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Mom Denied Cell Phone - For Being a Mom (w/Poll)
Parent Dish ^ | December, 18, 2008 | Roger Sinasohn

Posted on 12/20/2008 11:58:19 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

Butcher, baker, candlestick maker -- all noble professions, indeed. Stay-at-home Mom? Well, get a real job. At least, that's what one Australian mom was told when she went to buy a cell phone. Lyndal Fair, a thirty-six-year-old mother of three, wanted to purchase a mobile phone, presumably to keep track of her brood, to call their schools and doctors and to be available in an emergency. Not good enough, said Vodafone -- they don't sell phones to moms.

In fact, the store employees suggested she get her husband to purchase the phone under his name for her. Sound familiar? "I couldn't believe it. It was like being back in the '50s," said Mrs. Fair. "Being a mum is a full-time job and it's a very hard job - the hardest job you can have - because if you get it wrong, the ramifications for everyone are enormous," she added.

A Vodafone spokesman confirmed that the policy does not belong to just one rogue store but to the company as a whole, adding that getting a man to purchase the phone was the easiest solution. The policy is not meant to target moms alone, but anyone the company feels may not be able to afford a phone. "It's not an ideal situation. We're trying to fix it," said Greg Spears, the company spokesman.

I would definitely say this is something the company ought to address. If you ask me, however, the quickest solution is not to have a man buy the phone but to just put down something like "Moms against Vodafone" as the company name.

POLL

Should motherhood count as a job?

No - They drop the kids off at school and goof off the rest of the day

If you don't get paid, it's not a job

It's the company's right to decide who they want to do business with

It shouldn't matter how you make a living, just whether or not you can afford the phone

Motherhood is more work than any other job -- and more important too!


TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: business; cellphones; discrimination; economy; gender; motherhood; telecommunications
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To: Hodar

Just wondering, who says she doesn’t have good credit???


61 posted on 12/20/2008 4:23:44 PM PST by DeLaine (You can't make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you're doing is recording it.)
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To: Twink
If you filed a joint income tax return it was both your income - not just “his”. In other words, if you are married his income is your income as well. “His” accumulated debts while you are married are yours as well signature or no signature.
62 posted on 12/20/2008 4:25:35 PM PST by DB
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To: DB

True. And yes we file joint. And for many years, I didn’t have any income that could be recorded.

I understand what you’re saying. However, I couldn’t open a new account or change an existing account without his signature since I didn’t have any income other than “his.


63 posted on 12/20/2008 4:32:34 PM PST by Twink
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; Joe Boucher; sinanju; clee1; Hodar; antiunion person; Publius6961; Mr. K; ...

OK - living in Australia where this has been a story for a few days now, I can add some detail based on local experience.

They don’t generally check your credit when you buy a mobile phone (the term we use here - cell phone is rarely heard) in Australia. This woman was not denied a mobile phone because of bad credit - she was denied it purely and simply because she didn’t have a work phone number, and the reason she didn’t have a work phone number is because she is a stay-at-home mother. It’s nothing to do with credit.

I don’t have a work phone number as it happens - I’m a teacher and we don’t have individual phones at school. Yes, somebody can phone the school and they’d eventually make contact with me, but I’d never give the school number as a ‘work number’ in the sense the term is used here, because that’s not how things work here. Most factory workers don’t have a ‘work number’, nor do most nurses, taxi drivers, police officers, large numbers of defence force personnel. It’s actually caused quite a few people problems here - this assumption by service providers that no ‘work number’ where they can easily contact you means they won’t sell to you.

As for being a stay-at-home mother - Australia’s welfare system includes payments for having children that most families receive (there are exceptions for the very wealthy) and in most cases, those payments are made to the mother. And to boost our economy, parents who receive these payments have just been given an extra $1000 per child lump sum before Christmas.

Being a stay-at-home mother doesn’t even mean having no income here.


64 posted on 12/20/2008 4:34:46 PM PST by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
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To: freekitty

Maybe her credit was shot.


65 posted on 12/20/2008 4:40:20 PM PST by Twink
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To: naturalman1975
It’s actually caused quite a few people problems here - this assumption by service providers that no ‘work number’ where they can easily contact you means they won’t sell to you.

You know, If they supplied the phone, they would be able to contact you.

66 posted on 12/20/2008 4:46:19 PM PST by Oztrich Boy (Kill the English their concept of individual rights might undermine the power of our beloved tyrants)
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To: DB
“Actually, it would be in your wife’s best interest to establish her own credit”

Two complicated.
We bought a previous car in my name with my wife as co-signer because--- well, that's the way it was always done.

