think instead of blaming the parents, you should blame the KID!!!!! Hello what is she doing TEXTING i'm 13 too,I have a phone AND my parents let me text, yet I don't go 300 texts a day crazy with it.Plus what would you do if you got in trouble...TEXT somebody for help instead of CALLLING 911... I don't think so! Besides she is 13 years old, by know she should know the difference of right and of wrong if she's going to succeed in this world.

re: Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

Ram1 — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 01:43:35 GMT

You people that are blaming the teacher are loony, THIS IS THE PARENTS job.

Clearly we have here two idiots that somehow became parents that have no clue as to what it means to be "PARENTS" and they have succeded in dumping another idiot on society.

As clearly many of you are as well if you think it is "society" {the public tax payer funded school teachers) responsiblity to raise these two idiots offspring!

Not only should these morons have to pay the $4400 dollar plus bill but they should also have to pay an idiot tax x 3 for mom, dad, and the offspring moron idiot.

re: Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

Twyla — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:06:27 GMT

My 13 year old has a cell phone. He also has soccer practice in another city that we carpool to. He also spends the weekends at his mom's house and she did not have a landline for awhile so he would be alone with no phone in an emergency. Is that reason enough for all of you to stop pointing fingers at parents who think it is acceptable to allow him a cell phone? We pay $10 more per month to have peace of mind. Well worth it.

When he first got his phone (for his birthday) we added 200 texts per month thinking that would be plenty. In that first month he had a $30 overusage charge on texting. I hope he liked that month because we disabled his texting immediately after opening the bill.

I think cell phones are fine for 13 year olds. Texting in unnecessary.

re: Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

ChiLaura — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:50:51 GMT

elohvee, if you're a horrible parent, then I am too. =)

re: Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

rockxstar17 — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:02:39 GMT

I'm currently sitting in a high school class reading this while I text& all you over board parents need to chill & stop taking things so seriously. i'm top 10% of my class & still manmage to send 13,000 texts in an off month. Texting isn't as bad as you're making it sound. You're probably the same parents who freak over your kids eating tuna for fear of mercury poisoning. Worry about more important things please cause I guarantee half of your kids are on drugs anyway.

re: Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

Virginia — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:30:45 GMT

Yes be sure to blame the teachers/schools for this. Kids have NO need for cell phones in school They all have a land line kids can use. Parents who provide phones and text service need to look in the mirror at who is to blame. Get phones WITHOUT text ability/service.

I'm for metal detectors at every school entrance anyway, to cut down on the violence, and cell phones could be locked in the school safe until the end of the day.

re: Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

elohveeee12 — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:49:07 GMT

i ama horrible parent because i dont want my kid to be a spoiled brat and I plan on having her work for the things she wants, just like my parents did for me?

I hated it when i was a kid, but i respect them for it now. I am happy that I have earned everything that I have, and have not been handed everything. I want that for my kids too.

re: Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

Jay — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:36:08 GMT

Elohvee, I think you're on the right track...more parents need to teach their kids the value of money at an earlier age - it's the responsible thing to do. Raising your children to get what they want is only going to set them up for failure as adults.

re: Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

catar — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 04:21:28 GMT

wow, elohvee, you are a horrible parent, get a life and take care or your kids.

re: Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

elohveeee12 — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 03:47:02 GMT

i once had a 400-500 cell phone bill, but i was paying them myself. My mom still found out about and was not happy. but then again I wasnt in HS when that happened. I was 17 when I started college and got my first real cell phone. until then i only had those crappy pre paids, and those were for emergecies (and i got it taken away at school more than once). I cannot imagine what a 13 year old would need with a cell phone, and i do not plan on letting my kids have a cell phone until they start driving. and they are not getting a license unless they get a job, which means they are paying their own cell phone bills. my daughter can complain all she wants when she gets older, but i am not going to pay so she can spend all day talking to her friends.

re: Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

MistressScorpio — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:36:59 GMT

I'm hoping that by the time my son needs a phone, they will come with programmable parental restrictions. If my kid ran up a $4000 bill on anything other than tuition, I'm taking it outta that ass.

re: Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

Rob — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 23:21:16 GMT

Her teacher must have been asleep. How do you not notice someone banging away to the tune of 300 txt messages a day!

Man if that was my kid she wouldn't get a cell phone again until she was 50! Then if she wanted one, her husband could buy it for her.

re: Teen Sends Over $4,000 Worth of Text Messages in a Month

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:51:42 GMT

It is pretty amazing that she got away with that in school; however, I am a former high school teacher, and my school had no formal policy toward cell phones nor did they have a discipline plan in place. The result? Teachers' hands are tied. I once took a kid's phone away for the school day (it was a morning class) because he just wouldn't put it away. I told him he could pick it up in my office at the end of the day. He used another student's phone to call his mom and complain, and before lunch, an administrator walked into my classroom to get the phone back and give it to the kid because the mom had threatened to sue. What message does that send to students?

"You can do whatever the hell you want to with no fear of consequences, as long as you have mommy wrapped around your finger."

Oh, and this was at a "good" school. I hear that they now have a policy from former co-workers and that things have improved a lot. If Dena's school is like my former one, you can't blame the teachers for ignoring the problem.