1 edit | Bull $hit This is retarded.
How they can claim $17,000 is the true costs, is beyond imagination.
Someone really needs to start getting jailed for this stuff.
ACCOUNTABILITY I SAY! |
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| Because of companies like Telmex that rape you. He was probably roaming on another network and they are the ones that are charging the outrageous price to his carrier. The carrier should not have to eat this because of his stupidity. |
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| Is my math right? They normally have a 265% markup on data plans when roaming. Assuming $17000 was actual cost. |
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| They can do that if they want to. If you do not like their roaming rates you can always choose another carrier. |
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 MattAll noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 | said by battleop:They can do that if they want to. If you do not like their roaming rates you can always choose another carrier. This attitude is what is wrong with the state of capitalism in our country right now. I'm not attacking you personally, just what you said is often repeated by proponents of big business.
However, there becomes a point when you have significantly eliminated enough competition that no, they can't do that if they want to. I'm not saying the guy doesn't owe the money, but the Big 3 should have mechanisms in place to avoid this. This is 2009 and they state they can't monitor data usage in real time? Hell, AT&T's website can't even give me up-to-the-minute usage, it's a day or two behind.
If my ATM card can update my bank account after I use it and before I get back home, AT&T can make it so there are protections in place for this sort of thing.
Why don't they? Because that would mean people like me would cap usage (data and voice) to prevent overages. When an overage of 100 minutes costs $50, you have a lucrative side business going on. It's in your best interest not to allow consumers to avoid such charges.
And the oft repeated mantra of "you can go somewhere else" is not true. There is only the illusion of choice. All carriers have basically the same pricing model with the same draconian contracts, ETFs and overages. I challenge you to find a single carrier he could have used that wouldn't have popped him with these overages? (And pre-pay doesn't count. We're adults, we don't have time to refill a pre-paid card.) |
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Reviews:
 ·RoadRunner Cable
 ·ViaTalk
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Would it matter? We have 2 or 3 large carriers left. They have all the same basic plans and fee structures. When one raises rates the other usually follow. Text messaging is one example. Sort of like price fixing. This is why the bells never should have been allowed to merge. No true competition. They all do basically the same thing only under 2 or 3 different names.
No way should any company be getting a triple digit percent markup on anything. |
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I think that what all of the carriers are doing is highway robbery. It's not right, they should put some pressure on the network he was roaming on to help get it taken care of. What annoys me and lead to my statement is that people think that they HAVE to do something about it just because they are a big company. |
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"No way should any company be getting a triple digit percent markup on anything."
Yet the Cowsumers let them. Complaining does not and will not make them change. They only pay attention to subscriber counts and revenue. If people complain but the number of subscribers continues to increase then they keep on doing what they are doing because more subscribers are coming in. |
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MattAll noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 | reply to battleop
said by battleop:What annoys me and lead to my statement is that people think that they HAVE to do something about it just because they are a big company. I do think they should have to. $17,000 could very easily bankrupt someone or destroy their credit for the rest of their life if they decided not to pay.
AT&T should have reasonable measures in place to allow users to protect themselves from this type of scenario that aren't black and white, no data or data, no international or international. Either that or provide a one-time "we'll eat it" incentive. |
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 morboComplete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000 | reply to battleop
said by battleop:Yet the Cowsumers let them. you mean the regulators approved it. as a consumer, i would have objected to every single request for a merger. |
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| said by morbo:said by battleop:Yet the Cowsumers let them. you mean the regulators approved it. as a consumer, i would have objected to every single request for a merger. While the other 80% or so of America probably didn't even care. |
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 wifi4milezBig Russ, 1918 to 2008. Rest in Peace
join:2004-08-07
New York, NY | reply to SaveTheNet
said by SaveTheNet:This is retarded. How they can claim $17,000 is the true costs, is beyond imagination. Someone really needs to start getting jailed for this stuff. ACCOUNTABILITY I SAY! How so? The US carrier simply marked up their wholesale cost ($17k) by approximately 400% in the original bill. Do you think the international carriers let you roam for free when you travel abroad??
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When you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat.
-Ronald Reagan-
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said by dcurrey:No way should any company be getting a triple digit percent markup on anything. For your sake, I hope you never eat in a restaurant. Hard to find a single item in any restaurant that isn't at least a triple digit markup.
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Jay: What the @#$% is the internet??? |
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 KrKHeavy Artillery For The Little GuyPremium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
 ·AT&T DSL Service
| reply to battleop
said by battleop:Because of companies like Telmex that rape you. He was probably roaming on another network and they are the ones that are charging the outrageous price to his carrier. The carrier should not have to eat this because of his stupidity. They should refuse to pay gouging companies like Telmex. Problem solved.
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"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini
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fiberguyMy views are my own.Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3 | reply to SaveTheNet
Why did he need to download Wall-e in Mexico? Shouldn't this person be, I dunno, on vacation? The person that did this was a complete idiot and I shed not a single tear for him or her.
Still, there is responsibility on both sides. In this case, the provider disclosed the rates. The consumer, however, clearly didn't. If you're going to travel internationally and you don't take time to find out what costs are to do so, either pay the price for your stupidity and "ignorance" or simply turn your phone off.
When one travels, you're supposed to check on many things.. insurance for driving, what to do if you're hurt (ie: health insurance coverage) exchange rates, laws, etc. ANYONE with half a brain would simply pick up the phone, call their provider and ask "I'm going to travel to Mexico to get Swine Flu, most likely use my data card. How much are you going to charge me to download movies all day?"
Simple.
He needs to pay the $17,000. I believe they are being gracious. If this guy doesn't pay the bill, then why should I pay ANY overages here in the states? Rates are disclosed.. read them. |
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 SLDPremium
join:2002-04-17
San Francisco, CA | Business man stuck in his hotel with Swine-flu. |
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SLDPremium
join:2002-04-17
San Francisco, CA
1 edit | reply to battleop
Is it a surprise that last year, the richest man in the world was a Mexican telecom controler? He's 3rd richest now with $35 billion. |
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| reply to PaulHikeS2
said by PaulHikeS2:said by dcurrey:No way should any company be getting a triple digit percent markup on anything. For your sake, I hope you never eat in a restaurant. Hard to find a single item in any restaurant that isn't at least a triple digit markup. The reason they have to mark it up so much, is because they have to pay Natural Gas prices for cooking, Air Conditioning for the cooking area, plus management, and a small amount actually goes to the waiter as their hourly money.
The Telecoms have 3 major things they pay for: Spectrum (overpriced by our government so that small companies can't afford it), Workers (Higher management ALWAYS OVERPAID), and Facilities costs (they build way to many stadiums and BS).
Once a company gets to a certain size (they always forget about Customer Service at this point) they need to be held accountable even if an idiot (probably an employee) makes a mistake on their own bill, considering that somehow in America we can get away with saying "Unlimited Data" as long as we put a star next to it.... |
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 CylonRedPremium,MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County | reply to PaulHikeS2
And yet their average profit margin is less than 5% Which means - most of the items do not have that much markup. Certainly alcohol and desserts also have high markups but most of that is eaten by the costs of everything else needed to run a restaurant.
With markups like that - they would not be the #1 business to go under in less than 1 year. |
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 BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | reply to fiberguy
said by fiberguy:He needs to pay the $17,000. I believe they are being gracious. If this guy doesn't pay the bill, then why should I pay ANY overages here in the states? Rates are disclosed.. read them. if you think it actually cost them $17k to provide ths guy with wall-e you're insane. gracious? I bet if all your local gas station decided to have gas be $75 a gallon you'd want the government get involved in some sort of investigation of price gouging. |
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