Job Discussion Forums

[nawlinsgurl]

Ok so this one may be a bit off topic, but I got my second vodafone bill today and I couldn't believe my eyes. It is for 48756 yen!!!!! The first bill was only for 6000 yen, and I haven't done anything different this month. I tried calling the English helpline, but they are useless. Any ideas???
Thanks!

[Nismo]

Your bill will show you exactly where the charges come from...

Were you using any internet features? Sending a lot of email or skymail or cmail or whatever other kind of mails exist on the various services? Did you make an international phone call?

You can also check your call log yourself, it will show incoming and outgoing calls.

[JimDunlop2]

Ummm.. Sometimes they charge you for the phone itself (even though they advertise 0 yen) sometimes it means: pay 0 NOW, we'll bill you for it later.... At least that was the case with me and my AU phone. But even then, the cost of the phone was only about 5000 yen.

Dunno, best thing to do would be to go into a Vodaphone shop and ask them to break it down for you....

Sorry I can't give any better advice....

JD

[Zzonkmiles]

Japanese calling plans are VERY small and VERY expensive. I mean, there are several plans that give you less than 300 minutes of talking time each MONTH. Going over your allotted minutes will cost you anywhere from 10 to 40 yen per minute, depending on your plan. If you're using Vodafone, I'm assuming you've subscribed to the Value Pack Silver Plan, which gives you either 300 minutes or 150 minutes (I don't remember). Spending an hour on the phone with your friends each night will KILL you. I've pulled consecutive 20,000+ bills myself, so I know how you feel. Also, if you've subscribed to their global calling plan that lets you dial international numbers, those rates are astronomical. The rates advertised are rates PER EVERY 30 SECONDS, so you might as well double that to get the per minute rate, which seems a bit less reasonable than the prices they advertised.

Use Skymail. It's cheaper.

And check your billing statement too. It's also quite possible that a roommate or a friend or someone else was using your phone without your permission.

[me3]

I dont know but I suggest you go in off the street to any of the 1 million vodafone shops and ask them to call an ENglish speaker. They have a direct line.

I am thinking that you got scammed. My Japanese friend explained it for over an hour before he let me use my phone. The criminal gangs in Tokyo call you once and hang up. If you return the call, it is like one of those sex hot lines at 40 000 yen / minute. I'm guessing that is what happened. Never return a call that only rings once and is from TOKYO!!!!

Look in to it.

Me 3

[Nagoyaguy]

I think those are called "wan-giri" calls in Japanese. Wan is like you said, "one ring", and "giri" means obligations. As in, you are obligated to pay for the call if you return it. Same thing happens with email on cell phones too. Many people here are so passive and timid that they will pay rather than raising a stink about it.

Same kind of scam happens to elderly people. It's called the "ore ore" scam. Some con artist will call them saying "ore ore" (It's me) and pretending to be their son. The con artist will say that they need money to pay for a car accident so that they dont go to prison and ask the elderly person to quicly deposit thousands of dollars into a bank account. They are quite elaborate scams, often other consters will call the victim, pretending to be the police who are 'investigating the crime', or lawyers of the scam's purported victim.

[campestre]

watch out for numbers you dont recognize, and the one ringers