You hear many horror stories of people accidentally incurring huge fees due to their use of their phones whilst abroad, but this story is truly something special.
Katie Bryan, a maths teacher from Lighthorne, South Warwickshire, decided to purchase Neil Diamond’s ‘Best Of’ collection whilst holidaying in South Africa. Unfortunately for Katie, she didn’t take into consideration the huge roaming charges her service provider Orange would slap her with due to the roaming fees of downloading music whilst in a different country. These roaming feed led to the £8.99 album costing Katie £2,600.
Speaking to ContactMusic, Katie said: “It was a lunchtime get-together with my boyfriend’s family at a house where we were staying near the Kruger National Park. I’d had a bit of wine… but not too much. People were playing music through their iPads or on phones through an iPod dock. Someone had put on the Traveling Wilburys but I just fancied hearing some Neil Diamond. I don’t know why. He’s more my boyfriend’s musical taste and I’m more of a James Blunt fan.”
This purchase, coupled with her admiration for James Blunt, essentially makes Katie the Silliest Person Ever.
She continued: “It wasn’t a particular song that I wanted to hear. I’m really not that big a Neil Diamond fan. And I’d already got his Essential Neil Diamond CD at home, in my car.”
However, Katie wasn’t about to take responsibility for her own ridiculous mistake, as she added: “I think Orange are preying on people who make a mistake while abroad. Why such a massive difference in cost? In England you would just pay the album price. “I also feel it is morally wrong to be expected to pay this sort of money for a Neil Diamond album.”
Orange lowered her bill to £400, and my IQ lowered by about 50% due to hearing this story.
