Holiday maker gets staggering phone bill

£31,500 for downloading Prison Break

6 July 2008 15:06 GMT / By Katie Scott

The authorities are promising to bring down roaming charges for European travellers, but one company, it appears, hasn't had the memo.

Yes Telecom has slapped a £31,500 bill on a Brit who used the broadband connection on his mobile whilst away from home.

Ian Dobsyn, a 34-year-old IT worker from Salford, Greater Manchester returned home from a holiday in Portugal to find the monumental bill.

He claims he only used his phone to download Sky’s Prison Break, and a number of songs, so was a tad shocked to read how much money his phone provider wanted.

"The figures looked like they had come down from the Moon”, said the unsuspecting Dobsyn. "I just laughed. There had to be some mistake."

He has had to get a lawyer involved though to fight the fee, and his solicitor, Danielle Mestraud, has managed to get the bill down by £31,271.

Mestraud of Farleys solictors in Manchester warned customers that they should take the time to read the small print before accessing television programmes abroad.

But she also said that phone providers aren't doing enough to warn customers what can happen when they use their phone whilst abroad.

She said: "…service providers also have a responsibility. It would be better if subscribers were given a monthly maximum spend so they could be notified if they had breached it, rather than only finding out when the bill arrives".

Full tags

Phones, Mobile phones, Biz, Video downloads, Prison Break, Broadband