Woman Sues Mobile Phone Provider, Because Consolidated Bill 'Revealed' Her Affair
from the first-world-problems dept
Ah, modern technology. Michael Geist points us to the story of a woman in Canada who is suing her mobile phone provider, Rogers, for supposedly "revealing" the fact that she was having an affair. Basically, she had a mobile phone account with Rogers under her maiden name, which she used to have long chats with someone she was having an affair with. Her husband had set up the family's cable TV service, also from Rogers. At one point, he called Rogers to add internet and home phone service to the account, and Rogers then mailed a "global" bill that included all accounts. In looking over the bill, the husband noticed the long phone calls all to one number, and called it, and got the guy to admit to the affair. Following that, he left the wife.Now the woman, whose husband walked out, is suing the communications giant for $600,000 for alleged invasion of privacy and breach of contract, the results of which she says have ruined her life.I don't know, but I'd have to say that, perhaps, having the affair was the key problem here, rather than the bill. Hell, the husband could have just as easily opened the original mobile phone bill which was sent to the same house. It doesn't say so, but it seems likely that when the guy called to add services, Rogers asked if he wanted the bills consolidated and the guy just said yes.
Furthermore, the whole thing gets more bizarre later, when the story also claims that the "jilted third-party" later got access to the woman's voicemail and "harassed" her and "taunted" her (ex-)husband. And, on top of that, the article later notes "the wrongdoing that occurred in 2007 reoccurred" because the phone was still being billed to her husband's account in 2009. This part is left vague, but, it makes you wonder why two years after her husband had left her, she hadn't set up separate phone service for herself.
I'm sure it sucks to have all that happen, but it seems like a pretty big stretch to blame your mobile phone provider for the affair you had that caused your spouse to leave you...
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Filed Under: mobile bills, privacy
Companies: rogers
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Ex Wife
They should make this a game show. All disputes go before a panel like American Idol and the true cases get to move on but the stupid ones get ridiculed. Imagine some one like Simon... "Let me get this strait, You had an affair, Your husband found out about it through a phone bill and now your life is ruined and that is the phone companies fault? Are you a complete idiot or is some of you missing?"
I would watch it... Hell I would sue people to be on TV, oops did I say that out loud?
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Makes sense to me
That wouldn't be the Canadian way.
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Re: Makes sense to me
I know this, when I'm out taggin' bitches like a chamillionaire, I always call them on my throwaway phone....
Holy Christ, am I ever white....
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Re: Re: Makes sense to me
I must now wipe the Coke from my monitor!
I wanna be you when I grow up!
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Re: Re: Makes sense to me
Holy Christ, am I ever white....
for real. it's called a burner.
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Like it or not...
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Re: Like it or not...
You suspect that this alleged error violated her privacy and that she has a "real case here."
My question, what Canadian statute are you relying on? I.e., the statute which states that companies cannot combine bills sent to one household.
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pretty freakin sad right there.
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Re: Like it or not...
But hey they said "some stuff" and "consolidate all of your bills into one easy payment!" "Hey easy sounds good, errr... go for that? I guess? can i watch TV now?"
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Re: Like it or not...
(As for the morality of her actions, I don't see that it's relevant; even if what she was doing with the account was wrong, that doesn't excuse Rogers.)
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Re: Re: Like it or not...
And as I mention below, even if there was a privacy violation (they ARE married, marriage may affect privacy rights), she is asking for $600,000 because of her ruined marriage, but Rogers had nothing to do with her affair.
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Re: Like it or not...
However...the lady is suing for $600,000. This is probably due to the fact that she's now divorced. But her divorce is not the fault of Rogers, so Rogers should not be on the hook for that kind of damages.
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Forget the infidelity, this is a red herring
The woman had a contract in her name with Rogers, Rogers abused and broke that contract.
I imagine it happened something like this: Either the Rogers agent noticed two accounts with different names at the same address and asked the person he was speaking with if they knew this other account holder or the "husband" initiated the request by saying this person with a different surname was his wife. This was the first breach of contract, giving away personal information of a customer without that costumer's express permission. In either case the Rogers agent took that information, "thats my wife"¯, at face value, and without confirming that this information was true, terminated her contact and created a new contract with her "husband"¯.
