Globe-trotting movie blogger Jeffrey Wells describes how he carefully negotiated his iPhone data plans as he hit the Cannes film festival, but was humbled by a $3,200 bill when all was said and done. The grizzled writer half expected the nonsense and calmly talked AT&T down from the ridiculous demand.

He writes:

I didn’t lose my temper. I simply called and explained what had happened, step by step, and that obviously somebody in the int’l department had made a mistake. It took about a half-hour of explaining and re-explaining and waiting and doing deep-breathing exercises, but the AT&T guy I called finally came back on the line and said he’d spoken to international and that I had nothing to worry about and that all I owed AT&T was my regular monthly and to forget about the $3200 figure. Whew!

But this is what AT&T is like. Untrustworthy, occasionally predatory, no coordination. If somebody says one thing the next guy will say something different. This is why everyone hates them, and why the option of switching to Verizon for iPhone service, which may happen sometime in the fall, is being seriously examined by more than a few AT&T customers.

What’s the highest bill you ever talked your way out of?

True Story [Hollywood-Elsewhere]

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