Confirmed. Mine was ordered on the weekend of the 11th/12th when the first /. story broke. I was assured by the NPLI rep that no charges would appear on my card until the unit called home. I was billed on the 23rd.
Unless my pet hamster managed to hook up my i-opener to the phone while I wasn't looking, and unhooked it and put everything back before I came home from work, NPLI is playing dirty pool.
Or they've decided to "bill everyone whose units haven't phoned home since they're probably evul haX0rz", forgetting that some of us evul haX0rz bought the units *before* their policy change, and this is a billing-fuckup of gargantuan proportions.
(Mama always said "never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity".)
To clarify, since there's gonna be a LOT of flammage on this:
If you ordered after the "billing starts 2 days after shipment" policy, tough titties - they're fully within their rights to charge you.
But if you ordered *BEFORE* that policy went into effect and are still billed - as I was, and as visionik, who broke the story to Slashdot, claims he was - they've crossed the line.
I urge everyone who ordered from Netpliance *and was assured there would be no billing until the unit phoned home* to call their bank and ask if there have been any charges from Netpliance other than their order, or to use their online credit card services to check current balances and charges.
Don't take my word for it. Don't take Slashdot's word for it. Take your bank's word for it, one way or another.
You do *not* have to wait until your monthly credit card statement is mailed to you to obtain this information.
If you ordered before the "charges start in two days" policy, you have every right to contest those charges. Whether you choose to do so, or just cancel the service and give Netpliance a few extra bucks to make up for the loss they took on selling you the unit, is a matter best left to your conscience.
No flames to anyone who disagrees with your choice -- there are strong ethical arguments for either alternative.
