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Piotr Staniaszek get a $83,700 cell phone bill

A Canadian oil-field employee, shocked to get a C$85,000 ($83,700) cell phone bill, has had the charges reduced to C$3,400.

Piotr Staniaszek, a 22-year-old oil and gas well tester in rural northwest Alberta, became a figure of international media interest this week when his father went to the journalists to protest about the amount of his son’s bill.

Staniaszek’s father, also named Piotr Staniaszek, said his son 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?” Staniaszek senior told Reuters on Thursday from Calgary, Alberta.

“Now it’s $85,000 and nobody told him,” he said.

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

Staniaszek senior said Bell has settled to reduce the charges to C$3,400 for “goodwill.”

“It’s still high…Who can afford it?” he said, adding his son can barely make payments on a new truck he bought for job, and will keep on fighting the charges.

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

Staniaszek said 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.

One Comment

  1. steve wrote:

    he shouldn’t have to Pay a dime, they screwed up and he should have been better informed, I mean look what the man does for a living, if he gets Drunk or something like that imagine what kind of Damage Could be done via SImple Mistakes. They should be thankful to have him as a Customer.
    -steve

    Posted on 21-Feb-08 at 4:40 am | Permalink

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