Teen's Cell Phone Bill? Parents and Teens Answer Please?

I have a teenager who ran up a cell phone bill of nearly $200.00 downloading ring tones and games, and using the internet on the phone. Her phone was added to our plan, which is supposed to be $10.00 a month for the line (plus taxes and surcharges).





I have taken the phone away from her until she works for the money to repay the bill, but she thinks this is unfair. Another option was for her to sell her stuff to pay the back bill. Part of the agreement was also a $50.00 deposit to be paid before she gets the phone back.





My question is, what do you other parents think of this, and what do you teens out there think of this as appropriate punishment for the bill? Any other suggestions to appropriate punishment would also be much appreciated.

Teen's Cell Phone Bill? Parents and Teens Answer Please?
I am a parent and I think that sounds perfectly reasonable. It's better for her to learn the responsibility that comes with having adult privileges (like a cell) and that Mom and Dad won't bail her out everytime she gets into trouble.
Reply:im 19 pay my own phone bill and that is totally fair i feel that you should also teach her responsibility by making her try to pay half of your phone bill for a month she needs to learn about bills somewhere
Reply:My son did something similar at 15 yrs old. I shut off the service with a temporary hold. More like an intreruption of service than a break in the contract. He acted as though I'd severed an arm!!! But, it gave him time to repay the ridiculous debt he'd incurred, plus made him realize that the land line, the computer with emails and instant messaging was still a practical way of getting ahold of friends. I also blocked the ringtone and game options and bought an unlimited text messaging program for $10 a month that he is solely responsible for.


I think you are right on track in your requests for payment and the loss of the phone. Cell phones are a privlege some teens and when any privlege is abused is can be lost sooooo quickly!
Reply:I think your punishment is right on, she obviously need to learn the value of a dollar, and she won't if you don't teach her.


In the future I would suggest taking her off of your service plan and buying a prepaid. And once the minutes are used up, she has to wait until the next month to talk on the phone.
Reply:As a parent I think you are making a fair decision. My daughter would agree with yours. Its a hard call being a parent but If she is old enough to have a phone she needs to understand actions have consequences.


Good Luck don't back down now
Reply:You are doing the right thing, by doing the things you stated above. My Special Olympic athlete, who is a friend who likes me alot, ran up his cell phone bill much more then $200.00. He actually ran it up to $1300.00 and his father (parents are divorced) disconnected the bill and he is not getting the cell phone re-activated until the bill is completely paid up. I even told him if I was his father that if he had a bill that high I do the same thing. Once he gets the phone re-activated, I told him NOT to download stuff, and ringtones etc. because that is what causes the bill to be so high, and don't use anything that would cause the bill to go up. I also explained to him that the cell phone is not a toy, even though you can play games on it, but treat it like a regular phone and only use it to make phone calls, send text messages, and play the games that are included in the phone package. He did learn his lesson about running such a high bill.
Reply:it is fair because she was an iresponsible brat who ran up te phone bill! I would never even get my kid a phone if she were like tha. What kind of phone n what company does she hve? If she has a cool newphone, give her an old phone so she can learn her leson
Reply:im 14 and i think what you did is pretty reasonable i have all the extra stuff on my cell phone but what ever i use on it have to pay for it because when my parents gave me my phone they made a deal with me if i dont pay them back 4 watever i use i lose the phone and i have to pay them back within a 5 day period and they also pay the 9.99 dollars for my phone sevice but i have a job to pay for my texting plan i think its like 20$ for 2000 messages but if i did wat your daughter did at my house i would be in some really deep carp maybe you should have her get a job to pay for the bill as a punishment
Reply:While I understand where you are coming from, but that's what teenagers do. They don't care bcause they don't pay for it. I would make her re-pay the bill %26amp; call your service provider and see if they have an unlimited plan for internet. (I.E. Verizon has mobile web for $5.00 a month. I don't know what provider you have.) There are websites that have free ringtones. Do a search for "(provider) free ringtones"


