Earlier this month my cell phone went missing. Since I don’t use my cell phone that often, I don’t keep continuous track of it. Thus, I didn’t realize I had lost it until about a week after I last used it. I had my mom cancel the service, but a pang of fear is gripping me that someone racked up thousands of dollars in calls during that time I didn’t know it was missing.
Unfortunately, I’m also not able to view the billing invoice online, so I have no idea if someone else has been making calls (its AT&T wireless BTW). I’m really kicking myself for being such a moron and not cancelling the service earler because now I’m very worried about what the next statement will show.
Is there anything I can do in the meantime? Would there be a way to dispute the calls made if it turns out someone racked up a bunch of long-distance calls on my phone?
I would suggest calling the company and telling them the last date that you had used it. You can argue that the call patterns (if they are significantly different) aren’t yours and it should be obvious. In my experience, they’re pretty good at handling these situations (I’ve been there before), but YMMV. I wonder why they wouldn’t tell you about the history for the missing time period.
That and given most cell phone plans these days, I don’t think a week would have allowed anyone to really screw over your bill. If there are charges, argue. Be polite however and if the grunt you talk to you can’t help you, get the higher up. There may or may not be language in your contract about this sort of thing, so you will have to be careful.
I just had my phone stolen when someone broke into our house, so I know your pain.
All you need to do is call the phone company and tell them why your account is closed. Then tell them exactly when (as far as you know) the phone went missing, and ask for a log of any calls made after that time. Not only will that let you know if any calls were made, but it could even help catch the person that took the phone.
Because my phone was stolen, the phone company even credited back to me all the minutes that the thief used, which was really nice.
Moreover, you can get the same number transferred to a new phone, if you buy one.
Well, I talked to a very nice customer service representative on the phone, and she told me she would note when I believed my phone went missing so hopefully I won’t get charged for some theif’s minutes.
Cell phones (at least ours) cannot call 900 numbers and international calling is only available upon request (if you’ve requested that feature, it does come with a disclaimer than you’ll be held liable for international calls regardless of what happened to your phone).
If the idiot thief called friends and family using your cell you could just get a copy of all the out bound calls (and unrecognised inbound calls) and make some calls to them etc. When I was in Customer Service I would try my best to refund charges but from the company’s point of view, it’s not easy to tell what are fraud charges and what isn’t. The basic deal for us is that we’ll half the charges, and personally I would waive all charges with a dated police report.
because now I’m very worried about what the next statement will show.