Making matters worse was the "option" the agent offered me as a "way out" -- a 24-month data plan for some $530/month, then I'd only owe about $3,000. I must say, the use of this tactic took me by complete surprise. Instead of trying to understand that my son had inadvertently amassed a huge bill because of at lack of transparency, I was offered a bate-and-switch option to make good on the amount owed. The agents repeatedly emphasized that my son had used the service so he should pay without acknowledging he was completely in the dark on the actual cost of that usage which escalated over a short period.
We can only assume the reason for the lack of transparency is to create more business when the customer is caught out. The agent's repeated push for a data contract is proof of that.
The real question is how many others are in the same boat?
It’s long past time operators kept their customers informed of their usage in meaningful terms (not kb but $) and had a cut-off of service threshold (like the EU now has mandated with data roaming) instead of allowing them to keep the meter running and face a frightening bill shock. And for HTC and Android, why not have a way to turn off data services -- there is a button to activate, but once pressed it's no longer active and can't be turned off. Just another way to try to maximize usage.
All this talk of being customer focused and that such activities were a thing of the past is a farce.