Also, tell her if she runs up the bill again, she will no longer have a cell phone until she has a job %26amp; pays for it herself.
Reply:well, I'm 14, and My first cell phone was when I was 12, almost 13 and I had it for only 4 months, in the 4 months my bill actually reached $1000 once, so of course i got it taken away for good. I highly regret my stupid desceons to text so much and keep begging my dad for a cell phone, but I just cant seem to get one now. I think your punishment is very fair, also remind her that next time you'll take away the phone for good and she has to pay her high bill.
Reply:I think she should have to work for the bill and still not get it back for at least a month afterwords. She needs to learn responsibility for her actions. You should also disable all the extras to that line to avoid any future charges and I would also limit her use of the phone to only when she goes out or something and she should have to bring it back to you until she can prove she can handle the responsibility again. Tell her if she wants that extra stuff she has to pay you before she downloads it. Good Luck! I think you are on the right track.
Reply:I think the way you handled it is just fine!





I'm a little bit mean I guess, would make her pay the full amount before she gets the phone back. Then she can see how hard it REALLY is to get that much money.





If anything like this happens again- I would have her get a PREPAID cell phone if it was me, she can buy her own minutes and if they don't last long then she will have to learn how to either A. earn more money or B. manage her money/minutes better.











~That's sort of like when people buy their 16 year olds cars and all of that- they don't respect it as much because they did not earn it and think that mommy and daddy are there. If the teenager helps pay for the car or totally pays for the car they end up driving it with more respect and taking care of it.
Reply:that's a great punishment and you should definitely stick with it. i have always had to put money on my own phone since i was 15 (19 now). sometimes my parents gave me $10 for my phone but for the most part i had to put my pocket money on my phone. BIG POINT NEVER NEVER give your child a contract phone i have friends who were on contract and they never cared how much they spent (and heres a little secret their friends will be asking to send the odd text as they have no money on their phone and they have a contract phone, so that helps run up the bill) my bf sister is 26 and her parents still pay her bill this summer she ran up a $600 bill and my bf even had to give his parents $200 to help them pay for it. he still hasn't got his money back and she doesn't have to pay a dime. that's awful parenting. i think you are fair and my parents did similar things i would hate for my parents to have not punished me and i would have ended up as spoiled and selfish as my bf sister and trust me you dont want that.
Reply:Hm. I think you've done the right thing, definitely.





You should be able to disable the internet on her phone. You might want to check that out with your phone company in case you think she might not be responsible to stop from using it.





You need to teach her that $200 is a lot of money when it comes unexpectedly. Heck! It's a lot of money when you expect it!





I think it's a great idea for her to have to pay off the bill. If I were you, I'd write up a contract with her, just to show you are serious about it. A $50 deposit for the phone back sounds reasonable to me. But, the trick is that it'll be hard to keep on her tail about it after she pays the "deposit". Maybe, you can tell her that if after another month she hasn't paid another $50, then you take the phone back until she does.





Don't let her sell her stuff. You bought the things, I'm sure, so it's really just your loss. If you are paying her to do extra chores or something, it may get to a point where it's easy to be leniant. Don't be! Stick to your guns! Fair pay for the work she does!!!
Reply:I think your punishment was a bare minimum of what I would have done! My 15 year old is a straight A student with a great attitude most of the time and HE does not even have his own cell phone. I won't comment on the entitlement attitude issues your daughter is exhibiting with her belief, based on what you have said here regarding what she deserves from you in terms of payment of her exhorbitant overages in addition to the basic phone which is a luxury item itself!


My child would lose the phone period and grounding would ensue until the entire amount was paid back in full. Period. I would still pay for food and basic needs but trips to the mall, movies out etc. that I normally footed the bill for would cease until the money was paid back.


Long and short, my son might have to actually get a job and earn some cash which what would happen if he did this in the future to any other creditor. This is how we teach our kids not to wrack up credit bills like the average American household has of $20,000.+!


