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Built-in text messages ruined life

rdowns

rdowns

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
Jul 11, 2003
27,397
12,521
This is crazy if it's true.



A Winnipeg man is homeless and heartbroken after the woman he wanted to spend his life with found some salacious text messages on his cellphone.
The catch? He didn't write them.

For Darren P., who did not want his last name used, the cellphone fiasco began on Monday, when his girlfriend of two-and-a-half years stumbled on some naughty messages on his new work phone.

But those messages -- "Booty call," "Where u at," and "Be there soon" -- didn't come from Darren. They were pre-set text messages that came loaded on his Samsung Virgin Mobile phone.

"I said, 'That's ridiculous, why would I cheat?' There's things I believe about relationships... The first is that if you are in a relationship, you don't cheat," says Darren, 49, who notes he didn't know the phone was text-enabled. "I said, 'You're being ridiculous.' She said, 'No I'm not, here's the proof.' "

What happened next: a painful break-up, during which Darren -- who is now living with friends -- launched a quest to clear his name. He called Virgin Mobile, and was advised to file a written complaint, which he intends to do. He even walked into the Future Shop on Regent Avenue to show the offending messages to staff.

"At first, we didn't believe him," says Mike Ford, 20, a sales associate at the store. "But when we looked at a couple of the same phones he bought, and found they all had the same messages... We all felt horrible. We wanted to do whatever we could for him... He basically has to start his life over again. We're going to make sure that he's taken care of."

While Darren praises the compassion of Ford and his coworkers, who have kept in touch with the heartbroken man, he points the finger squarely at Virgin Mobile for selling phones with saucy texts to unsuspecting customers.

"It's not just teenagers buying these things. For people who don't know the technology, these things can be severely misconstrued," he says. "I'd like to see the phones recalled and the messages taken off, so that others don't have to go through the hell I'm going through."
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Wow

That is incredible

Surely there is more to this story


Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
Haha, one of the comments on the article--
Here are the preset texts on my girlfriends virgin mobile phone that she has had since November 2009.
-Where you at?
-What up?
-B there soon
-Tipsy?
-Im gonna B late
-Whats the 411?
-Bootycall
-U know you want me
-R U up 4 it?
-Your place or mine?
-Lets do it.
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Obviously an oversimplified version of the story. No solid two year relationship is destroyed overnight by some canned text messages. Maybe a rocky relationship on it's last leg where trust has been an issue in the past or an over-controlling relationship with a dramatic partner who is paranoid and insecure, but not a solid relationship built on trust.

It makes for good news though. "Beware of cell phones that could ruin your relationship!!" :eek:
 
If it was merely the text messages that caused the break. Why wouldn't they be back together after he cleared his name? Must have been a nasty fight.
 
mscriv said:
Obviously an oversimplified version of the story. No solid two year relationship is destroyed overnight by some canned text messages. Maybe a rocky relationship on it's last leg where trust has been an issue in the past or an over-controlling relationship with a dramatic partner who is paranoid and insecure, but not a solid relationship built on trust.

It makes for good news though. "Beware of cell phones that could ruin your relationship!!" :eek:
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Yes, they definitely need counseling. ;)
 
So once they found the same messages on other phones why didn't they get back together? Something fishy about this. It wasn't his fault so wtf.
 
mscriv said:
Obviously an oversimplified version of the story. No solid two year relationship is destroyed overnight by some canned text messages. Maybe a rocky relationship on it's last leg where trust has been an issue in the past or an over-controlling relationship with a dramatic partner who is paranoid and insecure, but not a solid relationship built on trust.

It makes for good news though. "Beware of cell phones that could ruin your relationship!!" :eek:
Click to expand...

There is some sad humor in there ... just sayin'.
 
Dagless said:
So once they found the same messages on other phones why didn't they get back together? Something fishy about this. It wasn't his fault so wtf.
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I agree. If they state they want to do everything they can for him then why don't they just call her up, say hey come up here to the store, and then show her the presets in the phones. I mean heck, take one out of a box and show her they are shipped that way.

Seems if he is living with friends then either it was a rocky and that was a good excuse for her to leave (she wanted to anyway) or he just plan didn't fight for her and just walked away.
 
MacDawg said:
Surely there is more to this story
Click to expand...
Agree. Things not adding up.

rdowns said:
Yes, they definitely need counseling. ;)
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Seems to be the case.

Two and a half year relationship broken by this? More to the story...

mkrishnan said:
You know, he wouldn't have this problem were he not dating a twelve-year-old, or at least a woman with the mentality of one....
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Good point about mental age.

Speaking of which, I wonder if I've left my teens? :eek: :p
 
I don't at all doubt the story - and Virgin doesn't exactly cultivate a squeaky clean, virtuous, God Bless the Queen & Cornish Pasties image - but there's got to be something underneath that isn't being related. I'm sure the guy feels bad, but it just seems like it was a great excuse to get out of a situation for the girlfriend, for whatever reason.

Zombie Acorn said:
Too bad they don't keep stats on how often the "bootycall" quick text actually works.
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Meh, sometimes just a quick "?" works fine. ;) :D
 
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