Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: What to do about a Phone Bill?

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Posted by Franklin Armstrong (Member # 1448) on 01-28-2003, 11:48 PM:

What To Do To An Employee If They Gave You A $114.62 Phone Bill?

Posted by Aldo Baez (Member # 790) on 01-29-2003, 12:34 AM:

Phone Bill for what?

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 01-29-2003, 12:50 AM:

Depends what the phone bill was for. If it was technical help from a tech or something like that relating to the theatre operation, that's one thing.

If it was LD call for personal reasons or it was a smutty 900 number, the employee should be given an option. You know what that option is. The employee should also be warned verbally and in writing to never do that again, or else! Have the employee sign that warning and keep it on file.

Posted by Franklin Armstrong (Member # 1448) on 01-29-2003, 02:34 AM:

Phone bill for the Theater
and it's long dis. calls

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 01-29-2003, 02:44 AM:

It is very easy to find out if the calls were of a personal nature or if they were business related.

Posted by Nate Lehrke (Member # 1460) on 01-29-2003, 03:31 AM:

Do you have any written warnings about phone usage in your employee handbook(if you have one)?

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 01-29-2003, 06:15 AM:

If these were for unauthorized personal calls, fire the employee and check with the phone company. In some states, you can get charges for 1-900 and possibly other calls reversed if the calls were placed without the authorization of the person who owns the phone (i.e. you). This will only work once, of course, and is intended for parents with curious children. I don't know if it applies to business lines or not.

Also, consider blocking 1-900 and 976- numbers on the theatre phone, unless you have some legitimate need to call them.

Posted by John Spooner (Member # 1565) on 01-29-2003, 08:56 AM:

Maybe I am too soft, but initially give the employee an opportunity to pay the cost of the calls back. Then to ensure it does not occur again, have long distance barring installed with a pin no. only known to you and other managers.
John Spooner. South Australia.

Posted by Ken Layton (Member # 133) on 01-29-2003, 09:25 AM:

Sounds like it's time to install a desktop payphone (www.payphone.com) in the employee breakroom. These are designed to stop employees from abuse the phone line (and you can make money, also).

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 01-29-2003, 09:52 AM:

I'm all in favor of allowing limited personal calls for employees (as long as they are short and don't distract from the business), as this tends to make employees happy and can help them to be more productive. This of course assumes that the employer trusts its employees not to abuse this benefit. The reason why I suggested firing the employee wasn't the cost of the calls, but rather the extent of the abuse. At $.10/minute, a $114.62 bill would mean that this person spent over 19 _hours_ on the phone that month, which is time that the person presumably should have spent doing his job. If the calls were to 900 numbers, the time would be less, but there is little legitimate reason to make calls to these numbers from the workplace.

In any case, try to find out why the employee made so many calls. If they were business related and not an obvious waste of phone time, then there's obviously no problem.

Posted by Franklin Armstrong (Member # 1448) on 01-29-2003, 10:32 AM:

thank you all for your posts

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 01-29-2003, 10:53 AM:

Are you saying these charges showed up on the theatre's phone bill? Or the employee placed the calls on his own calling card (or something like that) and then presented his bill to the theatre for reimbursement?

Posted by Franklin Armstrong (Member # 1448) on 01-29-2003, 01:06 PM:

it is on the theater's phone bill

Posted by Joe Beres (Member # 678) on 01-29-2003, 03:28 PM:

Franklin,
Do you have any written or spoken rules about phone, especially long distance, usage? If you don't, I would suggest that you get one on the books or post it near the phones that employees use. Perhaps I am in the minority here, but if you haven't communicated any rules, I am not sure if the employee is completely (if at all) in the wrong. What kind of calls are we talking about, local long distance, out of state ld, int'l calls, 900 type numbers? If it is one of the first two, and they are an otherwise good employee, I would give them the opportunity, and perhaps some encouragement, to pay half or all of the bill. If it is 900 numbers, but I'm guessing you would have said so if it was something of that nature, then I think further action could be taken.How long was the billing period during which these calls were made? How much time was actually spent on the phone? These are also factors that should be considered.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 01-29-2003, 04:01 PM:

I like Joe's approach. If you don't have any rules, make some quick and communicate them to the employees. For this specific case, the employee should be asked for justification. Then decide what to do based on how well the justification holds up. Maybe split the difference if appropriate, unless this was a flagrant violation of a clear policy.

Posted by Jim Alexander (Member # 226) on 01-29-2003, 07:42 PM:

Posted rules or no posted rules, common sense is common sense. If the employee knew they were making a long distance call (the one before the number would have been a clue), then they should be accountable for the calls. If you know how the individual was, I would make them pay for them. If they refuse, let'em go and postr rules for all other staff. If they pay, post the rules and warn them.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 01-29-2003, 08:30 PM:

Without knowing who was called, or why, how can a judgement be made? I mean maybe he was on the phone with Kinoton in Germany for 6 hours trying to get a broken projector running again. That's an extreme example but it's possible. In a case like that, if shows were being canceled or something, maybe the guy should get a bonus for trying hard to get the problem fixed. [Big Grin]

If my theatre was losing shows due to a technical problem, and nobody called for help because it's a long-distance call, I'd be more inclined to fire them for that than for making the call.

