NATION : Ill. Phone Bill a Few Zeros Off

Cori Ward’s elderly mother has not been calling the troops in Saudi Arabia, but it looked like it when this month’s phone bill rang in at more than $8.7 million.

Illinois Bell spokesman Larry Cose said the elderly woman, who lives in suburban Flossmoor south of Chicago, was supposed to get a bill for $87.98 for three weeks of service with no long-distance calls.

“It was a manual error,” Cose said. “We apologized, of course. Something like this rarely happens.”

As far as anyone can figure, an Illinois Bell employee incorrectly typed a correction into the computer system.

Ward said it took some talking, though, to convince the telephone company of its error.

“They said, ‘Why do you want a new bill?’ ” Ward said. “I said, ‘Well, it’s rather high.’ Then they pulled it up on the computer and said, ‘Yes, I see what you mean.’ ”