What can i do? Please help...

Have a problem and am not sure what to do or what i can do about it.

Had an ex-house mate (also an ex-partner) who sprung a surprise (and unwelcome) visit one Friday in January '08 and refused to leave the house. Insisted on staying there so i left the place to go to my current partner's place for a few days (till the ex leaves).

My monthly bill amounts to $60 and $80 tops. Was just checking the bill to make my monthly payment and i discovered that in the 4 days, the ex raked up long distance calls worth US$1,800! There was no mention to me of any calls made and no permission was given either.

Did not set up block codes for international calling as no one uses the house line for that purpose. That person has since left the country. Is there anything i can do?

You should contact the phone company to see what your options are, although as you are ultimately responsible for the phone, it might be difficult to have the charges removed.

aee

The phone compan may reduce it--and/or you may need to sue the person in small claims court!!

Thank you for the responses!

I'm hoping the phone company can do something to help.

About the small claims court - would it still be worthwhile to file a claim if the person is not in America? I have the person's home address, if that is of any help.

[Law200]

Not really, unless they return or have assets here.

Okay... sounds like there's no way to get the party at fault to pay. Thank you all for the help.

The phone company has been a great help.. after looking through phone records (with no sign of the overseas numbers being dialed before), they have suggested a 50-50 payment plan. That's still several hundred dollars to pay but it's better than the original sum! Thank you all for the information.