Shocked Man Rings Up $43 Million Phone Bill
Submitted By: Phantom
Article Date: 04/23/1999
URL: http://www.goofball.com/news/990423_phone
SAO PAULO (Reuters)
``I was horrified,'' said Nelson Marotti Filho, 42. ``My bank
called me to ask what I wanted to do with the bill.
They usually deduct it directly from my account.''
After a hasty call the Sao Paulo telephone company mailed him a
new, corrected bill for just $31.
It was the latest blunder for the company, bought by Spain's
Telefonica in a trophy privatization last year.
Even Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso attacked the
company on
national radio last Friday after
regulators found it guilty of cutting lines and switching
numbers without notification.
A Sao Paulo resident reeled when
his bank rang him over his March telephone bill.
It
totaled $43 million.