[Scott]

Cellphone user shocked by charges of $85K

A Calgary man is disputing a cellphone bill of nearly $85,000, claiming the phone company failed to tell him using his phone to surf the internet would cost so much.

The Motorola Krzr model Piotr Staniaszek bought from Bell Mobility allows him to use the phone to connect with his computer; downloading data to the computer resulted in the shocking charges.

"I didn't know what to think. I thought there was probably a mistake," the 22-year-old oil-field worker said of the extraordinary total.

A spokesman for Bell said the company will adjust Staniaszek's bill in "a measure of goodwill." But he will still owe Bell more than $5,000.

A bill that large is extremely rare, spokesman Jacques Bouchard said.

"What happened is that the client used the cellphone as a modem linking it directly to the computer and downloading huge files, ... high-res movies for instance."

Staniaszek said he pays $10 a month for unlimited mobile browsing on his cellphone. "So I figured that was the same thing, but I guess not."

After speaking to Bell about November charges of $65,000, Staniaszek said he was informed his bill had increased to nearly $85,000 after more downloading in December.

Staniaszek said the company should have alerted him to the soaring tally. He normally pays about $150 a month for his phone.

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

"I told them I wasn't aware that I would be charged for hooking up my phone to the computer. I'm going to try and fight it, because I didn't know about the extra charges. Nobody explained any of this to me."

Bouchard said Bell cannot monitor the activities of every one of its customers.

I work for this company, and for reference, the highest data package we sell, is 1GB for $100, with an over usage rate of $1/MB. $85k in data usage, with no package, is the equivalent of 5.6GB of data.

[Nerina]

That poor guy, thas insane!

[OzzyC]

Hmm. My father had his cell stolen one time, and before he had it shut down and replaced, they had a bill of over 4k- which they still plan to charge him for.

[D-EJ915]

Originally Posted by Scott

Cellphone user shocked by charges of $85K



I work for this company, and for reference, the highest data package we sell, is 1GB for $100, with an over usage rate of $1/MB. $85k in data usage, with no package, is the equivalent of 5.6GB of data.

My network connection on my desktop has been up 92.5 hours and I'm at 9.7GB down, 5.5GB up

[Vegetta]

Originally Posted by Scott

Cellphone user shocked by charges of $85K



I work for this company, and for reference, the highest data package we sell, is 1GB for $100, with an over usage rate of $1/MB. $85k in data usage, with no package, is the equivalent of 5.6GB of data.

5.6 Gigs - Thats A lot of porn

[The Dark Wolf]

That's just stupid.

These cell phone fucks are so fucking retarded. When are they just gonna charge a flat rate monthly for unlimited connection? Man, I remember when the internet used to be charged based on time connected. That was the stupidest fucking shit ever.

[D-EJ915]

Originally Posted by The Dark Wolf

That's just stupid.

These cell phone fucks are so fucking retarded. When are they just gonna charge a flat rate monthly for unlimited connection? Man, I remember when the internet used to be charged based on time connected. That was the stupidest fucking shit ever.

it was especially dumb because that was back when everyone had dial-up...helloooooo long waits

[Scott]

Unlimited connection through your ISP is one thing, but this dude is using his cell phone as a modem. To think that his Cell phone gave him unlimited internet through his laptop for $10 is what's really stupid.

[The Dark Wolf]

Originally Posted by Scott

Unlimited connection through your ISP is one thing, but this dude is using his cell phone as a modem. To think that his Cell phone gave him unlimited internet through his laptop for $10 is what's really stupid.

Him thinking that, sure.

But the cell [hone companies continuing to conduct business that way? No fucking way. Ridiculous. 85k for a bit over 5 gigs? That's IN-FUCKING-SANE, man. Crazy. Not even rational. Like, from fucking Jupiter.


Insane, and indefensible.

[Scott]

Sure 85k is outrageous, and we're not holding him to that. We're charging him as if he was covered for as much as he could be covered for, and the remaining 4+ gigs at the regular over usage rate for that plan. Which from my calculations came to just shy of the $5000 that is quoted in the article. But is that still too much? Should we just waive the whole thing and forget about it? Simply because he 'Didn't know'?
I have no doubts that he didn't know, but he didn't ask. And not only that, but it's also in his terms of service that the "Unlimited mobile browser" doesn't cover tethering, and you'd need a data package if you wanted to do that. But of course, no one reads the terms of service. And it isn't even "Fine print" It's more like "Page two" But again, most people don't get that far.

Everything from data usage, to roaming has a pay per use rate. I don't see anything unreasonable with that.