Friend charged me double for my monthly phone bill for over a year, now what?

[kktripp]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Michigan

A friend of mine came to me about a year and a half ago asking me if by any chance i wanted to have an extra phone of hers, it was originally her sisters (phone is on friends contract) but her sister ended up not being able to afford the monthly bill so she had to give the phone back and my friend claimed she could not afford this extra phone or the termination fees for it. I agreed that i would take the phone and pay the monthly bill to her for it as it was an upgrade from the prepaid phone i had at the time and i didn't mind helping her out.
I paid $80 religiously every month for a year before i started questioning the price i was paying for my bill when i had several people telling me that i was paying too much for the phone. I talked with her about it and she assured me that with insurance, data, and everything else i wasn't being overcharged and with this being my first contract phone i believed her, sort of, and let it go but constantly wondered. A few months later after my curiosity got the best of me i started digging online to see what our specific plan on a smartphone with 6 active lines would run for and i ended up finding out that i was indeed getting ripped off.
I called Verizon to confirm and they were able to break down everything for me so i could understand how much my monthly bill should be (we had to do it the hard way as i don't have the pin to her account so they couldn't provide me with info that way) and with 4 smartphones and 2 iPads, which are all the lines she has active, i would only need to be paying $45 a month.
I took pictures of the breakdown i found online and told her exactly what the Verizon representative told me over the phone and sent her all of the info i was able to find by looking my account up online using my phone number (the bill was also over $1,000 when i checked my phone account online with $700 due immediately so i'm assuming the bill money i had given her the previous month didn't even go towards the phone bill) and she got angry and told me that she was allowed to charge whatever she wanted for the phone because it is hers and then she stopped responding and then shut my phone off a week later.
I now have a new phone and i still have my old phone but now i'm wondering if there is anything i can do about this or if i can legally at least keep the phone. She asked for it back once before and i planned on giving it back once my last months bill i paid for was up but now that she shut my phone off early and i have thought about all of the money that was taken from me, i feel as though it should be mine now. She has always had the 6 active lines so i was being overcharged from the get go, however i never had her give me any written receipts when i did pay her as i trusted her so i technically don't have any proof i ever paid her anything... If i cant do anything about the money (you live and learn) i would at least like to know if i can legally keep this phone.

 

[Mark Maroon]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Michigan
A friend of mine came to me about a year and a half ago asking me if by any chance i wanted to have an extra phone of hers. <blah blah blah>

My personal opinion:

Based on your investigation you think that your friend "overcharged" you about $35/month for about a year and a half. That's about $630. It's not worth filing a civil law suit against your friend to try and collect that from her.

Keep the cell phone that she gave you and either use it yourself or sell it. She could potentially sue you to recover the cell phone or it's value, but it's a he-said/she-said situation as to what your agreement was WRT to the phone itself, and it is not likely that she will sue you to try and get it or it's value back.

Live and learn.

 

[CSO286]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Michigan

A friend of mine came to me about a year and a half ago asking me if by any chance i wanted to have an extra phone of hers, it was originally her sisters (phone is on friends contract) but her sister ended up not being able to afford the monthly bill so she had to give the phone back and my friend claimed she could not afford this extra phone or the termination fees for it. I agreed that i would take the phone and pay the monthly bill to her for it as it was an upgrade from the prepaid phone i had at the time and i didn't mind helping her out.
I paid $80 religiously every month for a year before i started questioning the price i was paying for my bill when i had several people telling me that i was paying too much for the phone. I talked with her about it and she assured me that with insurance, data, and everything else i wasn't being overcharged and with this being my first contract phone i believed her, sort of, and let it go but constantly wondered. A few months later after my curiosity got the best of me i started digging online to see what our specific plan on a smartphone with 6 active lines would run for and i ended up finding out that i was indeed getting ripped off.
I called Verizon to confirm and they were able to break down everything for me so i could understand how much my monthly bill should be (we had to do it the hard way as i don't have the pin to her account so they couldn't provide me with info that way) and with 4 smartphones and 2 iPads, which are all the lines she has active, i would only need to be paying $45 a month.
I took pictures of the breakdown i found online and told her exactly what the Verizon representative told me over the phone and sent her all of the info i was able to find by looking my account up online using my phone number (the bill was also over $1,000 when i checked my phone account online with $700 due immediately so i'm assuming the bill money i had given her the previous month didn't even go towards the phone bill) and she got angry and told me that she was allowed to charge whatever she wanted for the phone because it is hers and then she stopped responding and then shut my phone off a week later.
I now have a new phone and i still have my old phone but now i'm wondering if there is anything i can do about this or if i can legally at least keep the phone. She asked for it back once before and i planned on giving it back once my last months bill i paid for was up but now that she shut my phone off early and i have thought about all of the money that was taken from me, i feel as though it should be mine now. She has always had the 6 active lines so i was being overcharged from the get go, however i never had her give me any written receipts when i did pay her as i trusted her so i technically don't have any proof i ever paid her anything... If i cant do anything about the money (you live and learn) i would at least like to know if i can legally keep this phone.

