AT&T Rep Says He/She Can Save You Money? Run Like Hell!!

Phone Hell Blog

AT&T Rep Says He/She Can Save You Money? Run Like Hell!!

Caty Phillips

Our troubles began when we called AT&T to question a single item on our February 2011 bill. An agent answered the question and then offered to “save you money” by making some changes to our phone and DSL accounts. I should have noticed the odor immediately, but I fell for the spiel. After we discussed 3 or 4 items, the agent told me the amount of the new and lower monthly bill. We were pleased, fools that we are.

Came the March 2011 bill and guess what? It was 64% higher than the February bill!

Then began my journey thru AT&T phone hell. I made numerous calls in vain attempts to clean up the mess.

One agent told me that she would investigate the matter and call me back—never did. Other agents told me that they had solved the problems and that credits would appear on our next bill. Credits that did appear were erroneous or too little or both.

AT&T, of course, expected us to pay the full amounts of erroneous bills until they could straighten out the accounts. When we did not, charges were levied against our account for late payments.

Tips for those who are experiencing similar difficulties:

When drilling down thru the many menus and submenus to get to talk to a “customer service” rep, say the word ‘AGENT” 4 or 5 times. Though it will seem that you are talking to a recording, you usually will be connected to an agent right away. When you do get to talk to a human, get his or her “Agent ID#” before saying another word. Otherwise you will not be able to prove that your conversation took place.

For your reading pleasure, the following is an excerpt from the latest communication that I sent to AT&T:

1) Our payment is scheduled to be received by AT&T no later than May 27, 2011. It is for the purpose of keeping us current until AT&T makes the required corrections to our billings.

2) Further corrections that we require AT&T to make are:

a. Remove Worldwide Value Calling from our account. We did not request it and do not want it.

b. Restore Non-Published Service, which we have had for many years and which we do want. What exactly happened during the period while Non-Published Service was removed? Was our telephone number made available to all comers, e.g., solicitors?

c. Remove “Equipment” Inside Wire Protection which we did not request and do not want. This charge appeared after we had AT&T remove a similar charge for “Inside Wire Protection”.

d. Remove the 3-way call charge of $3.00 which appeared on our February 2011 bill. We did not make it or participate in it.

All of these changes are to be retroactive. If any of the items listed above are part of some ethereal “package”, do not change that package without first discussing it with us.

MAKE NO OTHER CHANGES TO OUR ACCOUNT WITHOUT DISCUSSING THEM WITH US IN COMPLETE DETAIL AND OBTAINING OUR EXPLICIT AUTHORIZATION.

3) We will neither accept nor pay any late payment charges levied against our account through the June 2011 billing since AT&T obviously could not get its act together and submit proper billings, including timely credits.

When the dust settles (no later than AT&T’s June 2011 bill we hope) our account will be kept current as it has been for many years.

Call us to acknowledge your understanding of this message.

P.S. We now use an extensive spreadsheet to analyze AT&T’s billings. It will be very difficult for anything to slip past us.

P.P.S. T.A. Edison is bound to be twirling in his grave at AT&T’s machinations!

Tags: • equipment • solicitors • calling • communication • service • menus • tips • accounts • customer service • late payments •

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phone bill AT&T Rep Says He/She Can Save You Money? Run Like Hell!!