Man Gets 85,000 Dollar Cell Phone Bill

Published:

An oil field worker in western Canada was shocked this month to be charged 85,000 dollars for surfing the Internet on his new mobile phone, local media said Thursday.

Calgary resident Piotr Staniaszek, 22, had signed up for Bell Canada's cellular phone service at about 150 dollars per month, with unlimited mobile Web browsing.

He believed the plan allowed him to use the phone to connect with his computer, using it as a modem to download a lot of data, high-definition movies and other bandwidth-hungry applications.

But when his first bill arrived in the mail, Staniaszek realized to his horror that the company was charging him on a per-kilobyte basis for Internet downloads.

"I didn't know what to think. I thought there was probably a mistake," he told public broadcaster CBC. "I told them I wasn't aware that I would be charged for hooking up my phone to the computer."

A spokesman for Bell said the company will adjust Staniaszek's bill to 3,243 dollars, as "a measure of goodwill."

But Staniaszek said he still plans to try and fight it, "because I didn't know about the extra charges. Nobody explained any of this to me."

"The thing is, they've cut my phone off for being like 100 dollars over," he told CBC News. "Here, I'm 85,000 dollars over and nobody bothered to give me a call and tell me what was going on."

Entry #1,275

Comments

Avatar pacattack05 -
#1
Who said talk is cheap?
Avatar LOTTOMIKE -
#2
they've always said words mean so much....
Avatar pacattack05 -
#3
You can't have your 2 cents in anymore.......It's more like your 2 dollars worth....lol
Avatar justxploring -
#4
He's lucky he didn't end up in a cell. (yuck, yuck)

Okay - now I need to tell this true story. Around 1985 I moved into a building in Medford that had been converted from a school and was eventually being sold as condos. I rented a very small apartment. After one month I got my first electric bill and it was thousands. I honestly don't remember exactly but it was more than I would pay in 10 years. When I called the electric company the woman in billing asked me if I watch a lot of television. I kid you not. I tried not to lose my temper, but I kept saying "You don't understand. I was paying $45 a month (this was 20 years ago) and I just moved to a place half the size." I mean, even if I watched TV and kept the lights on all night in a studio apartment it could possibly have run $60. She told me to pay the bill and they'd look into it. I said "You've got to be kidding" I don't earn this much in a year" and had to take time off of work and go in person. Turned out I was being charged for the whole block of buildings which were still under construction and not yet occupied.

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