There are mistakes, and then there are mistakes. And no one knows this better than a St. Charles County man who overpaid his cable company by $154,000.
Charles Mackey said he lost almost all of his retirement money with a computer error and the cable company is still billing him.
When he couldn't get the money back, he called 5 On Your Side.
Maria Hallas: “Does it scare you?”
Mackey: “Oh yeah.”
Mackey said he is upset and embarrassed after he mistakenly generated a check on his computer for $154,154.86 to pay his $154.86 cable bill.
“It was a typo on my part,” said Mackey.
He says he physically mailed the check to AT&T, his cable company. And the money was deducted from his bank account.
“That is my retirement,” he said.
Mackey has worked for thirty years as a swimming pool contractor to build up the nest egg. He said he scraped together every penny
"Somebody's got the money. I just know who doesn't have it," Mackey said.
AT&T shows his bill for 154.86 was paid. But then the company sent him a new bill for same amount. Mackey says it is as if $154,000 just disappeared
Even AT&T didn't have an answer and he's out his life savings.
“I was freaked out and I still am. I mean it still preys on my mind:” he said.
Mackey says his bank sent requests to AT&T about the money but heard nothing until we called today. Just before this story aired Mackey says AT&T called him and tells him they will return the money this Thursday.
He's hoping that's true. Five On Your Side will stay on top of this story until the money returns to his bank account.
