And you thought a $3000 iPhone bill was outrageous. Reuters is reporting that Piotr Staniaszek, a 22-year-old oil field worker from rural northwest Alberta, Canada, received a C$85,000 ($83,700) cell phone bill. The charges have been reduced by C$3400, but his cellphone provider apparently is planning on collecting the remaining C$81,300 – C$60,000 of which are tied to use in November.

The background of the story is controversial and the case whether these charges are justified or not could swing both ways. Staniaszek reportedly received the phone as a present from his father and thought he could use the phone as a PC modem through Bell Mobility’s C$10 unlimited browser plan. The 22-year old went and downloaded massive amounts of data, such as movies, and claims that he was unaware of the charges this would incur.

not an iPhone

Dec 17, 2007 14:17     

Your story is factually incorrect. The young man's phone was not an iPhone. As you stated, the provider was Bell Mobility, far inferior to the only iPhone carrier: Cingular/AT&T. [Yes, you are right. Our mistake. The story is corrected. -ed]
wescam report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Didn't the guy have a contract?

Dec 17, 2007 15:35     

Cellphone contracts should spell all these things out in detail. The only question now is whether it was the 22 year old or his father that contracted the cell phone service and how the terms were written.
Task report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

a case for corporate responsibility

Dec 17, 2007 18:11     

You don't let a client run a tab of 85000 dollar. The provider cannot expect anyone to pay this amount on a phone bill. They log your data use meticously, so why not use that information and inform your customer of this problem in advance.
ikkeman report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Sad

Dec 17, 2007 20:30     

You know... I get really tired of reading things like this on a daily basis. I don't even know what to say. He won't pay it, they will start to lean on him... somehow garnishing his wages, etc. etc. etc. Times will get tough and in the end, he will probably just commit suicide.
Henrik report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Ok but...

Dec 18, 2007 09:35     

One more fact to corrrect, Bell reduced the bill to 3,400.$ total, they are not collecting the balance as described.
Jimmy James report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Re: A case for corporate responsibility

Dec 18, 2007 10:25     

Why would they inform him ahead of time? Cell phone companies are soulless. They saw his bill skyrocketing and saw a big payday. They care about money, not one customer who failed to read a contract. I wonder who his cell phone company was. I can't help but notice they didn't mention the company in the article.
Task report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Rogers

Dec 18, 2007 11:47     

My guess is that it is Rogers.
Wrong report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Charges were reduced to$3400

Dec 18, 2007 14:30     

Charges were reduce to $3400 not reduced by $3400.
joe report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Pure greed

Dec 19, 2007 00:01     

I think it's pure green on corporates part because there are limits on people's bills. If the person spends alot more than usual the system should put a hold on the account and let somebody know. That's typically what credit card companies do so I'm sure they can also just they didn't want to publish the fact. Honestly, it's their screw up so they should simply wipe the balance clean and start over. If he does it again then shame on him! Darkk

Darkk report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

HAHAHA!

Dec 19, 2007 07:18     

Definatly sounds like Canada, eh!
Hexadecimal report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Cell Company

Dec 19, 2007 07:54     

It says in the second paragraph, its Bell Mobility. Personally, I don't feel sorry for this guy. Ive made mistakes and had to pay for them. Granted, not $85,000 mistakes. All it would have taken to avoid this is reading what the package entitled him too, or a quick call to customer service. Also, I would like to point out, that this is not the first time that something like this has happened. I seem to remember a person with a large Comcast bill, in the range of $30,000 in bandwidth charges. Honestly, I learned a long time ago, never assume anything. Read the fine print. Particularly in a multi-year contract. If you don't, you deserve what you get. The fact that they are willing to reduce the bill so much should say something. an $85,000 bill to a $5,000. Take it and run. It is probably the best you will get.

Blacksword report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Bell canada

Dec 19, 2007 11:00     

I have worked outstanding bell canada cell phone bills..if this guy sees this he should ask for the contract. Bell generally doesn't keep the contracts and hopes people can be bullied to pay the bills..this was the case about 2 years ago however, I doubt that it has changed. If they don't have a contract he cannot be held liable for any charges whatsoever.. Still someone would have to have noticed an 85K bill. seriously..who has 85K to pay for a cell phone in a month..you could buy a house and have internet after 3 months of those kind of charges..what a rediculous thing to charge a customer.

hahaha report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

read the fine print?

Dec 19, 2007 12:15     

Why - The large print said unlimited browsing... that means unlimited browsing. If the company willingly puts out wrong and misleading information about their contract, they shouldn't whine about losing big. IF they made the claim about unlimited web access for a set price (don't know if this was the price) they have no case when someone decides to believe them at their word, instead of initially distrusting your provider and reading the fine print.

ikkeman report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Canadian Phone Companies ar eTerrible

Dec 20, 2007 07:45     

Not surprising in the least bit. When you have a backwards, commie regulatory environment that only recently opens up competition against big-3 wireless telcos, they can do want they want and Canadians bend over and take it. Canadian wireless communications are the third world when it comes to rates. My plan allows me 200 minutes of voice airtime/month and 20Mb of data/month. What do I pay? $110/month. I'm going to move to Senegal or Nicaragua where I can get reasonable pricing for first rate wireless services...not the third world "service" available in Canada.

M Valentin report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

nonew

Dec 22, 2007 09:36     

darn i liked your article on the car. then soon i read some of your reader comments and realized that what we have hear are liberal rants against everything....'hate corporations' 'its there fault' get real you guys!!
buster report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

My life would be over

Dec 23, 2007 21:40     

wow this is crazy, 84k!!? Why do we even need cell phones, the bills are crazy and you got people looking up your cell phone number like this Find any cell phone number you are looking for with a new surefire way at my blog with a secret reverse cell phone directory article says
reversecellphonelookupdirectory report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

re: read the fine print?

Jan 15, 2008 13:10     

sure it says unlimited browsing, but you'r a fool if yoiu think browsing is downloading! If I go into, let's say a Chanel store, and browse the employees have no problem with me. But if I decide to "download" some merchadise into my purse, do you think they won't try to collect some $$$ from me??
princess report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

All is fair business

Jan 16, 2008 19:26     

I had a $2400 bill due to the fact that the sales person did not add on the unlimited data plan as I requested at the time of purchase. I called the company(AT&T) and they reduced the amount to be $180, the amount that it would have been if the sales person had added the unlimited plan. So in this case, the $3400 amount to pay is worth paying rather than $84000.
Dude report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

The bill was reduced to $81,300 not to $3400

Jan 21, 2008 19:37     

Why do readers fail to understand that the bill was reduced to $81,300 not $3400. To quote the above story: 'The charges have been reduced by $3400, but his cellphone provider apparently is planning on collecting the remaining C$81,300'. Have our schools failed that badly in teaching reading skills?
David Lewis report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0