Cingular, the US network with rights to the iPhone, has lost a battle with a 77 year old pensioner over $31,000 worth of calls he says he didn’t make.
When a large bill arrived for 4,000 calls from Nicaragua Oliver DeSofi contacted Cingular to complain of fraud.
Cingular tried to collect $31,000 until an investigation by a large newspaper found that he had never been to Nicaragua and the calls were fraudulent.
In cases like this which are bound to make the national news, it is amazing that a company with a marketing budget of well over $100 million choose to pursue innocent people when they clearly have no chance of winning. Even a quick investigation would have revealed that Mr DeSofi hadn’t been to the country in question and that the calls were fraudulent.
Mr DeSofi has now had his account reinstated and credited with $120 as a goodwill gesture. Cingular spokeswoman Kelly Starling commented:
We are researching how it was handled from beginning to end