Now imagine you are a student, or someone else sharing a house, or renting a room in a shared household (which, BTY is a lot of people under 30). Now Rogers notices that there are several people with different names and separate contracts living at the same address and starts asking someone you live with questions about you. What if they say they are your husband or wife? See where this is going?
What if the information the "husband" gleaned from the bill has nothing to do with an affair, but still caused damages? What if they were going to split up and was speaking to an attorney, or the spouse was trying get help escaping an abusive relationship?
If Rogers isn't taken to task for this breach of contract, then it sets a precedent for all corporations in Ontario; that it's okay to give their customer's information to another customer and change their contract without getting their approval.
Just as a side note, if you read the Star article you get this likely overlooked gem:
"After her husband left her and their two children, ages 6 and 7..."
So your wife has an affair and you leave your kids? Some father he is, no wonder she was looking for someone else to love her.
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Still a red herring...
Two students, A and B, have accounts with Rogers. B adds some new Internet service, and the bill gets consolidated. A feels that their privacy rights have been infringed, and sues Rogers.
How much in damages do you think A deserves? I doubt the figure you're generating in your head is in the vicinity of $600,000.
Rogers did not ruin their marriage. That woman ruined her marriage. If her husband was so bad, she should have divorced him before making booty calls. But all of that is beside the point - that woman wants money from Rogers to make up for the marriage that *SHE* ruined. She wants a handout.
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Re: Forget the infidelity, this is a red herring
It seems that Rogers has taken the concept of 'bundling' WAY too far. (The Canadians reading this will know what I'm talking about...)
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Re:
When she got the account with Rogers under her maiden name instead of her legal name, is that fraud?
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And lets not bring american lawsuits into this. They'll sue a person for giving them hot coffee.
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You may be correct, Rodgers may have violated her phone contract. But if that is the case, why is the affair mentioned at all? Violation of a contract is not usually punishable by fines more than double or triple the total value of the contract. So where does $600,000 come from?
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Re:
Let's say Alice and Bob have a rental contract. The contract says that Alice is to pay Bob $100/month. Now let's say Bob uses his master key to enter the apartment and destroys all of Alice's property. How much is Bob liable for? The $100 for that month's rent, or the value of all the damage he caused?
And maybe Bob didn't do the damage himself, he just gave Alice's key to Charlie, her ex-lover. Charlie is responsible as well, but Bob is still clearly responsible for more than just the $100 rent.
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Billing
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Billing
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Seems a straightforward privacy issue
Yeah, she may be a two-timing hussy, but her data gets to be just as private as her cuckolded husband's.
It may very well have been a fairly "honest" mistake on Rogers' part, but they may have screwed up. What if it were two unrelated roommates, rather than a husband and wife? And I don't think it really matters that she shouldn't have been having an affair. What if the calls were all to her doctor or something, and this disclosure resulted exposure of a private medical matter?
I wouldn't be so quick to blame her and exonerate Rogers.
HM
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Re: Seems a straightforward privacy issue
I agree, Rogers screwed up big; however, they didn't make her have an affair, they didn't make her husband leave her, and they didn't cause her to lose her job. They made a mistake and possibly violated contract law, Ontario doesn't even have a privacy law which protects her data (although they should).
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Whole thing coulda been avoided completely
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maybe she had REALLY REALLY long hot conversations with her secret lover to the tune of $200,000? hehehe damn thats some extensive (expensive) phonesex............
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Sure, if the company did wrong, they should be fined, but 600,000 dollars? remove the adultery problems after, then look at it as a clerical error, what would be the consequences then?
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The harm caused by the breach of contract/privacy should be taken into account. What if they were divorced over abuse and Rogers released the ex-wife's information to the ex-husband, allowing him to find out her current (previously unknown to him) address? Then he goes to her place and kills her. Should Rogers only be held accountable for a simple "clerical error?"
Again, I'm not condoning her actions and if this hadn't happened she would likely have been found out some other way. But, Rogers must be held accountable.
On another note, I wonder how many folks, adulterous or not, have cancelled their Rogers accounts for fear that Rogers will be loose with their private information.
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find whether your spouse is cheating or not
http://www.freephonenumberfinder.com/new+york/area-code-347/manhattan/347.262.xxxx
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