Teenager hit with 1500Eur phone bill

Riemerling. By surfing the Internet with a mobile phone, a 12 year-old boy received a bill of 1522.96 euro over a 5-week period.

Alphonse Willems, the father of the teenager had received information from ADAC about a special partnership with e-Plus, where family members can talk for free between each other. The proposition sounded like it fit with exactly what they needed, as his son Marc goes to the international school in Neuperlach, so the boy could at any time call home. What the father overlooked was that that the phone calls were indeed free but the mobile browsing without any special data package was extremely expensive. The boy went mobile surfing, downloaded music and films online thinking that he had Internet DSL-Flatrate.

After the family reveived their first bill, they were shocked and the telephone was blocked the same day. Willems tried to argue with the mobile company. They communicated by letter directly with the e-Plus CEO Thorsten Dirks, but without any positive result: Marc's father was obliged to pay the full amount.

This life example shows how ruthless some mobile and Internet companies in Germany are and to warn you from signing any contract before you fully read and understood the conditions and terms of usage.