After getting charged $5,815 by AT&T, this user feels "defeated". Here's how to avoid this horror!

What's the highest phone bill you've gotten? Was it $300, $500, or even a thousand bucks? How about $5,815?! Yeah, I guess not.

But this is precisely what an AT&T subscriber has recently experienced.

The 1,247% increase

"I feel so defeated, got a $5,185 cell phone bill", says the picklemethis79 Reddit user and goes on to explain how they got the 1,247% increase from their usual $385 bill.

At first, they, naturally, felt like some gargantuan error had been made by AT&T: $5,185 is a shocker when you're used to a $385 monthly bill. But, no, as it turns out, the user will have to pay the bill.

The reason

This happened because the user's daughter had made a long international call with someone she met on Roblox. "They wanted to chat, so they called and talked. She didn't know she was making an international call and talked and talked", the OP (original poster) explains, adding "I do even have 5K in my savings and I feel so screwed and defeated", which I guess is a type and they meant "don't".

Can things be fixed?

Many commenters believe the situation is not as hopeless as it first appears. Several suggested that the carrier could apply an international calling plan retroactively and adjust the bill, provided the case reaches the right department.

Others echoed that a $5,000 charge for a single mistake is excessive and likely negotiable, pointing to past experiences where similarly high bills were eventually reduced.

Some users shared their own stories of massive charges, including one who recalled a bill exceeding $7,000 in the early 2000s.

A more detailed suggestion involved using the carrier's online portal to attempt a retroactive plan change, ensuring that any modifications and effective dates are documented. From there, contacting customer support to request an adjustment could potentially lead to credits or refunds.

However, one user warned against paying the full amount upfront, noting that reimbursements sometimes come in the form of account credit rather than cash, which could lock the user into months or even a year of free service instead of an immediate refund.

There was also some debate over whether backdating a plan would actually work once the bill has already been issued. A few commenters argued that once charges are finalized, retroactive changes alone may not reduce the total, meaning a manual intervention or credit from the provider would still be required.

Others questioned how such adjustments could be approved if the timing of the plan change clearly follows the calls in question.

The wonders of WhatsApp

What users are suggesting "for the next time" is to simply use a chat client like WhatsApp which transmits voice, video and text messages over the internet.

This is very important for those who have kids at home – you must sit down with them and explain that international calls are often extremely costly. Besides, they probably don't have a reason to talk to a stranger halfway across the world in the first place.

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