I just realized something odd about this oft-repeated billing scenario: the very few people who could realistically pay $11k overage bills also always have the means to fight it.
Let's see, I was in 7th grade or so (6 years ago?) and Comcast came to install their service as we followed their wish to ditch the dish. The man that came did some damage to the house before he finished. Dad refused to pay, he refused to finish the job. We had no TV, a large hole in a ceiling, and more...
Dad was pissed but apparently I was even more angry after I was told someone would come by only in a week or so. So what did I do?
I went on Google and found the email of the head of the south east region of Comcast. I sent him a long email expressing my unhappiness and I told him I was going to post my story on my blog. I didn't think it would lead to anything, I did this without my family's knowledge.
Next morning I awoke as my dad shook me asking me what I did. We had 3-5 Comcast vans parked outside our house in addition to an insurance repair firm fixing the hole. I had a blog for the purpose of learning what a blog was, messing around with HTML/CSS, no viewers. I didn't say that of course. The threat was enough.
With twitter/facebook, it's even easier. Managers know that company reputation is in the grips of one unhappy customer.
I wonder what happens if you have an auto-deduction from your account. Not a problem for the monthly bills, but it would suck to find $11k taken out of one's bank account with the deduction done through a process that, although extremely unethical, is technically legal.
If I ever had the intention of using a phone for data, I'd turn off auto-pay immediately.
Does anyone ever pay these bills?