Mythbuster Andrew Savage recently faced an $11,000 bill from AT&T for using a wireless modem to surf the Web in Canada. (/ABC News)
Posted on 06/30/2009 9:01:14 AM PDT by JoeProBono
What would you do if you opened up your cell phone bill to face a dizzying five-digit charge? You might do well to follow Mythbuster Adam Savage's lead. When the host of the Discovery Channel's "Mythbusters" learned he had rung up $11,000 in charges from AT&T while in Canada, he headed straight for Twitter.
The culprit, he tweeted, was the USB modem plugged into his laptop that was running on a wireless plan suitable for the U.S., but not for Canada. "AT&T is attempting to charge me 11k for a few hours of web surfing in Canada. Pls RT!," he posted to his Twitter feed Friday. Later, he wrote, "Almost forgot: Hey AT&T! I will fight this bull****."
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Mythbuster Andrew Savage recently faced an $11,000 bill from AT&T for using a wireless modem to surf the Web in Canada. (/ABC News)
So he buys a phone in the US, then assumes it will work internationally for the same price as a data device, then throws a fit when it is a higher charge? Did he think of asking before he used it in Canada. Most companies I know of have plans that are domestic and plans that cover Canada, Mexico, etc. I don’t know about AT&T, I avoid them like the plague, but it seems they would have an international offering he could have switched to.
“After his father died earlier that year, Yahaya Wahad said he disconnected his late father’s phone line. But Telekom Malaysia, the country’s largest telecommunications provider, later sent him a 806,400,000,000,000.01-ringgit (U.S. $218 trillion) bill”
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who the hell do these idiots think they are? I think this poor guy should own the phone company when this is all settled.
So I guess this means that we’ll see an AT&T phone blown up in an upcoming episode?
Ha! If I ran an internationally syndicated TV show I might get my phone bill reduced too.
Consumerism is the art of letting the company know your needs wants and desires after the contract has been executed. It is activist yes, but it has a valid position in modern capitalism.
It is the main defense against small type as well as loss leaders, bait and switch and hyperbole in marketing.
AT&T did the right thing. Adam Savage did the right thing. Both had a lot to lose by maintaining the contractual agreement.
— lates
— jrawk
If AT&T is anything like Verizon then calling them would not have helped.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCJ3Oz5JVKs&feature=player_embedded
I think it’s a myth that you can fight AT&T.
AT&T is incredibly notorious for this type of stealth, “hope you’ll just pay and shut up”, type of billing.
So the myth that you can go to foreign countries without worrying about your data and/or phone plans and just do as you please has been busted.
Do they not review bills before sending them out? I have to review an ach file before sending to the bank. Many goose eggs like that would get my attention so I could investigate before we tried to take that kind of money from an insured!
Surely their bean counters know an unusual jump in income when they see it??? Oh, that would be a reasonable thing to do...
Some pretty funny stories there...love the guy who busted up the daughters phone with a hammer!
And he comes across as the dumb one of the group so who’s surprized?
That international info is readily available on their website.
One of the other phone companies will jump all over this and become a sponsor of the show. The cast will be shown on their Verizon phones or using their Verizon wireless to look up data. They have the ‘Verizon Slo-Cam’, just like Deadlies Catch has the ‘Acura Radar’.
Adam Savage is just advertising the fact that he is an idiot.
When you sign up for a data plan, it is up to you to know the terms of that plan. One of the big items to know about is the charges that apply while roaming or internationally. These charges are all spelled out clearly. It is up to the user to avoid incurring them accidentally.
Clearly Mr. Savage did not understand how either his computer or his data plan worked. Such people should not be trusted with complicated electronics, much less explosives.
No kidding - after a failed upgrade in January, they were supposed to roll my contract back to its original expiration date (August of this year). They didn't. It's taken six months to get it rolled back to the original date, and I'm asking them to cancel the contract based on poor customer service and reception. They're now willing to "investigate" terming the contract early.
Got to love it.
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