Loophole leaves woman with $700 bill

By ALANAH MAY ERIKSEN in Rotorua
You can choose your friends but you can't choose your family.
Ronald Thornborough has Alzheimer's disease and lives in a rest home. Yet Telecom threatened to cut off his wife's phone after a family member ran up a $700 bill in his name.
Barbara Thornborough was disgusted when Telecom left a recorded message threatening to cut off her phone in two days over an internet bill she knew nothing about.
"How can I be responsible for something I didn't know existed," she said.
"I've never had internet and am never going to get it."
It turned out a member of Mrs Thornborough's family, who lives in another town, had used her husband's name and details to join up to Xtra.
"I've been a Telecom customer for over 40 years and never had a bill overdue," Mrs Thornborough said.
"This means I could just look in the phonebook, pick out someone's name and use their details to open an account.
"That's very scary."
Telecom did not contact Mrs Thornborough to see if she or her husband was the person who opened the account. She rang Telecom after she found out about the bill and tried to get her husband's name changed to the family member's name so he could pay it.
She also tried to find out more details about the account.
She was told she did not have the authorisation to do so as it was under her husband's name. However, they were "more than happy" to let her pay it.
Spokeswoman for Telecom Sarah Berry said Mrs Thornborough's family member rang them and said he was Ronald Thornborough. He had to give an account number to connect to Xtra.
"At the end of the day our reps have to make a call.
"They're trying to find that balance of being an easy person to work with and at the same time protecting the public," she said.
"The reps would have gone through the process but thought it was the grandfather on the line."
Mrs Berry said family members already had access to relatives' houses and possessions and the internet was like a possession that was accessed quite easily.
"This is the one circumstance the system has been taken advantage of."
Mrs Thornborough's family member has been hooked up to Xtra since April this year and she had not received any bills until the phone call. It is believed they were being sent to him.
"Have you heard anything so stupid?" she said.
Mrs Thornborough's phone has a speed dial button that rings an ambulance if she needs one as she has heart problems.
"It would be just my luck to have a heart attack [after the phone is cut off]," she said.
She thinks Telecom should use pin numbers and anyone who wants to open an account or find out details about their account will have to provide their personal pin number each time.
"Banks all have pin numbers that you have to give to have anything confidential told you," she said.
Since Mrs Thornborough found out about the mystery internet bill a new phone company has offered her a deal with them. She said Telecom found out about the other company and rang to apologise and offer other specials. She is unsure which company to go with now.
"I will talk to my daughter about it first but I would rather change [companies]," she said.
"I'll compare prices."
She said Telecom had also just told her the family member had paid off $72 of his $700 bill and her name had been added with her husband's name on the account.
A spokesperson for the Rotorua police said someone committing that type of crime could be charged with "accessing the internet for dishonest purposes".
Chief executive of the consumer institute David Russell said there was no way to avoid that type of thing happening.
"You cannot avoid fraud, which essentially this has become."
Mr Russell said it was a crime, but it came back to the fact that it was a family member and it was difficult to prove the motive.
"I don't know enough about the Telecom checking process but you would expect them to ask some serious questions. [The family member] is obviously out to do something wrong."
Mr Russell said he had heard of it happening "from time to time".
His suggestion to people who have this happen to them is to go back to Telecom.
"If they have been slack in checking obviously they should bear the wrap. However, if it is serious enough, take it to the police," he said.
"Although that might not be an option if it's a family member."