Man Donates Cell Phone, Gets Stuck With $1,200 Bill

[Mike Temporale]

http://www.lsj.com/columnists/schneider/040520_john_1b.html

"A cynic would have a ready-made title for this story: "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished." That suggestion drew a mirthless chuckle from Harold Dunn of Corunna, the good-deed doer being made to pay dearly for his act of charity. Responding to an appeal from the Shiawassee Council on Aging, Dunn donated two cell phones. The agency regularly distributes donated phones to senior citizens who can't afford them. The deactivated phones are good for only one purpose - dialing 911 in emergencies. The problem was that Dunn didn't deactivate his phones; he thought the folks at the Shiawassee Council on Aging would do that for him. Suddenly Dunn, a senior citizen himself, is on the hook for $1,000 worth of phone calls. With interest, the bill is more than $1,200 now, and growing daily. He's been hearing lately from a collection agency representing Verizon Wireless."

What's worse is the Shiawassee Council on Aging that collects and then distributes the donated phones doesn't keep track of where the phones go. So they can't track down who has the phone now. How many of you have 2 activated phones just sitting around the house that you could donate? I have a number of old phones, but none of them are active.

[Mike Temporale]

http://www.lsj.com/columnists/schneider/040520_john_1b.html

"A cynic would have a ready-made title for this story: "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished." That suggestion drew a mirthless chuckle from Harold Dunn of Corunna, the good-deed doer being made to pay dearly for his act of charity. Responding to an appeal from the Shiawassee Council on Aging, Dunn donated two cell phones. The agency regularly distributes donated phones to senior citizens who can't afford them. The deactivated phones are good for only one purpose - dialing 911 in emergencies. The problem was that Dunn didn't deactivate his phones; he thought the folks at the Shiawassee Council on Aging would do that for him. Suddenly Dunn, a senior citizen himself, is on the hook for $1,000 worth of phone calls. With interest, the bill is more than $1,200 now, and growing daily. He's been hearing lately from a collection agency representing Verizon Wireless."

What's worse is the Shiawassee Council on Aging that collects and then distributes the donated phones doesn't keep track of where the phones go. So they can't track down who has the phone now. How many of you have 2 activated phones just sitting around the house that you could donate? I have a number of old phones, but none of them are active.

[Jerry Raia]

I'm sure the well oiled Verizon machine is hard at work trying to help this poor man......NOT

[Jason Dunn]

Let me sing the praises of GSM once again - the SIM is the important part, the phone is just a shell. Your SIM is your phone number, so you'll never give that away...

[Jerry Raia]

Whenever I get rid of an old phone, eBay or otherwise, not only do I master reset and master clear, I also go into the NAM and zero out the phone number. If the phone is still active though and with over the air progamming, dont know if it would have helped this poor fellow.