[Lexis Mom]

can be such pains in the ass!!!

My youngest sister & I had always had separate cell phone accounts. Little more than a year ago, she asked if we could go together & do a family plan with shared minutes. She insisted her boyfriend HAD to have a cell phone, he really didn't want one, but she would not let it go.

After some checking & a few stipulations from me, I agreed. My stipulations were I had to be able to keep the "New Every Two" option & I had to be able to maintain my text messaging capabilities. I could as the primary account holder, so we set up.

We picked a plan with 700 shared minutes on it. I figured if we ever came close to exceeding that many minutes it would be me because I travel for work & use my cell alot when I do.

She went over our minutes last month & is on pace to probably exceed the minutes this month too. At 700 minutes, that is essentially 350 for each of us. Last month, she burned through 503 minutes of our 700.

No one in my family seems to understand or care why I am upset about this. They are all like... as long as she pays the overage charges why does it matter.

My point is, she is sucking up minutes that are essentially mine!!! While I have only come close to using my full allocation a few times, the point is she is putting us over & there is no reason for it. She has a home phone use that one & stop burning up our **** cell minutes!!!!

 

[jzgrlduff]

Yikes. So what is her excuse when you talk to her about it?

 

[Allie]

I feel your pain. Is she paying for the overages? Personally, since you are primary I would have her phone shut off. If she wants to be on a family acct with her boyfriend, she should do that separate from you.

We used to have my MIL on our family account, and she was doing the same thing--except she wasn't even PAYING us for her extra line. It really burned my ass that she would talk 300 of our 500 min even when I was paying and I couldn't talk all I needed to. We did end up cutting her off and it is much less stress.

 

[HersheyK's Dad]

Basic rule number 1. If it involves money, no family. Worst business partners are brothers and sisters. Worst loan to make or take is between family members. Don't do it, nothing good can happen.

 

[Thunders Mom]

We do that with our older (33) daughter. We have a 1000 mins and she was told to watch her time as DH travels over the road and he needs the mins. She has all the free texting she wants and boy does she use that AND more than her fair share of mins. I told her one more time on the mins. and you're done on our acct.

 

[Lexis Mom]

Yikes. So what is her excuse when you talk to her about it?

Amy, that is just it, she doesn't give me a reason! It is always, "What's the big deal, I'll pay for it, so why does it matter?" I think some of it is related to her trying to sell her house. Alot of the calls are to her girlfriend who is also her real estate agent.

Also, she was under the impression that we automatically at the Friends & Family, so the calls to this friend were not counting against our minutes. Well we need to have the next higher plan for that.

Allie, that is what my mother said last night, but I don't think we can do that until the plan anniversary, which is December.

 

[jzgrlduff]

I wish I could give you some of my minutes. We had to get 700 minutes (the minimum) and we only use half of that each month.

I say cut her off and tell her to get one with the boyfriend. How old is she? Does she live with you?

 

[Lexis Mom]

I wish I could give you some of my minutes. We had to get 700 minutes (the minimum) and we only use half of that each month.

I say cut her off and tell her to get one with the boyfriend. How old is she? Does she live with you?

She is 38 years old, owns her own house & has a good job!

 

[BigBrownDog]

I am a little dumbfounded by this thread. I would not advocate my sons sharing a plan - that seems like a recipe for disaster. At one point I had them both on one plan - but I was the one paying and monitoring usage. This puts you in a no-win situation. You have no real authority over your sister and she appears to not be willing to be an equitable partner on this.

I'd get out of this asap.

 

[amazongold]

I feel your pain. Before we changed our plan to include texting (which neither of us ever do) we were getting hit with huge overage amounts. I found out it was Bill's old boss - she would text instead of call and every time he read her messages, we got slapped with a fee!

Most of them were totally unnecessary, too: "I'm sitting in a meeting with so and so and he is boring!" "I'm driving my new truck and I luv it!" "I'm on my way to the job site but I'm stuck in traffic. Wonder if I can take a shortcut off exit 43?"

Grow up, woman, and act like a business owner instead of a teenager!

 

[BigBrownDog]

We do that with our older (33) daughter. We have a 1000 mins and she was told to watch her time as DH travels over the road and he needs the mins. She has all the free texting she wants and boy does she use that AND more than her fair share of mins. I told her one more time on the mins. and you're done on our acct.

Uh - I made my 22 year old son carry his own cell phone account and I thought I waited a couple of years too long.

 

[jzgrlduff]

Wait wait wait. 38 and owns her own home? I was thinking, from the sound of your story, that she was a teenager.

Cut her off.

 

[Allie]

I was thinking the same thing, Amy!

With Tmobile each line can "take responsibility" for their own line and break off from the family plan with no fees. I would tell Sis that the family plan is quits and you are converting to an individual plan.

 

[IzzyLucyWillie]

I have a family plan with 4 phones on it. We have 800 minutes to share and NEVER come close to using them all. Text messages are another story
I'd cut her loose. There is no advantage for you to have her on your plan.

 

[blacklabelias]

Deb, at 38 years old I think she should have her own account.

 

[Princess Zoe]

Deb, at 38 years old I think she should have her own account.

Uh ya. If her credit is too crappy to get one then that is her problem. I see a visit to Judge Judy in the near future for you guys. I would never open an account for someone else, family or not.

 

[gailatmsu]

Yikes...our cell phones are our primary phones, and I only use about 300 minutes or so per month. Jason is free or it'd be a lot more, but still... That's a lot of minutes to use when it's not a primary phone.

 

[Golfgirlrobin]

Basic rule number 1. If it involves money, no family. Worst business partners are brothers and sisters. Worst loan to make or take is between family members. Don't do it, nothing good can happen.

Wiser words were never spoken. The inevitable result is bad feelings, sitting around wondering how you ever got yourself involved in this mess, and how your brother/sister can be so irresponsible when you had the same parents.

 

[BigBrownDog]

Uh ya. If her credit is too crappy to get one then that is her problem. I see a visit to Judge Judy in the near future for you guys. I would never open an account for someone else, family or not.

LOL! Judge Judy came to mind for me as well. Especially since her (probably in his 30's) BF is using this phone too.

Sounds like a lot of not very good credit on the sister and BF's part. She should have a pay as you go phone.

 

[BoatDog]

Ok, at 38 I agree she needs her own plan - but, that said, if you're NOT using 1/2 or 350 minutes and she goes over her 1/2 - and pays for any overages - it SHOULD not be a big deal. The only big deal is she needs her own phone.