The $27,000 AT&T bill for watching the Chicago Bears

Last November, Wayne Burdick was on a cruise ship docked in Miami when he suddenly said to himself: "I wonder how my beloved, infuriating, ugly-quarterbacked Chicago Bears are doing?"

So he got out his wireless card, opened his laptop, unleashed his Slingbox and began to pray. Surprisingly, the Bears beat the Detroit Lions 27-23.

As his ship sailed to the Caribbean, Wayne Burdick's heart was lighter than Joaquin Phoenix's sense of humor. On his return, his pockets were lighter too.

Because AT&T sent him a bill for $27,788.93. You know why it did that, don't you? Yes, it accused him of truly egregious behavior. No, not watching the Bears, but roaming.

Don't they look as if they're worth $27,000 to you?

(Credit: CC Back Garage)

Mr. Burdick channeled his best Mike Singletary and spent much time roaming around the customer service departments of AT&T. Even though he could prove that he was on that cruise ship and therefore still technically in Miami, he succeeded only in getting the bill down to $6,000.

So he contacted the "Chicago Sun-Times". With the paper's intervention, AT&T decided that Mr. Burdick must have been receiving an errant signal.

Either that, or he must have been pestering them so much and persuaded a newspaper to take on the case that perhaps it would have been an errant signal for the company to pursue the matter further.

[lkrupp]

You can't fix stupid. But, of course, this guy refuses to accept responsibility for his stupidity. I guess he expects at&t subscribers to bail him out. Rest assured the $27,000.00 adjustment will be passed on to other rate payers in the form of higher charges. Welcome to the USSA.

[gerbache]

How exactly is it stupid to assume that you would not be roaming in Miami, particularly when one's cell phone shows as not roaming? If you read the original source of this report, his cell phone showed he was in AT&T territory, so he used the wireless access card. AT&T even admitted that it wasn't his fault!

[gggg sssss]

there is of course no real cost providing that roaming...just greed, and stupidity of those supporting att

[Perry_Clease]

Errant signal? From where, the Bahamas, Cuba?

[xcal78]

The cruise ship itself had its' tower on in port when it wasn't shouldn't have been turned on yet.

[kcotham]

Don't you dare feel sorry for AT&T or any other telco! The telcos owe the American taxpayers over $200 Billion anyway. They should be all tried for defrauding the American government. They promised to deliver broadband to every house in the country, fiber optics to be precise, and didn't deliver. So, where's the outrage? Why aren't they being dragged into court? They should be made to do the right thing and either give the US population back it's money, or give it back in free services.

[jug831]

What are you talking about? Who promised fiber to every home?

wasn't that sposta be parta the obamarama? ...or wazit gore? ...too much net for me to remember!!

[HeyJoeJoe]

Watching the Bears? AT&T should have charged him double the original bill.

[camp88]

Really? But isn't watching the Bears punishment enough?

[7aji88]

now my 90$ bill a month seems much better!! But seriously 27,000$ *** AT&T

[X_armitage]

That's a story I would like to see. What happen to the billions of dollars that the US telecommunication companies earned from adding that broadband tax to their customers phone bills. And the billions more gained from the deregulation for certain services like call waiting. I mean we're talking about letting go a huge technological edge.

[DroverChicago]

Why does it always require bad publicity for a large company to finally do the right thing?

[freemarket--2008]

It's called a lack of ethics...and it's widespread in most major businesses these days. In an ethical business transaction, both parties should benefit--always.

Taking advantage of a customer's mistake is not ethical and is not in the company's or customer's best interest. This is a message that business leaders need to hear loud and clear until it sinks in and becomes the norm.

[xcal78]

This article is missing vital information that was report on another site yeasterday. The cruise ship turned on it's cell tower while in port. This caused him to connect to that tower and thus 'roaming' was applied. They said they cruise ship isn't suppost to turn on it's tower till it's a few miles off shore but it was turned on in port for some reason. They fixed this and said his bill is about $290.

[tekwiz4u]

This proves a point where Over-the-Air streaming thru wireless carriers DONT WORK.

[stueverj]

This kind of business is not at all funny. My brother got charged nearly $10,000 for using his own WIFI to connect from his AT&T cellphone. He did not have a data plan, and had his phone's data connections turned off, with exception of WIFI. AT&T decided that they should scam him. He paid for that WIFI from his ISP, AT&T did not have the rights to resell it. On top of that, AT&T specifically said that he would not be charged, and initially denied that he had been charged for this. I'm curious about what anti-trust laws this violates. Clearly fraud.

[ajrenk]

Thank you for this article! I just got my AT&T iPhone bill for a 48 hour trip to Canada back in December. $4500!! It is just sick!

The iPhone rocks, but why Apple chose a horrible firm like AT&T is beyond me.

Can anybody help me out here? Tweet me @clickforclients