I don't suppose you and she putting anything in writing, hmm?

If you were to attempt to obtain your own smartphone line with Verizon, you would be paying a minimum of $90 per month for bare bones smartphone services BEFORE taxes and fees. You're still getting a deal.

You agreed to pay $80/month. The time to argue the amount would have been at the time you made the agreement. Also, it wasn't simply you helping your friend out. You had full use of a smartphone at a reduced plan (when compared to an individual smartphone plan).

It is her phone, she lent it to you, you need to return it.

(To sum up, nothing illegal occurred.)

 

[Zigner]

I agree with CSO -

To sum it up. Friend offered you the use of a cell phone for $80/month. You agreed to pay (and, in fact, did pay) $80/month for use of said cell phone. No overcharging occurred.

As to ownership of the phone: It depends on facts not given.

 

[FamilyGirl]

If she reports the phone stolen to Verizon, you won't be able to activate it. If you sell it to someone and they try to activate it, you will have an unhappy customer to say the least. She is still the owner of the phone and depending on the type of phone it is she will most likely want it back for a myriad of reasons.

 

[justalayman]

have y'all not seen the ads for $35, $40, $50, and $60 a month for unlimited service currently offered by various carriers?

I called Verizon to confirm and they were able to break down everything for me so i could understand how much my monthly bill should be (we had to do it the hard way as i don't have the pin to her account so they couldn't provide me with info that way) and with 4 smartphones and 2 iPads, which are all the lines she has active, i would only need to be paying $45 a month.

there is very often not a linear increase in an account when adding additional phones or other devices.

In my last contract it was about $120 for 2 phone but each additional phone after that was $20 (up to 4 or so I think). Do you think you would owe only $20 in that situation?

so, unless you have the actual details of her account you could not calculate an accurate cost for your phone or determine what was fair to charge you. Unless the friend gave you a specific price, you are likely to lose if you sue.

 

[single317dad]

Keep the cell phone that she gave you and either use it yourself or sell it. She could potentially sue you to recover the cell phone or it's value, but it's a he-said/she-said situation as to what your agreement was WRT to the phone itself, and it is not likely that she will sue you to try and get it or it's value back.

I wouldn't advise this. The phone probably belongs to the account owner legally, and if the contract isn't fulfilled it's a paperweight anyway.

 

[CSO286]

have y'all not seen the ads for $35, $40, $50, and $60 a month for unlimited service currently offered by various carriers?


there is very often not a linear increase in an account when adding additional phones or other devices.

In my last contract it was about $120 for 2 phone but each additional phone after that was $20 (up to 4 or so I think). Do you think you would owe only $20 in that situation?

so, unless you have the actual details of her account you could not calculate an accurate cost for your phone or determine what was fair to charge you. Unless the friend gave you a specific price, you are likely to lose if you sue.

Well, since the OP said Verizon specifically, I went to their website and ran my numbers based off the basic single line smartphone plans.

I totally get the "each add'l line is cheaper". Heck, we added my mum to our plan for $10/mth, so she wouldn't have to go out and get her own plan.
But without OP's "friend" offering him (her?) the line at a still-cheaper-than-full price, if OP wanted Verizon, then he'd have to fork over more money on his own.