A 73-year-old woman who signed up for fiber broadband service and received a free SIM card as part of the package was shocked to receive a bill for nearly $700 in data charges six months after throwing away the unused card.
Here’s what happened.
Elderly Mother Faces Unexpected Bill
Ms Zheng (37, name transliterated from Mandarin) told Shin Min Daily News that her 73-year-old mother signed up for home fiber broadband service at an M1 store in Woodlands Waterfront in March last year.
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A male store employee informed her that the contract came with a free SIM card that included 500MB of data.
“My mother doesn’t know how to use these devices and already has a phone card, so she didn’t need this card at all. She told the store employee she didn’t need it, and he suggested she just throw it away,” Ms Zheng explained.
Her mother immediately discarded the card in a garbage bin near her home.
However, when the January bill arrived, her mother was surprised to discover she had to pay $796.13, of which $696.59 was for data charges from the discarded SIM card.
The bill showed the card had been used to consume 62GB of network data, make a one-minute call, and send 28 text messages.
Her mother immediately called M1 customer service, who confirmed the card had indeed been used.
Service Disruption Due to Unpaid Bill
Ms Zheng suspects someone picked up the card her mother threw away and used it. “I applied to M1 to waive this fee, but they initially said they could only offer a 10% discount, then later said they could deduct $600, but my mother would still have to pay the remaining amount.”
Because they couldn’t reach an agreement with customer service, Ms Zheng hadn’t paid the January bill. Recently, she discovered that her mother’s internet service had been disconnected.
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“M1 informed us that because we didn’t pay on time, the service was suspended and would only be restored after payment,” she said.
Ms Zheng revealed that her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer last September and colon cancer in October, and has since begun chemotherapy. Her mother feels very guilty about this unexpected expense.
“She’s been worried that the SIM card might be used for illegal purposes by someone else and is afraid of getting into trouble because of it. She’s often anxious about this.”
M1’s Response to the Incident
When asked about the situation, an M1 spokesperson said that in their current 24-month Fibre Broadband promotion, M1 provides customers with a “SurfValue SIM Only” package.
As standard procedure for terminating SIM card service, staff would suggest that customers first cancel the SIM card through the customer service hotline before discarding it.
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“In the case of Ms.Zheng’s mother, we found large amounts of data usage on the SIM card, such as video streaming, browsing multiple social media sites, voice calls, and text messages. When Ms Zheng’s mother first contacted us in late January, we immediately terminated the service.”
The spokesperson noted that regarding the January bill, they had been working closely with Ms Zheng and her mother. Based on their situation, M1 has waived most of the outstanding fees, and Ms Zheng has settled the remaining amount.
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