What To Do If Your Cell Phone is Lost or Stolen

Not too long ago, my daughter lost her cell-phone. Like any reasonable person, she assumed that she had left it at a friend’s house, or at home or in her other purse. So she didn’t tell us for two days.

Days in which the person who found her phone racked up over $500 worth of phone calls to an island in the Caribbean.

Frantic calls to our carrier (T-Mobile) were fruitless, the policeman who accepted our report was pessimistic, and the fine print of our cellular service contract (which of course we never read) was unambiguous – we were responsible for any charges incurred up to the point at which we notified our carrier that the phone had been lost. Sorry.

Off I went to the web, and after a fair amount of searching, found nothing other than a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth by cellphone customers like ourselves, and no advice from anyone other than to just pay the bill.

Undaunted, I scoured T-Mobile’s site and finally determined that, according to our contract, we could ask that our case go to arbitration. This request had to be in writing, of course, using the proper form letters, which were to be sent to both to theT-Mobile and the AAA (American Arbitration Association), along with a check to the AAA for for our portion of the arbitration fee ($25).

I was prepared to offer the arbitrators that we would pay the actual costs to T-Mobile for putting through those calls through, which I was sure was pennies on the dollar compared to what they were asking from us. But I felt I could effectively argue that T-Mobile should not be permitted to profit from thievery.

Mr. TBTAM sent those letters right off.

About 2 weeks later, we received a letter from T-Mobile informing us that they had recieved our letter, but that we still had to pay the charges. Still not a word from the AAA…

Then one night about two weeks later, we received a phone call from T-Mobile.

In studying our calling pattern, they said, they noted that we had never made any long distance calls on that phone before the phone was lost. (Of course, they could have figured that out when all this started…) And although I am not permitted to divulge the terms of what they offered us, let’s just say we felt entirely vindicated.

And last week, the icing on then cake – The AAA sent us our $25 check back!

So why, you ask, did T-Mobile suddenly change their mind?

The letter we received from AAA the next day answered the question. You see, it turns out that the AAA charges T-Mobile a whole lot of money for their arbitration services – in our case, $975 to be exact. Since our disputed bill was less than that, it did not pay T-Mobile to go to arbitration. Of course, T-Mobile knew that all along, but kept it to themselves, all the while continuing to demand that we pay the charges. I’m sure that most folks give up and pay the darned bill out of frustration, and T-Mobile counts on that. So they continued to stonewall until you go through the necessary steps to resolve the dispute.

According to an article I read recently, 25% of cellphones are lost or stolen every year. (I can’t find the reference, but I remember the data.) That’s millions of dollars in illegal charges for cellphone companies. While it is totally within the realm of available technology for them to intercept and confirm unusual calling patterns, it is in their financial interest not to do a thing to help stem these calls, and to do everything they can to ask us to subsidize this portion of their business.

The Bottom Line

If your phone is lost, the first and most important thing you must do it to notify your carrier. Despite this, someone may have racked up illegal usage fees on your phone prior to your notification.

If this happens, you must notify the police. Then get ready to fight with your carrier.

If they that you pay the charges, don’t give in unless you have no other recourse. Read the fine print, and do everything you can do dispute the charges, including going to arbitration. Since the arbitration charges vary depending upon the amount in dispute, I can’t promise the numbers will work out as well for you as they did for us.

But I suspect that in most cases, it won’t pay for your carrier to go to arbitration and you may very well find that you do not have to pay these illegal charges.

Good luck.