Admittedly I am curious to know how $114.62 worth of l-d was racked up though. [Confused]

Posted by Joe Beres (Member # 678) on 01-29-2003, 08:58 PM:

David S. is right. Who are we dealing with, and what kind of calls were made? If it was a 16 year old who has never seen, much less paid a phone bill, it could be chalked up to naivete or ignorance. Also, telephone billing is often a little strange. If I am calling outside of my "local calling area," which could be a 15 minute drive away from my house, it will cost me more per minute than it would to call my friend 1500 miles away. With area codes being created and and areas divided, it is becoming more and more common to dial an area code, and sometimes a 1 for even a local call. Though it isn't the case in the twin cities, it is in the Milwaukee area. It's entirely possible that this person didn't even realize that they were calling LD.

When writing my initial post, I was assuming (to a degree) that the person that racked up the bill was a teenageer and was not making work-related calls. I would hope that an adult would know better. Like David said, I think more specifics need to be known before really judging the situation.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-29-2003, 09:22 PM:

I remember talking on the phone to Pennywise in Austrailia for extended periods of time trying to get the new firmware for the CA21 set up. The phone bill was never THAT high, though. I imagine someone would have said something to me. Or maybe not. But the point is that it IS possible to have super-long distance phone calls in the name of tech support.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-29-2003, 09:31 PM:

Is it a 900 number? If so, fire 'em.

If it is not a 900 number, call it and find out who it belongs to. If it's a business that is cinema related, let it go. If not, then make a decision.

BTW, there are some 1-8xx numbers that are multiple bucks per minute. Apparently the phone company ran out of 900 numbers.

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 01-29-2003, 10:35 PM:

Is it even a staff member that _should_ be making tech support calls?

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 01-29-2003, 10:59 PM:

Written policy or not, this person needs to be at LEAST written up in the strongest terms possible and probably canned.

As others have said, if the person is an otherwise good employee give him a chance to explain. If the explanation is acceptable to you, let them off with a warning that any further unauthorized phone calles will result in termination.

If this employee is a slacker, I would can him so fast he will think he's in a tuna factory. It is common knowledge... industry standard... whatever you want to call it... that you DON'T make phone calls at work without permission. Try that at McDonalds and see how far you get! NO good employer allows his workers to use the phone and charge the bill to the company. Any person with half a brain knows that.

You have the right to can this person if you want to but DO check the labor laws of your state. Some places don't allow you to take restitution from employees even if THEY make the offer.

Posted by Franklin Armstrong (Member # 1448) on 01-30-2003, 01:02 AM:

The Employee Was A 18 Year Old Female And Made Calls To Her Boyfriend In South Florida. There Is A Policy About Phone Usage I Was Woke Up By My Corp. Office And Was Told About The Bills! She Is Getting The Money Taken Right Out Of Her Pay Check [evil]

The Bill Comes To $118.43 total of 3hr 47min on the phone

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 01-30-2003, 01:41 AM:

I don't know who your LD provider is, but $118.43 for a total of 3hr 47 min on the phone is way out of line. That comes out to 52 cents per minute for an in-state call! Something does not seem right here...

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 01-30-2003, 10:56 AM:

Seems to me, that's 3 hours and 47 minutes of time that she obviously wasn't working either... but probably was on the clock, which to me would constitute enough grounds for dismissal.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 01-30-2003, 10:58 AM:

OK, NOW we have enough information to work with. [Wink]

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 01-30-2003, 08:05 PM:

Take her aside to explain the Company's alternative reimbursement plan. [Eek!]

She might decide it's a better option. Better for you too! [Wink]

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 01-31-2003, 11:03 AM:

The Employee Was A 18 Year Old Female And Made Calls To Her Boyfriend In South Florida.

Fire her -- ON THE SPOT! That's what my company would have done.

Posted by Jim Alexander (Member # 226) on 01-31-2003, 05:21 PM:

"The Employee Was A 18 Year Old Female And Made Calls To Her Boyfriend In South Florida"

Definitely not on the brighter side of smart.

I take back what I said earlier. 3Hr 47min on your time and your bill! Obiviously this young lady has a problem with responsibility and maturity. I'm curious, over how long a period did these calls take place? And, how long was she working for you? Was this something that took some time to "develope" or did it start right from the begining?

Either way, there are lots of kids out there who are far more responsible than this young lady.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 02-14-2003, 06:06 AM:

Deduct the phone bill AND deduct the 3 plus hours she was supposed to be working but was on the phone from her FINAL pay check. Then change your LD carrier -you're getting ripped off.

Try PennyPhone. Their cost per minute: 1 (that's right ONE) cent per minute, any time, any where in the good ole US of A. Try beating THAT price. We've been using them for over a year and the quality of service is as good as any of the other much more expensive SPs (some of them bragging that they have 5 cents p/m plans, like that's some kind of a big deal). As for the sound quality, occasionally I might hear a slight echo -- only say one out of every 20 or so calls, but even that is a minor glitch that is barely noticable. Other than that, you would think you were talking on ATT or Sprint.

Once you set up an account, you can make calls from any phone (especially good if you have a few phone lines). It works from any phone, but unfortunately you do have to dial a toll free access number, then your telephone number+4 digit pin and THEN the LD number you want. For us, it's a small price to pay for a penny-a-minute deal. If you have a phone with memory keys, you can program the precall digits. You can set up an account at 888-311-8360.

Frank

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 02-14-2003, 06:10 AM:

I wonder how long it'll take for these 'voice over IP' long distance carriers to put each other out of business at prices like 1 cent per minute.