Tough love you bet, but at the end of the day my kid knows I love him and have his best interests at heart. At age 15 he is my child not my best friend; that comes later once he is grown hopefully.
Reply:I agree with making her work to pay it off and get it back. The $50 deposit though may make her think that next time she decides to run her bill up she can say, but I paid my deposit dad! It was fair to take it away. Does she have a job? I would set a time limit on how long she has to pay it off, if she doesn't meet your deadline, the phone gets shut off until she can pay to get it back on. Good luck! My teenage sisters did the same thing to my dad repeatedly, he never learned....your doing the right thing.
Reply:Not only should she pay the bill, but you need to disable ALL of those extras on her phone. Just call the cell phone company, give them her number and they can take texting and the internet off of the phone. I wouldn't give her the phone back until she completely payed off the bill. As for "selling her stuff", that's fine as long as its things she purchased with her own money. If she sells the cd player that YOU bought for her, then its not really teaching her anything. I would even set her up with a "job". Do you have a neighbor willing to pay your daughter for help with house work or something? Let her know that she will be working for Ms Smith until her debt is payed off.
Reply:This is why teenagers only need those firefly phones that can only call or receive calls from phone numbers YOU program into the phone. Or Trac Phones with maybe 20-30 minutes on them. If she uses them up for any other reason than calling for a ride, oh well, no more phone. Don't give her the phone back that you have. Give her one of those like described above.
Reply:I'm a teenager and i think you should make her pay it back and then turn her phone off, because shes being irresponsible and if she thinks its unfair then obviously shes doesn't see the wrong in what shes has done, which means she hasn't learned her lesson.
Reply:i wouldn't give her the phone back period. Depending on her age i would make her get a part time job even if its only babysitting for a few hours a week so that she understands that you have to work to get money and working isn't easy.


Make her earn your trust back. if you are reading this to her tell her i said that it is irresponsible to use a cell phone as a toy, cell phones are luxuries and she should have been greatful just to have one.
Reply:i am 17 years old. i have tmobile and i have 300 minutes plus my 5 favs.which i think is $49 and i pretty much only talk to those 5 ppl. i have unlimited texting which is $15 a month and i get to download 5 ringtones or wallpapers per month for $9.99 my bill is usually 98-100.





but if ur bill is supposed to be 10.00 i think you should make her pay for it. there is no reason anybody needs to be talking or doing that much on a phone. she might fuss about it but when she has to pay that 200 every month she will find out real quick that she needs to calm down with the phone. dont give in. make her pay it or make her pay you back. does she have a job? a banking account? take the money out of that you have every right.





goodluck.
Reply:I think that if she wants to do what she wants on the phone she should pay for the expenses. Tell her when she gets it back that if she wants downloads she NEEDS to pay for it ALL
Reply:Shes sounds pretty irresponsible and kinda spoiled. I think it's a very fair punishment. You shouldn't have to pay for her irresponsibility. Honestly once this is done, if she does it again, i'd have her phone taken off completely unless she pays for her entire bill? How old is she anyways? it might do her some good in responsibility to pay her own bill. Infact, I'd turn her phone off period until she starts making money to pay for it completely.
Reply:I will say this as a mother and as a woman who did run up her parents phone bill when she was a child. You are being very fair. I think she should also have some other punishment to go along with it. I am telling you when my parents took it easy on me, i went and did it again! I think that i had the idea of "well that punishment wasn't so bad". And heck yeah she's going to think you are unfair. I thought my parents were unfair all the way until i got bills of my own and had to pay them myself. Smile you have yourself an all-american teen!
Reply:Seems to me that you have not taught your daughter that you have to WORK for that money. My Mom always reminds my Dad that it takes her X hours to pay for that toy that he wants.





I think you are being very fair. If the phone was in her name and she didn't pay it, she would permanently lose her service.