2OLD2PLAY
Search

Dad hammers Wyo. teen's phone

W
Wheeler

 


This is why you keep a better eye on what your kids are doing.


 


http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_12097656


CHEYENNE — In one month, a Cheyenne teenager sent 10,000 text messages and received about the same — all while her family's plan did not include texting.


That means the family's provider — Verizon — charged them for each incoming and outgoing text message.


The girl's parents, Gregg and Jaylene Christoffersen, thought texting had been disabled, so one can imagine their surprise when they got the monthly phone bill and it asked for $4,756.25.


"It just hit us like a rock, like you're stepping into a bus," Gregg Christoffersen said.


The bill was legit.


Dena Christoffersen, 13, had apparently been sending most of these messages at school. That's more than 300 texts within an eight-hour period every


day for the whole month.


Needless to say, it drew attention away from what she should have been doing: paying attention in class.


"She went from A's and B's one semester to F's in two months," Dena's dad said.


Hours after the enormous bill arrived, Gregg Christoffersen took a hammer to his daughter's phone.


He and Jaylene also grounded Dena until the end of school.


"I felt really bad, and I have learned my lesson," Dena said, with her head down.


Since she lost her phone, Dena's grades have gone up, and the texting is down to zero.


As for the phone bill, the family says Verizon has been willing to knock it down to a reasonable level.


The Christoffersens are asking school administrators at Johnson Junior High School to crack down on cellphone use during school.


 

Comments (6)

K
KittenMag·
why did the parents let her have a cell phone in the first place. I wasn't allowed to have one until I was able to pay for it myself.
M
MTPathy·
lol when i worked at at&t i got ahold of a kid who streamed internet radio on her phone and ended up with a $15,000 bill... she didnt have a data plan..and yup it was all legit..
B
BalekFekete·
@Kitten - it's because we are in a different world today than we grew up in. Kids today are much more active, but yet more restricted, than when we were kids. I used to bike across 3 towns to a \"local\" arcade. Now-a-days, it's not safe to let your kids go half way across town. Cell phones are for communicaiton - so the kids can get in touch with me or the wife at any point in time and, more importantly, vice versa.
H
happ·
My daughter has a firefly phone for emergencies. It doesn't have texting capabilities. In fact, it's only got 5 buttons on the front, the green and red phone buttons to answer and receive calls, a mom button, a dad button and a menu button. It can only call/receive calls from individuals we program into it. She'll be 8 next month, but since a friend picks her up from school, it gives her (and her mother) comfort that she can call or be called in an emergency.\r \r The parents in this story failed to parent. It's that simple. There are options to avoid this type of thing if they looked for them. They also should have been able to monitor the usage long before the bill came.
M
MineMagnet506·
Dumb ass kid + ignorant parents = comedy gold!!
W
Wheeler·
When I first got my daughter a cell phone she had a limit on texts. She only had 500 per month. I stayed with that plan for about a year. She did great with that only going over once and then it was only by one or two. Now she has the unlimited texting plan. She showed great control when she had only 500. Her texting 15,000 a month is easy.