Man Gets $10,000 Cell Phone Bill
With story after story of outrageous cell phone bills, you'd think people would know better. But with online bill payment services, we often only give a quick glance to our statements, enter our credit card information, and never give it a second thought. After reading about the recent troubles of one California man, though, we'll be sure to look a little closer next time we pay our cell phone bills. Mark Elliot recently received a bill from Verizon Wireless that totaled more than the cost of some cars. Elliot told The Morning Call that the $9,993.88 bill was an obvious error on Verizon's part. The breakdown of the bill looked like this: $182.96 in monthly access charges, $5.17 in taxes and fees, and $9,805.75 in wireless Internet activity. That amounts to 44,000 megabytes (that's 44 gigabytes; almost 11,000 songs or 60 full-length films) of data downloaded or accessed in just one month.
Elliot contacted a Verizon representative who laughed off the charges and told him they would take care of it. However, another Verizon rep called him back and said, after checking his records, he would have to pay the bill. Elliot suggested his account was hacked, but Verizon denied his claim. Then, the company had a change of heart and said the bill would be adjusted. However, the next day Elliot awoke to find Verizon charged him for the total amount of the bill. In turn, Elliot's Bank of America checking account, which held just $781, was overdrawn by thousands of dollars.
Finally, Bank of America stepped in, contacted Verizon, and received a promise to return money to Elliot's bank account. While details are slim on just how the screwup happened, we bet Elliot will keep an eye on future bills. [From: The Morning Call]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Saltypoison said 4:11PM on 6-15-2009
...and kids, that's why you NEVER set up your account with anyone to have charges automatically withdrawn from your bank account.
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Jsams4131 said 4:44PM on 6-15-2009
agreed...
also technology is great but there definately are some things that you are just better off taking care of on your own.
mere said 4:23PM on 6-15-2009
maybe he got phished
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Simzee said 4:55PM on 6-15-2009
Luckily, I do NOT have a cell phone. Actually, a cell phone jammer sounds good right about now. IMAO
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zamafir said 5:23PM on 6-15-2009
And that's why I'm not a verizon customer. I played the same game with ATT, though my bill was around $4,000 more. Unlike this poor bloke I never had a penny pulled from my account and ended up talking it down to $300.
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lonnie said 6:04PM on 6-15-2009
what's surprising is the BofA did anything to help any customer.
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dash323 said 6:49PM on 6-15-2009
this surprises me only in the fact of the outrageous amount he was being charged. I also have verizon and they recently tried to charge me with 1000 dollars because i was apparently calling someone who wasnt in my friends and family too many times. When I checked my detailed bill the number that I was apparently calling was one who I had never seen before...Damn you verizon >.> you need to fix your network someone is obviously lurking in there...
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Missy said 8:21PM on 6-15-2009
For that mistake, after being told everything would be taken care of, then over drawing on the mans acct: the phone company would provide me a life time of free phone service. A cell phone can't even hold that many songs or movies.
Get real, how many days or weeks would it take to download 1000 songs even if it could hold that many ?
I got my bill out as soon as I read it. It was right $125.53 total, for 3 phones.
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plankton81 said 9:18PM on 6-15-2009
This is typical for verizon billing.
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ithurtswhenipee said 9:38PM on 6-15-2009
Lets assume the phone had unlimited storage, and was plugged into the wall so the battery never died. How much data can even download in 30 days time?
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levin said 11:51PM on 6-15-2009
is anyone need OEM/ ODM sevice of any products? I can help you
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aladyinsc1 said 5:23AM on 6-16-2009
Verizon screws people any way they can. I had Verizon several years ago. I found I did not have service anywhere close to where I lived. I called Verizon and was told they would cancel the service and the only charges I would be responsible for is the minutes used. Two months later I get a bill for early termination fee. I called them and explained the situation and was told it would "cycle" out by the next bill run. Next month the same thing....the placed this charge on my credit. When I called them about that I was told even if I paid it they would not remove it from my credit.
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Jenny Milingtow said 5:22PM on 6-20-2009
This is the sort of thing that makes me very happy that I have a prepaid cell phone - no more nasty surprises, no more phone bills. I now have a Tracfone Straight Talk package which is really great because i get 1000 minutes, 1000 texts/MMS and 30 MB of data for $30. When I calculate the rates it works out to 2 cents per minute, 1 cent per text and the data is free, I'm never going back to contract again.
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Jenny said 5:27PM on 6-20-2009
This is the sort of thing that makes me very happy that I have a prepaid cell phone - no more nasty surprises, no more phone bills. I now have a Tracfone Straight Talk package which is really great because i get 1000 minutes, 1000 texts/MMS and 30 MB of data for $30. When I calculate the rates it works out to 2 cents per minute, 1 cent per text and the data is free, I'm never going back to contract again.
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m-pars said 8:37PM on 7-28-2009
This is exactly why I'm no longer with Verizon. Made the switch to StraightTalk, which still runs on Verizon Network but I'm saving lots of money and no more surprises. For $45/month, I get unlmited minutes and texting. Can't beat that!!!
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roverdmerritt said 11:58PM on 8-07-2009
I just had a similar billing, in june I had one of three cell phone turned off my next months bill was $2478.00 . $85.00 of it was phone plan the rest was data they changed my calling plan when they turned off the phone with out my permisson. sofar they said they would fix it after I reported it to the BBB & canceled my credit card . I see I,am not alone
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rover said 12:00AM on 8-11-2009
UP Date well they gave my a $1856.00 credit off a totel billing of $2500.00 so I pay them $644.00 plus tax & fees not great but how do you win ? Nobody has any real paperwork to show its all over the phone . they don,t let you here what you said an don,t send you anything that is court worthy
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