This is one of those issues that I need to break my immersion for to get addressed. Btw, the immersion is going quite well.

When I left Japan in May of this year, I forgot to cancel my au kddi keitai. I just now read on their website that if you leave the country without cancelling your bill, they will keep charging you your basic monthly plan every month. It has been about 6 months since May and my basic monthly plan was 10,000 yen a month. That would put me at almost 50,000 yen I supposingly owe them for not even using my phone.

Is there anyway out of paying this? I will only have with me about 350,000 yen to keep alive for the first 2 months after i arrive in japan before my first paycheck. Paying that 50,000 yen plus my last months bill would really hurt my quality of life for the first 2 months.

I tried to call their phone number but since it is toll free i cannot call it from the usa. I don't want to send them an email because then they will know I know that I owe them money etc. And I don't want to have that fact on paper trail.

Thanks a lot for the help.

I don't get it... You didn't cancel/suspend your account, and now you're surprised that you have to pay for it?

My circumstances for leaving (which I can't mention here due to the personal nature of the reason), had me leaving in a rush. I was not in the frame of mind to think of paying my keitai due to these circumstances.

Edit: I also assumed that due to the inactivity of my account and not paying the bill it would automatically be cancelled.

Given the reputation foreigners have for leaving Japan suddenly without paying off bills, I wouldn't expect much sympathy, even if your personal circumstances made it understandable to do so. But maybe if you e-mail them explaining your circumstances, and can provide proof for the reason why you left, then they might only charge you a percentage of the overall bill. You should also read their terms and conditions (which you automatically agreed to be signing up for the contract).

are the terms and conditions available online? i don't have a copy of it anymore.

I'm sure you can arrange a payment plan or something till you've got enough to pay... Communication is key. ;p Well, unless they're yakuza. Just call up some old people and say: "Hey, it's me. Wire me some money ASAP, gramps."

I have a story.

I was an exchange student in Japan and had a Docomo phone. When I left I went to the Docomo store and canceled it, and paid what was due. Or so I thought. It turns out that I had canceled it in the middle of a billing cycle so what hadn't been billed yet I never paid. Three years later I came back to Japan on JET and wanted to activate a Docomo phone thinking NOTHING of what had happened. I had to pay like 15,000 yen to take care of what had been owed, plus late fees, plus interest over what should have been like 3,000 yen.

Long and the short of it is you will have to pay it if you want that companies service. Try going to another company if you don't or can't pay it right away. Like what was said, you also got the foreigner thing working against you. From their standpoint it's money you owe them.

Plus just for future reverence NO company will EVER cancel your service UNLESS: You call them and say "Cancel my service," or, like a magazine, your subscription runs out. Cell service providers, Internet providers, cable TV providers DO NOT monitor your service for no usage. Your the kind of customer they want!

I used to work for Nextel (before they merged with Sprint), and we had this kind of thing happen all the time. Some soccer mom (usually with a history of bad credit) would call in and go "hey guys, I haven't used my phone since April. Could you like, maybe cancel it now and credit my bill from May? Cuz, like, I haven't used it and all so you shouldn't be charging me for it. Blahblahblahblahblah..."

I have some bad news for you though: the terms and conditions that go with your phone service normally have a clause that protects the company in cases where the customer "forgets" to cancel his phone service. I have 0 experience with Japanese phone companies, but I figure they'll probably have something like that in the contract too. It won't matter whether you're in the USA or the UK or Africa for that matter, the fact is phone companies aren't gonna cancel your service just because you don't use your phone.

Face it man, you're screwed. Pay up.

Man, I've always wanted to say that to a customer.

Best of luck to you though.

jacf29 Wrote:I tried to call their phone number but since it is toll free i cannot call it from the usa. I don't want to send them an email because then they will know I know that I owe them money etc. And I don't want to have that fact on paper trail.

I believe you should be able to call them from skype. Plus, if it's toll free, it should be free.

You CAN use skype.


Why not just come back, use a different service provider, different bank account, etc and see what happens. You can always go to docomo later and pay the bill if you dont want it hanging over your head after you are on your feet a bit.

When you talk to them, tell them that this was a misunderstanding -"sorry"- and that you're coming back and would really like to use their service again. Then ask if they can make a specially arrangement for you (to pay back later, or maybe payback a portion). If they say no, then threaten to go use another provider. Usually then they'll be more inclined to help, since they want to retain costumers.

Just an update. I got things worked out. Was just on the phone with them for more than an hour. We arranged a payment plan. Turns out I owed 200,000 yen total after they charged me for some television equipment i rented from them my ex girlfriend never returned like i asked her to. They also charged me for my phone.

I guess its not too bad that way. more manageable than paying the 200,000 all at once.

