Verizon Wireless now says that the astronomical bills some customers received after making cell phone calls from Haiti shortly after the catastrophic earthquake there last month were due to a computer glitch. According to the Fayetteville Observer, mobile calls placed in Haiti showed up in their system as being placed in Jamaica. Calls from Haiti to the United States should have been free all along, and Spc. James Crawford does not owe Verizon almost $2,000 for phone calls he placed to his pregnant wife back in North Carolina.

…Verizon spokeswoman Kathy Schulz said in an e-mail Thursday evening that all calls to and from Haiti should have been free.

Adding to the confusion, she said, was one provider in Haiti that shows up in the billing system as Jamaica, so anyone using that system would not have been automatically recognized as having placed calls in Haiti.

A Verizon customer service representative originally told Crawford’s wife that calls to Haiti were free, but calls from Haiti were not. The Crawfords’ only option, the representative initially said, was to sign up for an international plan that would have doubled her monthly bill.

Nice save, Verizon. Way to make a military family panic about having to pay a huge bill, but it’s good to hear that the real policy is much less obnoxious than we had initially thought.

Bragg soldiers in Haiti won’t be charged for calls [Fayetteville Observer]

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