Australian Kids Going Bankrupt Over Cell Phone Bills

[Kor37 9]

Australian Kids Going Bankrupt Over Cell Phone Bills

Posted Nov 9th 2007 5:02PM by Evan Shamoon

Filed under: Cell Phones

 

Australians, what with their funny accents and numerous marsupials, really enjoy chatting to one another. With their funny accents. About marsupials. On cell phones.

 

So much so, in fact, that the NSW government says cell phone bills are to blame for the increasing numbers of young Australians seeking to declare themselves bankrupt. According to a survey conducted by the Office of Fair Trading, the young men and women are, often unknowingly, racking up huge bills.

 

"Suddenly they have got bills of $3,000 to $4,000 because they thought services they were getting in term of downloads and ringtones, and voting on Big Brother, were free," Fair Trading Minister Linda Burney said.

 

A survey of 1,000 Australians found 75 percent were "not confident" that their mobile phone premium content provider would address their concerns about a high bill. The OFT has apparently received more than 2,000 phone-related complaints over the past 18 months.

 

We agree that navigating the cell phone billing maze is awful and evil and all sorts of bad. But at the risk of stating the obvious, might we suggest a little less talking on the cell phone?

 

 

Chatty little country, isn't it?........

[GhostofMajorHayes 10]

No doubt there, but at least they gave us the Wiggles

[He Who Shall Not Be Named 2]

I don't know what the bankruptcy laws are in Australia, but $3-4K doesn't seem like it is worth bankruptcy.

 

Bankruptcy is about the worst thing to your credit that you can do. It is far worse than not paying a cell phone bill.