English Listening: A Problem With My Cell Phone Bill

Episode16

The original recording of this episode was lost. This version was rebuilt with an AI voice from Melanie's own transcript, so the words are hers and the voice is not.

Listen to a story about a huge problem I had when I tried to pay my cell phone bill!

You’ll also learn how to say amounts of money, and when to use “dollar” instead of “dollars.”

Welcome to the English Teacher Melanie Podcast, a podcast for intermediate to advanced English learners who want to improve their English listening and speaking skills!

Each episode includes a story and a pronunciation tip. In the story, I use core vocabulary, the most common words in English, to tell a real world story. The pronunciation tip will help you understand natural spoken English.

You’ll hear the story twice. The first time, the story is a little slower than normal. It sounds funny because I used editing software to change the speed of the story and make it slower. After the pronunciation tip, you’ll hear the story again, but at a regular speed.

THE STORY

When I got back from my trip to New Zealand, I had a huge cell phone bill. I knew that was going to happen, but I still didn’t understand some of the charges on my bill. I called my cell phone service provider to question some of the charges. I spoke to a customer service representative who was very patient and helpful. I had some of the charges removed, but my phone bill was still $190!

I gave the representative my credit card number to pay my bill over the phone. Unfortunately, her computer froze while she was processing my payment. She had to restart her computer & process the payment again. When she was finished, she said that my credit card had been charged TWICE, but that she was going to refund one of the payments. I hung up the phone believing that this minor problem would be quickly taken care of.

Three days later, when I checked my credit card account online, I discovered that there were THREE payments of $190 each on my account to the phone company, and NONE of the payments had been refunded! That was a $380 overcharge and it pushed my credit card up to its limit. This meant that I couldn’t use my credit card until the refunds were processed to my account.

I spent the rest of the day on the phone, going back and forth between the phone company and the credit card company trying to clear up this problem. It was a real pain in the butt. The credit card company did not see any refunds waiting to be credited to my account. The phone company said there was nothing they could do because their records showed that the money had already been refunded.

I finally found someone at the credit card company who was very sympathetic. He credited $380 to my account. It would take a while before the entire situation was cleared up, but at least I could use my credit card.

Listen: Denied a Credit Card | Episode 22

 
NOTE: Cell phones and mobile phones are the same thing. They are small phones that you can carry around with you. Cell phone is used in American English, while mobile phone is used in British English. A smartphone is a type of cell phone. The Apple iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy are examples of smartphones.

PRONUNCIATION TIP

Listen to some sentences from the story:

That was a $380 overcharge.
He credited $380 to my account.

The amount of money was exactly the same in those sentences, but I said them differently.

Listen again:

That was a $380 overcharge.
He credited $380 to my account.

First, even though the dollar sign is written BEFORE the number, dollar or dollars is said AFTER the number.

Second, did you hear the reduced form of and in the number? When Canadians and Americans say numbers in the hundreds, we usually add an and after the first number: 380 [three hundred and eighty].

Now, let’s talk about what was different in those sentences.

In the first sentence, the dollar amount came BEFORE the noun. It described the overcharge. In this form, dollar is singular. Listen again:

That was a $380 [three hundred and eighty dollar] overcharge

In the second sentence, the dollar amount was in the regular plural form:

He credited $380 [three hundred and eighty dollars] to my account.

LISTEN TO MORE LESSONS HERE!