Phone Company Goofs on Billings for Calls

About 25,000 families and friends of people serving in the Persian Gulf were mistakenly billed for calls that were supposed to be free, and the charges will be canceled, AT&T; officials said Tuesday.

American Telephone & Telegraph Co. had offered to let servicemen and women in the gulf make the free calls during Thanksgiving week, Nov. 20 to Nov. 27, and 140,000 calls were made.

But some local phone companies did not follow through on instructions not to bill the troops’ families for these calls, company spokesman Richard Wallerstein said. The calls were placed to families all over the United States.

Wallerstein said no one will have to pay for the bills, no matter how high they were. He said he had heard some of the bills had reached $500, but he had no definitive information.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that bills sent to some soldiers’ families soared as high as $2,000.

The offer was for one three-minute call per soldier, but Wallerstein said AT&T; had no way to enforce the limit.

The offer cost the company more than $1 million, Wallerstein said.

Meanwhile, AT&T; announced Monday a free call-home campaign for U.S. Navy sailors and Marines stationed on ships in the Middle East.

The offer is good through New Year’s Eve, and Wallerstein said he didn’t expect any problems.

“We’ll just do the bills right this time,” he said.