The £27,000 'unlimited' mobile phone bill

Did you catch this story recently?  This poor chap in Darlington, North of England, got himself a Vodafone Anytime 800 contract and also purchased the 7.50 ‘unlimited internet’ option.  All was good until he received a bill for £27,000 from Vodafone.

Why?  He failed to read the small print.  He thought, like any normal person, that ‘unlimited internet’ meant unlimited data.  It doesn’t.  It means unlimited web browsing from the handset, not plugging in your mobile to your laptop and downloading TV shows from it.  Oh no.  Deary me.

Link:  The Opinionated Normob: Worker runs up £27k mobile bill

It’s good to talk… unless you fail to read the smallprint on your new mobile phone contract and end up with a bill for £27,322.Ian Simpson, 29, was sent the bill for four weeks’ service after wiring his mobile up to a laptop to download TV shows – and only then found out his £41.50-a-month deal didn’t include unlimited web use.

Last night the factory worker, from Darlington, Yorks, said he feared he could be made bankrupt.

He said: “I just laughed out loud. How on earth could I afford to pay that?”
Ian signed up for a Vodafone Anytime 800 contract and added a £7.50 inclusive internet deal to let him use his phone for surfing the net.

Don’t worry Ian.  I’m pretty confident Vodafone will come to an arrangement with you.  Too may of these sorts of headlines in the mainstream media will seriously damage the UK’s adoption of data plans.