Sun
KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia’s largest telephone company blamed a debt collection agency Thursday for a misplaced decimal point that resulted in a $218 trillion US phone bill being sent to a dead man.
Telekom Malaysia said the agency mistakenly sent out a notice demanding payment of 806,400,000,000,000.01 ringgit ($218 trillion) instead of the actual 80.640000000000001 ringgit ($21.80).
The notice threatened court action if the bill was not paid.
“It is a mistake,” Telekom spokeswoman Mariam Bevi Batcha told The Associated Press. “It’s clearly not Telekom Malaysia’s fault … we have given a stern warning to the debt collection agency because they sent out the notice.”
She declined to name the debt collection agency.
She said the mix-up had been explained to Yahaya Wahab, who received the bill on behalf of his late father.
Yahaya said earlier this week that he had disconnected his late father’s phone line in January and settled an 84-ringgit ($23) bill then. Yahaya said he nearly fainted when he saw the inflated bill.
Mariam said the company was waiting for a full report from the agency on the matter, and was not able to say whether any apology would be made to Yahaya.
Government-linked Telekom Malaysia Bhd. is the country’s largest telecommunications company.
© The Vancouver Sun 2006