Man receives £40,000 phone bill

 

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By Reuters

Posted on 14 Dec 2007 at 08:36

A Canadian oil-field worker was stunned to get a C$85,000 (£40,000) mobile phone bill after using the handset to download movies and other files to his computer.

Piotr Staniaszek, a 22-year-old oil and gas well tester in rural northwest Alberta, thought he could use his new phone as a modem for his computer as part of his C$10 unlimited browser plan from Bell Mobility, a division of Bell Canada.

He downloaded movies and other high-resolution files unaware of the charges they would incur.

"He's working in the field sometimes, alone, in the shack. What to do? Drink vodka or go on the Internet?" says Staniaszek's father, also named Piotr Staniaszek. "Now it's $85,000 and nobody told him."

According to the invoice, his son rang up C$60,000 in charges in November, and they have since climbed to C$85,000.

Staniaszek senior says Bell has agreed to reduce the charges to C$3,400 for "goodwill."

"It's still high...Who can afford it?" he says, adding his son can barely make payments on a new truck he bought for work, and will continue to fight the charges.

A Bell spokesman says the plan is not intended for downloading files to a computer, and that's clear in his contract.

Staniaszek's father says his son did not want to talk to the press after the interest his story has received and that he is afraid to use his cell phone and incur more long-distance charges.