Man Racks Up $140,000 Bill Calling Sex Chat Lines
A lonely British man has incurred charges of almost $140,000 after spending hours ringing sex chat lines.
After 45-year-old Kevin Waldrum split with his girlfriend of two-and-a-half years, he began calling chat line Studio 66 TV. He discussed his difficult break-up with several women at the chat line, apparently unaware of the colossal bill he was creating.
When an invoice for $30,000 arrived from phone service provider Vodafone, some may have been deterred, but not Mr. Waldrum. Instead, he continued to rack up another $109,000 in chat line charges on his bill.
The former security guard, who is currently unemployed, says the charges have ruined his life and driven him to anxiety medication. He told The Daily Telegraph:
“I admit I rang these numbers and it’s partly my own fault but the line should have gone dead before I started to incur such high charges. All I can think about from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed is, how am I going to pay these bills?”
Mr. Waldrum says he intends to fight the charges. Provider Vodafone has reduced the bill to almost $45,000 after a spokesperson admitted Mr. Waldrum should have been alerted to the charges on September 18.
“Since we missed the opportunity to alert him at this stage, we will waive the charges of around £61,000 [$93,100] incurred after this point as a gesture of goodwill. Mr Waldrum remains liable for charges of £29,083 [$44,400].”
However, the spokesperson added that Vodafone had already barred Mr Waldrum on one mobile phone for high charges, only for the lonely man to order a replacement SIM card to continue calling the premium lines.
[Image via Shutterstock.com]
