AT&T

[DFWAJG 4]

Ugggghhhh! I hate these bastards. Mid-September, I moved, and attempted to transfer my internet line to my new place. AT&T doesn't service this area, so I have to cancel them, and pay a fee for the cancelation, despite trying to continue my service with them, which they can't provide. I thought this was unfair, and spent an hour on the phone arguing with one supervisor after another. I told them three times to cancel the service, since I don't live at the old place anymore. Now, just finally got what I thought was the final bill. They have continued the service! They are now charging me for three months that I haven't used. Called them on their mistake, and they are blaming me for them not canceling the service. "Oh, the cancelation wasn't completed. You hung up on us." I told them three times to cancel the service. I was arguing with them over the fee. The line dropped after the 4th transfer that they made. They are willing to give me a $50 credit. The bill for three months service is $150. I think this sucks. They are very nasty to deal with. Anyone else with this experience?

[eeneR 1]

I learned that if you call from an internal AT&T company phone they are very obliging when you try and cancel.

Was quite funny. I work for AT&T (as a contractor) but not in the telecom division.

Sorry no good advice, though if you have proof of your move date then try and argue with them on that. Normally having names and information might help. Sorry to hear they were assholes to ya.

She is not a "Dumb Blonde" - She is a "Light-Haired Detour Off The Information Superhighway."
eeneR
TF#72, FB#4130, Incauto

[JSBIRD 1]

AT&T, in all it's many incarnations, is notorious for trying to pull this shit since the mid to late 90's.
I did an internet search for Federal consumer protections services, found one, and emailed them all the details.
Funny...ATT sent me a letter a few weeks later saying my account was zero'd out.

BASE359

"Now I've settled down,
in a quiet little town,
and forgot about everything"

[popsjumper 2]

Tossing my phone was one of my great successes in life.
Life has been sooooo much better since then.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[shropshire 0]

Tossing my phone was one of my great successes in life.>>

Any port is a storm I guess.... You folks have some strange sexual proclivities.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[mamajumps 0]

OMG!!!! I hate AT&T with everything in me!!! The Fuckin bastards!!!! I had my cell service with them until early 93, around that time I moved to the mid-west to care for my ailing grandma. At that time I switched to Cingular. LOVED LOVED LOVED them! Service was great until they fucking merged with AT&T again, now its the same bullshit all over again, and Im still have 1 yr left on my contract!!!! GRRRR!!!! Fucking Communist bastards!!!!

[Snowwhite 0]

Quote

Tossing my phone was one of my great successes in life.>>

Any port is a storm I guess.... You folks have some strange sexual proclivities.

YEA and we get pissed much more than you folks too!

skydiveTaylorville.org
[email protected]

[shropshire 0]

>

Possibly not at this time of year. We get propper pisssed Cheers, have agood one.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[AggieDave 6]

I'm with you! I've been with Cingular since 2000, its been great until Ma Bell got involved. Now it flat sucks but is still the best in my area.

As for the bill, I've found that when I talk to a supervisor if I have done my research about the FCC and federal regulations in regards to billing and service I get my way. Even if what I found doesn't support my point, but getting to spout off FCC regs, chapter and verse tends to "motivate" mid to low level supervisors who don't know better.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Bolas 5]

I had a similar issue with Verisuck. They tried to charge me the $200 early cancellation fee because I was 5 days short of the 2 years. (I had Cingular transfer the service)

After paying by credit card the last months bill minus the ass rape fee and turning off my auto billpay. I basically told them they weren't getting that money from me. It took about a month, but they finally decided I didn't owe them.

Have you already paid or do they expect the money now? If you haven't paid, you're in a much better position.

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.

[DFWAJG 4]

Nope, haven't paid the bill yet. But thanks for the input, all, especially with the FCC. I'm not going to fool around with AT&T anymore. I'm going straight to the FCC.

[Gawain 0]

Quote

I'm with you! I've been with Cingular since 2000, its been great until Ma Bell got involved.

It was Cingular that bought the old AT&T (long distance co) and used their name. Cingular (SW Bell, BellSouth, SNET, PacBell) was in effect, Ma Bell already.

As to the original post, call the public utility commission of the state you had the service prior to cancellation, file a complaint. Next time you speak to AT&T inform them you have filed a complaint for not adhering to a cancel service request.

Local phone services are regulated at the state level, so even if they wanted to, they can't do certain things (i.e. cancel fees, etc).

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[DFWAJG 4]

HA HA HA!

So, just a little update on the AT&T saga. I went to the utilities commision, just like some of you suggested. I just got my letter of apology for their rudeness, and a credit for $121 for the charges and have a ZERO balance! Thanks peeps for the win!

[FlyingJ 0]

I had similar experiences with a couple different companies about 10 years ago and ever since make some pretty good notes any time I'm dealing with something like this, even (and especially) when it is going well. I've found you get folk's attention a LOT faster when you can fax them a list of every conversation you've had, who you had it with, etc. It's a bit tedious and takes some time, but it has paid of big time when I needed that information.

With that type of documentation I was able to get a computer manufacturer to give me a full cash refund, including shipping, on a 6 year old computer. I only had minor problems with the computer but their customer service was so horrible that when I finally got the number to send my documentation, along with notice of a BBB investigation, to the president of the company I received a call the next morning letting me know of the refund.

You might not think it is worth keeping good records when everything is going well, but you'll thankful when the shit hits the fan later.

Killing threads since 2004.

[happythoughts 0]

At some point, I have worked for a bunch of Telcos.

They have one thing in common. Originally, they had a "knowledge base". People worked there for a while. They learned their job and passed on the knowledge to others. It worked this way in all the areas.

Then, somebody did the math and decided that they could save money by paying less for crappy customer support. They would lose some customers, but the net dollars worked in their favor.

I now know more about their systems than most of the people who work there.

My recent experience. Upgrading phones. Phone doesn't work.

Sim transfer doesn't work. How did they expect the Sony SIM to work in the Motorola phone?

The phone upgrade moves me to a new network. The new voicemail is on that network.

I spent several days on the phone explaining this.
I finally drove 10 miles to their sales office.
Then, 5 more miles to their area office.

I explained what they needed to do, and how.
"No, don't just plug in the SIM, download it and then upload it. You use your computer. Ummm...maybe Bob over there knows how to do it."
"...and about that voicemail network change..."

[riddler 0]

AT&T sucks ass. And I have three phones with them, so I can say that with some authority They gave me a free blackberry when the lawsuit was threatening to shut blackberry down - how could I say no? I also have two iPhones, and you only get one choice (unless you want to try to hack them, but who has time?).

When I tried to port my home phone number to them, it took four weeks and 10 phone calls.

They also lie. Adverts saying "fewest dropped calls". I've had T-mobile, Verizon, Qwest, and I'll testify that I hardly ever had a dropped call with any of them. AT&T drops calls from all of my phones a couple times per week. What do they think - by spending millions on advertising, that we'll believe the opposite of what we experience?

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[happythoughts 0]

Quote

What do they think - by spending millions on advertising, that we'll believe the opposite of what we experience?

It's not just ATT.

It's the math.
A certain percentage of people will have problems.
A percentage of those will complain.
A percentage of those will never get the problems resolved.
But... only some of those will actually change carriers.

So, balance that with the lower cost of having untrained support people. Money saved.

Take the actual net revenue per customer and multiply that times the number of customers that will actually change carriers. Net revenue lost.

It is cheaper to lose a few customers than to pay for knowledgeable customer support. That is the math.