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Are you disputing a charge on your Cingular bill? Share your story here.
Common issues and problems we're seeing (post yours below!)
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Inappropriate International Data Transfer Charges
To Whom It May Concern,
I recently visited my parents in Toronto, Ont, Canada for the holidays between 12.22.09 and 1.05.10.
During the visit I was contacted by AT&T thru text (twice) that international rates of data transfer would be $15 per MB. I noticed that the charge was a little steep, so I kept my usage to a minimum while I was on my trip. I checked my email occasionally for work, and used the GPS twice. I also sent 70 texts. International rates are $0.50 per text, for a total of $35. I was unaware of this fine print and not informed in any way by AT&T of the text charges, but accepted these charges retro-actively, and am willing to pay for them.
During my Canadian trip, I repeatedly accessed my myWireless account to make sure I was not incurring excessive charges. Not once did current usage mention anything over 1MB of total data transfer during that time.
After returning home to L.A., AT&T International contacted me that I used approx. 30 MB of data and was charging me $1000, but offered a retro-active plan to cover the data for $99.99, claiming that some networks do not report the data right away. I was shocked, but okay, whatever. A few days later, AT&T International contacted me that it was now reporting 60MB of international data transfer during my Toronto visit, some networks report later than others, and that a retro-active plan of $199.99 would cover the usage.
THEN...
On approx. January 18, 210, AT&T International claimed that it was now reporting (2.5 weeks after returning to the States) that I had sent 937,887KB of data from my iPhone to the Web, and was now charging me $6309.05 for usage. I nearly had a heart attack. My usage report on-line now states that I had sent a whopping 614,688KB of data from my iPhone to Web in ONE SINGLE TRANSFER on 1.03.10. Other transfers of 11,528KB, 138,269B, 24,907KB, 18,774KB and other transfers now appear sporadically over the bill report.
When I called to complain, the International dept. once again charged me ANOTHER $199.99 retro-actively, to cover 200MB of international data transfer and told me that they could cut the charge down to $2500, and to dispute it once the amount showed up on my bill. This never materialized. On my bill, BOTH $199.99 charges have shown up, with no compensation for retro-active data plans, plus full charges for all data sent, totaling the figure above.
My typical usage in L.A. with an unlimited plan is about 200MB - 300MB total per month.
As a customer, I have never transferred more than 4 - 5MB in one transfer, let alone 600MB.
WHAT GIVES? This is a blatant attempt to rip me off.
Either someone pinged my phone-line, stole my wireless codes somehow and transfered data without my knowledge, or, there is some sort of glitch that hooked up my device to someone else's business, or, someone is stealing my ID somehow and charging AT&T, who are just passing the charges on to me.
I cannot understand why anyone would think I would spend 20% of my yearly income on 1 single data transfer. Very suspicious... I have lost copious amounts of sleep, sweat and time over this matter for them to brush me off like I'm some sort of displaced complainer. Total bummer.
I have now disputed the charges and am waiting for a response from the company within 72 business hours.
I find it VERY convenient that:
i.) On AT&T's website, International Roaming is regarded, stated and described as OVERSEAS.
ii.) I was not contacted about excessive usage and/or abnormal data transfers when compared to my normal usage
iii.) Reporting from other networks gets delayed by many weeks
iv.) accessing my AT&T myWireless did not inform me of any of these excessive transfers.
Please point me in the right direction.
Thanks for your time.
AT&T Strikes Again, Consumer Fraud on Wireless Card Data Charges
Here's my story, 3 yrs later 1/2010 a collection agency calls me saying I owe them 8,000. They have repeatedly denied my right to written disposistion of any documentation relating to this outright conusmer fraud incident. IT'S TIME WE CONSUMERS GET TOGETHER AND STOP THIS COMPANY FROM RUINING PEOPLE'S LIVES AND CREDIT!
7/01/2007
Dorinda A. Luz
178 Echo Ave
Edison, NJ 08837
Home: 732-225-5064
Office: 732-225-5064
Mobile: 908-962-2058
Re: Cingular/AT&T
Wireless card
1. Inquired by phone to Cingular/AT&T retail store in Menlo Park Mall (on an international/Global wireless card for travel to Portugal. I spoke with Rami Ayyash, Retail Sales Consultant for the company (see copy of his business card), explained what I was looking for and was told he could help, but I would have to come over right away because he had only one card left in the store. I explained I had also spoken to Verizon who is my wireless carrier and he assured me that the Cingular card was of course better and less expensive.
2. Upon arriving at the store Mr. Ayyash told me there was a slight problem. First, the only number available for the air card was out of Washington DC, and he was able to obtain it from his cousin. I thought that a bit odd and when questioning him he alluded to the fact that his cousin works for Cingular in the DC area and that on such short notice that’s the only number that was available for the service I needed. He then explained that because I was not currently a Cingular/AT&T customer I would not be able to switch back and forth from international to domestic and a two year contract would be necessary. I told him I had AT&T Long Distance and International calling on my home phone and he said he didn’t know if that would make a difference or not. The plan he was able to get me would cost a fortune. At that point I told him I wasn’t interested and I would go back to Verizon because although there card was more expensive they could give me the plan I wanted.
