How Does A Cell Phone Bill Top $57,000?

When Qwest Makes A Mistake, That's How

MINNEAPOLIS, 9:50 p.m. EDT July 23, 2001 -- When some Qwest cell phone customers opened their bills this weekend, their jaws likely hit the floor and they immediately wanted to call the company to complain … but not on their cell phones.

That's because, in some cases, the company's bills reflected a cost of more than $600 a minute for cell phone use. Yes, more than $600 a minute.

A spokeswoman for Qwest in Denver said that 14,000 erroneous bills went out, representing about 1.4 percent of their customers across the 14 states. While the company told consumers to toss the bills away, imagine being someone like Linda Brooks of Minneapolis. She opened her bill Saturday and saw this bottom line: $57,346.20.

The bill said that every time Brooks' cell phone rang, and she answered it and racked up a minute on the phone, it cost her $616. When she opened her cell phone bill from Qwest Saturday, there it was, the whopping bottom-line cost.

"This cell phone bill is more than I make in a year," Brooks (pictured, right,) a home health-care worker and student said, laughing. "More than I make in two years. I looked at the amount and said, 'This can't be right.'"

That sentiment was also echoed in Colorado, where Suzanne Anderson said that she received a wireless bill for $2,147.

"I almost fainted. Normally it's $90, $100 at the most. I know this is totally in error," Anderson said.

In a statement, the regional phone company said that it regrets the error and was in the process of upgrading their system when the error occurred. "Customers who exceeded monthly billing … were erroneously charged excessive fees," Qwest said.

Qwest blamed the snafu on a "billing upgrade error" and said that it was taking a "pro-active approach" and contacting the customers who were sent the erroneous bills to tell them that they were getting new, corrected bills.

"Something got hideously whacked in their billing system," said Tim Shellbetter, who saw his bottom line bill sitting at $27,130.82 when he opened it Saturday.

Shellbetter said he's had no real problem with Qwest, but since receiving a bill in excess of $27,000 he said, "I'm wondering, what about all those other bills that I paid? Do I trust them anymore?"

Qwest said those who received erroneous bills should simply ignore them as new bills are being sent this week.

Additional resources:

• qwest.com

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