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Milwaukiedave
Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Location: Goseong
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 Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 6:04 pm Post subject: Outraged grandkids help woman stop monthly payments after 42 |
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Talk about an expensive phone....
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$14,000 spent on rented rotary phone
Outraged grandkids help woman stop monthly payments after 42 years
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:44 p.m. ET Sept. 14, 2006
CANTON, Ohio - A widow rented a rotary dial telephone for 42 years, paying what her family calculates as more than $14,000 for a now-outdated phone.
Ester Strogen, 82, of Canton, first leased two black rotary phones � the kind whose round dial is moved manually with your finger � in the 1960s. Back then, the technology was new and owning telephones was unaffordable for most people.
Until two months ago, Strogen was still paying AT&T to use the phones � $29.10 a month. Strogen's granddaughters, Melissa Howell and Barb Gordon, ended the arrangement when they discovered the bills.
"I'm outraged," Gordon said. "It made me so mad. It's ridiculous. If my own grandmother was doing it, how many other people are?"
New Jersey-based Lucent Technologies, a spinoff of AT&T that manages the residential leasing service, said customers were given the choice option to opt out of renting in 1985. The number of customers leasing phones dropped from 40 million nationwide to about 750,000 today, he said.
"We will continue to lease sets as long as there is a demand for them," Skalko said.
Benefits of leasing include free replacements and the option of switching to newer models, he said.
Gordon said she believes the majority of people leasing are elderly and may not realize they are paying thousands of dollars for a telephone.
Skalko said bills are clearly marked, and customers can quit their lease any time by returning their phones.
Strogen says she's not a big fan of her new push-button phone.
"I'd like to have my rotary back," she said. "I like that better." |
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Novernae
Joined: 02 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 6:14 pm Post subject: Re: Outraged grandkids help woman stop monthly payments afte |
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| Milwaukiedave wrote: |
| Ester Strogen, 82, of Canton, first leased two black rotary phones � the kind whose round dial is moved manually with your finger � in the 1960s. Back then, the technology was new and owning telephones was unaffordable for most people. |
This makes me feel old. They had to explain what a rotary phone was.  |
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bignate
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
Location: Hell's Ditch
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| Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 6:53 pm Post subject: Re: Outraged grandkids help woman stop monthly payments afte |
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| Novernae wrote: |
| Milwaukiedave wrote: |
| Ester Strogen, 82, of Canton, first leased two black rotary phones � the kind whose round dial is moved manually with your finger � in the 1960s. Back then, the technology was new and owning telephones was unaffordable for most people. |
This makes me feel old. They had to explain what a rotary phone was. |
Next they will try to take away my wired remote control......  |
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