This may seem like a common sense to those loyal UCAN followers, but promotions are not always the same. We recently received a complaint from a longtime AT&T customer. She said that she received a letter in the mail offering her a promotion to a higher plan. The trouble was that she only qualified for the promotion because she was on a certain--a plan she never was on. She panicked, thinking that someone upgraded or changed her service plan without her knowledge. Fortunately, her plan hadn't changed. 

At&T chalked it up to a marketing department error, and in all fairness, it probably was just an error. However, in the event that it wasn't an error, the customer could have been on the hook for some serious charges that would have been a nightmare to get credited. 

It's important to review the seemingly harmless promotional material that clutters up your mailbox to make sure that your plan hasn't changed without your authorization. Sure, it might be a bit of pain to spend a few extra seconds reading the material before dumping the stuff in the shredder (you do shred your junk mail, right?), but it's a simple measure to make sure that you aren't getting crammed or slammed.

Have you had a service plan change without your authorization? Let us know about your stories and how you resolved your issues in the comments. Need help? Call the Fraud Squad at (619) 696-6966.