Help Me Hank: Help Me Hank! Crazy charge

A blaring alarm clock, a rooster, your mom, a clock radio. They'll all wake you up in the morning, but Rory had something else in mind.
 
Rory Delaney, consumer
"I had to catch an early train to New York."
 
His alarm clock was broken so he decided to use his phone. And no not the cell phone alarm, his landline.
 
Rory Delaney, consumer
"I was asking for a 5:15 wake up call."
 
It's kind of like a hotel where you order a wake up call. Then they call you in the morning to make sure you get out of bed.
 
Rory Delaney, consumer
"In England it's very common."
 
So he placed his request and hit the sack. And the wake up call worked!
 
Rory Delaney, consumer
"It was 5:13 or something. As soon as I answered the phone I just switched it off again because I was awake."
 
So you have to sleep, but you need to wake up. How much would you pay for a wake up call? A dime? A dollar? Maybe two?
 
Well, Rory got his bill and check it out: $502 for the special wake up call! And it looked liked he'd been charged twice! The total $1004! Now that's a wake up call!
 
Rory Delaney, consumer
"It's a bit extraordinary!"
 
He called customer service. And they told him, sorry, the price was right!
 
Rory Delaney, consumer
"I was flabbergasted."
 
There was no way Rory was going to pay that ridiculous bill.
 
Rory Delaney, consumer
"I called Help Me Hank."
 
A thousand dollars for a phone call? Time to give the phone company a wake up call of its own and see what possibly could have happened.
 
"Well yeah, oops," the phone company said.

The real charge was $5.90. It was a billing error. And it turns out Rory wasn't the only one. Two hundred and fifty others got hit with bogus bills.
 
Now the company is promising to fix them all.
 
Rory Delaney, consumer
"I would say I feel relieved, though it really just seems like a bit of a joke now."
 
Hank Philippi Ryan, Investigative reporter
Extra services can sometimes cost a lot, but of course not that much! Ask in advance if you use a service like this so you have ammo if you need to fight a bill.

(Copyright 2007 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)