ay!!Phone bill
If you’re using an iPhone from Globe Telecom, there’s something you need to know about the default internet settings. Or else you could be merrily surfing along, only to be hit by a 50,000-peso phone bill at the end of the month. Which is what happened to someone we know. Here’s the story from Gerry K, whose 15,000 and 17,000-peso phone charges are on the low end of the monthly statement shockers. We know Gerry’s a madman but he’s right in this case, not just because in a crazy world the mad etc, but because this has happened to a lot of iPhone users here.
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Scarcely had I finished gloating over having kept my new year’s resolution (I will not buy any books for the first quarter of 2009) I found myself at a bookstore paying for a copy of Anthony Beevor’s Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege 1942-1943. It was the 70s-martial law baby-pre-open markets upbringing that made me do it (“If you don’t grab that book now it’ll disappear forever!”). I’ll forgive myself for the rule violation and go back to observing the moratorium until 31 March 2009.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
March 8th, 2009 at 22:49
Dissenting opinion from Joey, an iPhone user, not a Globe employee:
I think the question that needs to be asked here is, why did he get an iPhone in the first place?
If he got it simply as a phone, then there should not have been an issue on his bill.
However, if he got an iPhone aware of the fact that he could surf the internet, check the weather, download his mail, etc., then common sense dictates that such a service does not come without a cost. And he should have asked about that before getting his iPhone.
Now to answer some of his points. If he bothered to check everything in the box, there is a manual, its titled finger tips. and it shows you how to use the various features of the iphone.
15,000 and 17,000 do not add up to 27,000, even a grade 3 student could tell you that. Again, there is a manual inside the box, it’s in the black holder that holds the iPhone case in the box, along with a screen cleaner. Globe does not need to give any lessons because Apple designed the iPhone for ease of use, as it has done with all its other products.
Globe sold the phone knowing there is a manual in the box. And the people there are trained to help you out with any questions, as they did me when i first got my iPhone. (I wasn’t sure whether my US iTunes account would sync with a local phone -it does automagically). If there are other people with the same problem, then again, I would have to ask the same questions as I did at the start.
I think it’s Gerry who should be fouled out because he did not bother to do his research and ask about the iPhone before jumping in and getting one. I don’t want to assume that he got it just to be “cool” and not think about the other expenses involved in getting more services than a normal cell phone. Neither do I want to assume that he is using this as a forum to get his charges waived. After all if you do read the contract you sign with Globe it does say that there will be charges for the internet usage.
Perhaps it’s best if he just owned up to mistakes, as much as I wish GMA would. But then again, that may be asking for too much.
March 9th, 2009 at 18:56
duh! how can anyone use a gadget without reading a manual. at least the first few pages… if he has a wireless setup at home or anywhere (where its free), then surfing the net, downloading apps and music or whatever should be free.
i’ve been using my iphone and have only used wifi to access the net – i haven’t been over billed on data usage. if he think he got his bill wrong the first time, why didn’t he check with his provider straightaway?
stupid, stupid, stupid….
BTW, I live overseas – i don’t pay the same amount on my bill tho.
March 9th, 2009 at 23:26
“i” in iPhone probably means “intelligent”
(hey! its anybodies guest at this point)
just an advice
“don’t buy a phone smarter than you”
nakakahiya kasi…….^_^
March 13th, 2009 at 00:32
i have been using iPhone for about two years now (i am based in the US), and i can see the reason why people are lining up for this gadget. i t does everything but make coffeE, so to speak. its surprising that such a complaint was lodged and even worse, addressed to the wrong people.
1. default settings were done by Apple, not Globe.
2. surfing the net for stocks, weather, or even horoscope is a paid option unless specified by your provider that its free, as it is with ATandT. I believe that when you sign up your plan with Globe, it was spelled out for you
3. there is a manual, trust me. if yours, freakishly did not come with it, when you register at iTunes, there is also link there that will basically walk you through everything that the phone could do.
4. P15,000 and P17,000 doesnt make P27,000
I followed a link that led me towards the resolution of his issue and it said something about “taking it to the top”, meaning Mr Zobel de Ayala. I dont really know who the complainant is, but i presume he is well connected for such letters to be even noticed. The whole thing is laughable and reeks of ignorance but it does prove true the saying (literally) that “ITS NOT WHAT YOU KNOW BUT WHO YOU KNOW).