Thing is they couldn't tell me for sure whether or not I could sign up for prepaid service.

tell me you don't really mean 200,000... that hurts my soul. Surely you mean 20,000 or ２万円?

unfortunately yes i owe 200,000. half of that number is because i was billed the full amount for my cellphone and tv box that i never returned. the cellphone was the most expensive one you could get at the time.

nest0r Wrote:Just call up some old people and say: "Hey, it's me. Wire me some money ASAP, gramps."

Is that a タイガーアンドドラゴン joke? I love that story.

Wow... ￥200,000...

Depending on how long you plan on being in Japan and how you feel morally about it, you could've absolutely gotten away without paying that. Just use a different company... it would be years before they pursued you, if they ever would at all. Alerting them that you were back in Japan (and your address?) probably threw a wrench in that.

Ben_Nielson Wrote:Wow... ￥200,000...

Depending on how long you plan on being in Japan and how you feel morally about it, you could've absolutely gotten away without paying that.

...so kudos for doing the right thing. Honest gaijin everywhere thank you for it :-)

Ben_Nielson Wrote:Wow... ￥200,000...

Depending on how long you plan on being in Japan and how you feel morally about it, you could've absolutely gotten away without paying that. Just use a different company... it would be years before they pursued you, if they ever would at all. Alerting them that you were back in Japan (and your address?) probably threw a wrench in that.

I guess we now know who in this thread is a 迷惑外人.

Not paying the bill would be outright theft. It's not AU trying to rip him off, he had equipment that he never returned and he never cancelled his contract. That was his fault (even if he had extenuating circumstances) and his responsibility. Even if he thought it would get automatically cancelled for non-payment, he still left the country without paying off what was owed at the time and paying the contract cancellation penalty and the remainder owed on the phone itself (phones aren't free anymore, you pay for them on layaway).

Let's talk about ways to ride the train without paying now, or plan some parties to be held on a busy train!

No, common. He wasn't using the service they provided, so it's not like they did something for him and then he didn't pay (well except for the equipment part).

It's more like stealing train tickets and then never using them...

@Jarvik7

Do you know about the Osaka Loop Train Ride on Halloween?

The gaijin congregrate and get drunk while riding the loop until the last train.

I think the Osaka one is just an imitation of the Yamanote party train in Tokyo, which thankfully never happened this year. I've never run into it even though I used to live on the loop line so I don't think it was too big.

Pretty much every person I know who has lived in Japan left without actively canceling their accounts, including myself. Nothing happened.

I wouldn't recommend you going to AU and getting your phone next time your in Japan though. (Not that I think it would matter, they are definitely used to it).

EDIT: Should be noted that the ones I know got the most basic AU student package with the cheapest phones. I don't know how they would react over the expensive stuff.

..which is exactly why it's hard for foreigners to get cellphone plans /w campaign discounts or to rent good apartments.

How hard is it to go cancel your contract? It cost me 2700Y and 5 minutes to cancel my AU contract early and that was with a free phone (when phones were still free).

Jarvik7 Wrote:I guess we now know who in this thread is a 迷惑外人.

Well, I tend to pay my bills (or I should say, would just go cancel my contract), though people can think of me what they will. I'm just letting him know. I've known foreigners who have been here for more than 5 years without paying any of the legally required taxes, health insurance fees, and so forth. The response in forcing people to pay these things is really, really slow in Japan.

Also, I would say that yes, he should have to pay for the equipment.. but the "services rendered" that he didn't use and subsequent fees are just the results of backwards, business-favoring contracts that cell phone companies are notorious for. But we're all stuck in this trap, because they're the only people rendering the service and it's become vital to most peoples' everyday lives. But anyways, he did sign it, so probably should have to pay it.. but whatever, was just saying.

I might also say that he would probably have some claim against his ex-girlfriend for keeping the equipment. While he's contractually responsible, she is still holding property that doesn't belong to her. But good luck taking a Japanese person to small claims court here...

Edit: Also, if I was in his situation, I would not pay it. Definitely not. So maybe I am a 迷惑外人 after all.

Edit #2: Also, if I wanted to cancel my last contract I had to pay off what was left on my cell phone (naturally, no problem there) and a 15,000 cancellation fee. The only time I could cancel it freely was exactly 2 years after I signed it, and I had to notify them that month. If I didn't tell them I was opting out that month, it automatically renewed itself for another 2 year term. This was docomo, by the way (still with them, though...).

Within the 200,000 total, the vast majority must be the TV equipment- basically his girlfriend stole TV equipment that he rented. He's liable for that equipment and I'd feel pretty bad about not paying that back.

The phone non-usage thing is a different story to me- I'd probably use another phone company as the company wasn't doing anything for me. The phone wasn't even in Japan, so it wasn't even using cell towers. If you owe part of the phone's cost, I'd pay that back, but not the monthly fee.

If I was in his situation I'd be pretty pissed at my ex-gf... but leaving stuff you rented with a girlfriend isn't the smartest move.