It didn't take much thought to see the value of her having the primary role because it accrues many benefits, among which is avoidance of the problems in this article.
The last auto purchase was in her name with me as the co-signer. Didn't change a thing, other than now she doesn't have to rely on me to establish her bona fides and avoid BS.

Some people want to change the world to suit their view of it; others accept the way the world is and lead more stress-free lives.

67 posted on 12/20/2008 4:59:18 PM PST by Publius6961 (Change is not a plan; Hope is not a strategy.)
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To: DB

From what I read in the article, and there wasn’t much information, it seems as if they denied her a cell phone with a plan. Most of the time, in my experience, that requires an application/contract. If she doesn’t have an income/job, her husband, assuming he has a job/income, would have to sign for the account since he’d be legally responsible for paying the bill.

It should be “family income” that matters but the bottom line will be whoever has the job will be paying/responsible the bill. In our house, my husband’s income is “our” income. And whatever money/income I made is “ours.” Just like the money my mother left me and the money from the sale of my parents’ home is “our” money, I had to add his name to the Money Market or he wouldn’t have access to it, even if I died, he wouldn’t be able to access that account if his name wasn’t on it. His being my husband had no impact if his name wasn’t on that account.

We had an issue with Cingular wireless quite a few years ago. I signed all the checks since I paid the bills but my name wasn’t on the account. I learned this when I tried to change the account. After a fight on the phone, and the Supervisor calling back to appease me and not lose the account, my husband had to add my name to the account in order for me to have control. It was an oversight on our part. We didn’t make the same mistake when we changed cell phone providers...my name is on every account we have now.


68 posted on 12/20/2008 5:01:23 PM PST by Twink
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To: HungarianGypsy

Ack! That happened to a friend of mine, too. So, she wasn’t on the mortgage or Deed.

I didn’t have a job/income when we bought our first house and when we bought our second house. However, my name was on both mortgages/is on the mortgage and Deed. I had to be at Settlement and sign every document along with my husband.


69 posted on 12/20/2008 5:08:40 PM PST by Twink
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To: naturalman1975

Sounds like a “keep the hoy-poloy from having a phone” game.


70 posted on 12/20/2008 5:19:58 PM PST by editor-surveyor (The beginning of the O'Bummer administration looks allot like the end of the Nixon administration)
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To: humblegunner

I prefer to refer to myself as “Queen” and I almost have kids and husband convinced ;)


71 posted on 12/20/2008 5:26:38 PM PST by Twink
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To: naturalman1975

You know that you did get me thinking...

With the impending imposition of Sharia Law in Western Societies, clearly Muslim women will not be allowed to purchase cell phones (credit or not) without their husband’s authorization, as allowing the purchase would definitely violate the Koran.


72 posted on 12/20/2008 5:43:09 PM PST by BobL
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Should motherhood count as a job?

It is an admirable endeavor and one that more females should take more seriously.

However, from the standpoint of having earnings that qualify one to be able to pay back a debt, it is not a 'job'.

Seems like more liberalism that just because a person wants a material item, they are entitled to it. And let others pay the bill when they default.
73 posted on 12/20/2008 5:43:52 PM PST by CottonBall
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To: CottonBall

The problem is, they made no effort to determine whether or not this woman could pay. They denied her the phone because she couldn’t give them a business phone number.

The same has happened to me for the same reason, I’ve got a six figure income.


74 posted on 12/20/2008 5:52:00 PM PST by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"No - They drop the kids off at school and goof off the rest of the day"

Of, for goodness sake. What a STUPID comment.

75 posted on 12/20/2008 5:54:28 PM PST by Texas_shutterbug
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To: PLMerite
“Hey, we got a woman here with no job but her husband pays the bills every month without question. How much credit do we want to extend to her?”

Thats me! My one real skill in life is the ability to talk others into paying my bills on time. My parents had taken out a small college loan for me and paid it back themselves so I've always had pretty good credit.

My husband and I went to buy a car and I had to be the primary buyer because my credit got us better financing.

My husband looked at the guy and said, "Do you realize she doesn't have a job?" They didn't care. LOL!

76 posted on 12/20/2008 5:57:31 PM PST by Dianna
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To: Twink

Could be. You never know what lies they tell when reporting.


77 posted on 12/20/2008 6:02:21 PM PST by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote.)
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To: naturalman1975

Interesting.


78 posted on 12/20/2008 6:04:11 PM PST by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

So how much does she make being a stay at home mom?


79 posted on 12/20/2008 6:11:16 PM PST by ViLaLuz (2 Chronicles 7:14)
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To: naturalman1975

It didn’t say that in the article though. It did say “The policy is not meant to target moms alone, but anyone the company feels may not be able to afford a phone.” Seems fair.


80 posted on 12/20/2008 6:36:37 PM PST by CottonBall
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