A family in Weyburn won’t forget a very expensive lesson about data charges after getting a $10,000 phone bill.

Marg Gibson said there is no way to describe the shock of getting a bill that high from SaskTel.

“A $10,000 bill. I really actually thought it was a joke,” Gibson said.

The Gibson family racked up the bill in data charges without knowing it while they were on a week-long trip to Phoenix. When Gibson’s grandchildren were bored they put in an internet stick in their laptop to watch movies on NetFlix.

The family didn’t think it would be a problem at the time and they only figured out what happened after talking to SaskTel.  The company did give the Gibson’s a break by dropping the bill down to $1,000 after they explained the situation.

“It was a very big lesson to us,” Gibson said. She explained that the family doesn’t use a lot of data and understanding some of the new features of laptops are over their heads.

Michelle Englot with SaskTel said this situation does not happen as often as you might think.

“We are providing customers with a lot of information on our website in terms of roaming charges outside of Saskatchewan and outside of Canada,” said Englot.

(What is roaming? Click here. To see what SaskTel says about roaming in the U.S., click here.)

The cost of using data out of the country adds up quickly at $3 per megabyte. The website advises all customers to just turn off their data while travelling out of province. SaskTel also includes an information sheet on roaming tips with all new devices.

Edited by News Talk Radio’s Adriana Christianson