Mom Denied Cell Phone - For Being a Mom

calling someone ignorant and then failing to provide a valid counter-argument does not mean you have made a valid point, let alone win the argument.

the fact that i don't have children and she does has nothing to do with this. it's a business. they have their policy. if a stay at home dad tried the same thing, they quite possibly would have rejected him as well.

next time Sean, try to come up with something coherent, ok?

Actually I am not seeing your valid point. Are you using the fact that if a Dad went in their it would be the same situation? That doesnt make a difference in the case either. Whether or not there is income, the father would be paying for the phone. She is not stealing the phone is she? It seems to me that you and this phone company need to take Buisness 101, because last time I checked, selling is what its all about. Maybe you have something against women, but next time you try to sound like a smartass, think a little harder.

The article doesn't even talk about income. It says that it does not sell to MOMS. Enough said. It sucks.

Vodaphone did the same thing to me in England. I am a retired military officer with a large retirement income of my own and 2 part time jobs, but that still wasn't good enough - my husband still had to sign the paperwork for my phone!

I was so insulted but we lived in the middle of nowhere so I had no choice but to go with Vodaphone. Shame on them. If a customer defaults on their payments, then you send in the bill collectors. Until then, assume they can and will pay. I hated dealing with Vodaphone after that as well - in billing, et al. They are not a customer-friendly company at all.

Affording the phone isn't the problem, they flat out said "we don't sell to woman", so yeah there's a huge problem with that, it has nothing to do with affording it. Were in 2008 not 1950, to be told to have your husband come buy you a phone, that's absolutely ridiculous, and I'm a single 31yr old man. What the hell is the world coming to when a mom cant go buy a damn cell phone, I mean seriously. Id boycott that phone company and when they go out of business their gonna feel like morons scratching their heads why. Good ridden!

What's the problem with this? It was fairly sexist, and no matter where you live, there's no reason for that. If she doesn't have credit, then that's a problem, but then state it as the problem, rather than it's because she is a stay at home mother. In the US her taxes would be categorized hopefully as dual with her husband, so she could fall under his income. Regardless, the company's behavior is sexist, which they seem to realize, but remain powerless to change.

well being that she is married her husband's income IS her income too, she could have wrote that down

All you people keep saying about her husbands income. Thats her HUSBANDS income, not HERS. Even if he pays all the bills. If they give her the phone in her name based on his income and he leaves her the next day, whats her incom??? Thats right $0. So who pays the bill then ????

No credit No phone... BUT if she's married or has a major CC..her husbands creit would get her a phone. this story is full of holes and doesn't make sense.

Mihir I have to agree with you. It was all about income and if she could pay for the phone services. It does not matter if you are male or female. If you have no paying job (earned income) for yourself then you will not get phones, credit of any kind, and you cant rent a car. Most motels now require you to have a credit card! This is normal in the U.S. There should be more important things out there for news people to report on anyway.

Pulling a credit report does not show a company how much you make. It does, however, show your credit score(s) which is a more appropriate way of determining payment history. I've had so many mobile phone contracts over the years and not once did they ask me how much I make. If she and her husband have joint accounts, they share the credit rating. If the fact that she didn't have a 'job' was the true determining factor, then it isn't enough to deny her a phone. If her credit scores were too low, then that should have been the reason she was denied.

i dont believe they had right to deny her a phone just because she is a stay at home mother with no income. its the fact that she does have a husband who can pay for it so thats how it will be paid she just wanted the phone in her name. a women should never just rely on her spouse for everything. having the phone in her husbands name is just as bad as having everything else in his name as well if it came down to the fact that he died she wouldnt really own anything she had left. everything would have to be switched over to her and that takes a long time that people expecually a mother of 3 doesnt have. if she was to loose his income im pretty sure they have that planned out that she would make up for that income.my point is i dont see why women or anyone should have to go through their spouse just to get something of ownership. she had a perfectly sutible way of paying for the bill she just wanted a little independence in the matter and have her own phone.

A credit check is done yes, but as long as the family can afford it and she doesn't have a history of bad credit it shouldn't matter what HER income is. When you are married it isn't his or hers it's ours! That's why when I fill out credit apps. I always use OUR total income even if I have no place of employment listed! This is definetly something that needs fixed. It was extremely rude for the employee to tell her to have a man come in and buy it. Not all men work while the wifey takes care of the house and kids.

Not so. When I got our family cell phones, I was a stay at home Mom. The company did a credit check, and we got the phones. They didn't ask how much money we made, and I do mean WE. Just because my husband gets the check doesn't mean we are not a team. What I do here allows him to do his job there. So I guess they figured if my credit was good we must actually pay our bills.

I don't buy that. She's married, so her husband would show up on a credit check. They even said her husband should just buy the phone for her, which means they knew she was married (and implies they knew there was income in the family). I'm a SAHM and I don't recall having a problem when I got my phone from T-Mobile, which is in my name, not my husband's.

CLM....her husbands credit will only show if she gives his SS# and even then HE has to be there to co-sign for her.

I am a mom...been a stay-at-home mom for 19 years. I have never been able to get anything in my name alone because of the lack of income. Hubby has always had to put his name on the dotted line as well.

Where do you people live? I've been a stay at home mom for 16 yrs and I have credit cards in my name and I'm the primary name on our utilities, etc. I've never had to have my husband co-sign for anything and no questions asked. His income is our income.