One Frenchman's monster €45,000 Internet bill

Those of a certain generation and background will doubtlessly have been raised with the idiom ringing in their ears, "If you look after the pennies, the pounds will look after themselves."

Ah yes the lesson of thrift and sensible budgeting, universal surely in its application.

Sadly though for some the temptation to spend, spend, spend is just too great and the availability of credit makes it easy to build up debts that may prove impossible to repay.

This wasn't the case though for Eric Gernez who took over the running of a bar in Petite-Forêt near the northern French town of Valenciennes in February this year.

He took a while to decide which Internet operator he would use and eventually plumped for Orange, the mobile 'phone network operator and Internet service provider of this country's main telecommunications company, France Telecom.

Gernez signed a contract which, as far as he understood, allowed him unlimited Internet connection and 'phone calls 24/7 for a monthly tariff of €95.

Except when he received his bill last month for the period August 3-31 he had a nasty surprise.

Instead of the €95 he had been expecting to pay, he was greeted by the sum of almost €46,000 or to be exact €45.923 and 61 centimes.

"At first I had to laugh when I saw the bill," he said.

"But I'm not laughing any longer because I've been asked to pay up and have been sent me a reminder," he added.

"I've even received a proposal to repay the amount over a 40-year period."

Gernez says that not only was he not informed that he had a monthly volume limit, but the bill also included international calls which he "had never made".

"This obviously isn't an attempt to rip off a customer," said Laurent Vitoux, the regional director for France Telecom - Orange.

"For the moment we've frozen his account until we have found a solution," he added.

"The contract he signed is adapted to a certain type of user and this was perhaps not the case for Mr Gernez."

Given the circumstances perhaps something of an understatement and a warning to all of us that "unlimited access" doesn't always means what it implies.