Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well and keeping yourself and everyone around you safe during the pandemic time.
I am hoping if anyone can guide me or provide any suggestions regarding being charged extra for making long-distance calls by mistake. Actually me and my husband became parents 3 months ago and becuase we don't have any relatives living in Canada I had to ask for my mother who is 71 years old to come here and support me with the baby. because we live in a one bedroom apartment and we have a newborn, my mother had to quarantine herself at a different location alone for 14 days. Because of the baby, we were advised by our family physician not to meet my mother until she completes the quarantine period. so the airport pick was also pre-arranged for my mother. To keep in touch with us, I provided my mother with a phone and the Fido sim card in it so that we can call each other if there's any emergency or if my mother need anything else. Now I understand and knew that we were not supposed to make long-distance calls as it is very expensive and so I had explained my mother multiple times that she should not make long-distance calls to my siblings overseas and if she wanted to, she could use Whatsapp calling features. Just to let you know that my mother started using a mobile phone just a year ago so she is not mobile tech friendly.
So after she completed quarantine we brought her to our home and about a few days ago I recieved my first phone bill which was $683. I was surprised to see the high charges as the actual bill with details wasn't yet availabe in my fido account. So when I called Customer Service yesterday, I came to know that hald of the billing amount, I was charged over $275 for making long-distance calls which were made by my mother's number. the rest were part of the first bill which is always higher than expected. when I asked my mother about it, she said that she did not make those calls through Fido but through Whatsapp but when I explained about the charges, she realized that she must have made a mistake thinking that she was using whatsapp to make calls. Unfortunately because of her age and that she started using mobile phone recently she made this genuine mistake. The only reason why I wanted to give her a phone with Fido card in it is for communication between us while she was quarantined. My mother felt really bad about this sitation which made me sad as well. I have told her that its okay and that we will manage it so no need to worry about it.
The issue is that even $275 of extra charges are a big amount for me at this time.It things were normal, I would have definitely paid of the extra charges. However, due to pandemic we are in financial constrain and we don't have steady income making it difficult at times to manage out finances. When I explain the customer service agent about this situation and if there was a way I could get a waiver for this one time or reduction in amount, I was told that there is no way I can do this. I was also told that there is no email address or office where I can put in such a request.
So here I am. Any suggestions or leads will be highly appreciated. Thanks a lot in advance for your suggestions.
@high bill @extra charges @#longdistancecalls @FidoLony