He asked me to wait and he would call the international division to see what he could do.
He was on the phone several minutes and I wandered around the store looking at merchandise. He was disconnected and called again taking several more minutes to conclude his conversation and called me over with them on hold and told me he was able to get what I wanted but that they wanted to speak with me. The reiterated the two years contract (inclusive) for $139.99 and a $250/$275 (not sure) for terminating the contract early. I was never told by the sales consultant or the international division that there was limited free access on the card and that additional fees would be charged for airtime.
At that point I told the rep I understood about the two year contract, hung up and told Mr. Ayyash that I was not interested as I did not want to pay a contract for two years at the $139.00 as the Verizon card, while more expensive to purchase was less expensive in the long run as I would be able to switch back and forth between international and domestic.
He assured me that when I got back from Portugal, that all I had to do is come into the store and he would switch it back “They do it all the time” and I would not be charged the fee for early cancellation of the two year contract. A colleague of his was standing behind the counter and confirmed what Mr. Ayyash had said. I told him I was not comfortable with that and a contract is a contract and didn’t want to get stuck paying the early cancellation fee. Again he assured me that they do it all the time and there was nothing to worry about.
So, I purchased the card. I used it in Portugal for my emails and computer work. 3 days before returning from Portugal the card would not connect, which I thought strange.
I was told there was suspected fraud on the card.
When I returned home the same message was left on my home phone. I then received a statement in the mail for $8,841.32. Immediately I called the customer service # and spent about 1.5 hrs on the phone between the customer service dept and finally the fraud department. Kacee Mowdy, Manager of Customer Service Center in Boise Idaho said they definitely suspected fraud and she would be submitting it to the upper management in the fraud department for investigation. They explained the account would be placed on hold till resolution and I would not be expected to pay. I told them I would pay the monthly fee, and was told not to.
Weeks went by without resolution and I started receiving collection notices. After several phone calls to both departments, I was told that it was all handled and not to worry, nothing would be done until the fraud department has reached their determination. In early April I received word that the fraud department had determined it was not fraud and I was expected to pay the bill. I requested a determination letter on several occasions and a reason for giving me a number out of Washington DC and was told that was not available . I then called the customer service department and explained the whole story for about the 4th time. They said they would resubmit the case to upper management and again the account would be placed on hold. I continued to receive collection notices from the collection department and upon inquiry was told that they had nothing to do with account resolution and I would have to call customer service and have them contact the collection dept. After another call I was assured by customer service that this would be handled.
They also said they reconnected my card, I asked if they were crazy, and instructed them to disconnect the card until resolution on this matter was reached.
Weeks again went by and I did receive calls assuring me that the matter was still under review (I have them saved on my cell). The end of May they called and I was told that they had credited my account for $4,711.21. I called customer service again and was told they could no longer help me. I should have realized that there were per “bit” charges on the card and not used it so much.
I again asked how they arrived at the determination and why no one could tell me why the number was out of Washington DC when NJ is such a Metropolitan area. She said they were not at liberty to tell me, so I requested to speak with a manager and was told that management wouldn’t tell me either. I also questioned the employee’s part in this fiasco and was told that they couldn’t be responsible for what their retail sales consultants said or did not say.
A few days later I began receiving calls from NCO Collections/ Len Weiss/866-227-3503 x 6517. (4) on the first day. I briefly spoke with Mr. Weiss and told him I couldn’t talk with him and would have my attorney contact them. He said he thought something was up with the account when he received it because of my credit history. He told me he would put any further action on hold until June 14th.
The following are the employees that I spoke with from February through May 2007.
3/07 Kacee Mowdy Manager Customer Service Boise Idaho
3/07 Jack Benson Call Center Portland Oregon
4/07 Ms. Foster Customer Service
5/29/07 Feodosya Sheperdson 800-947-5096 Collection Center
5/28/07 Roshonda Taylor
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US Soldier's Gets Screwed by AT&T
In August of 2006, I called then "Cingular" to suspend my phone for military because I was deploying to Iraq in two weeks so that I can pick up the service again when I returned to the states. I faxed in a copy of my orders, followed up with a phone call to Cingular. I paid the remaining bill and left with my phone at a $0 balance and switched off temporarily for deployment. At the end of my year in Iraq, I knew the approximate week I would be back in the US and decided to start turning on utilities prior to my arrival. I waited in line for an hour at the MWR phone center and called cingular to have my service suspension restored for the week I was returning. SURPRISE* The representative said my phone number didn't exist anymore, Cingular was also bought out by AT&T AND I have an outstanding bill that was sent to collections for $1300! Ok, I explained that I only had about 5 mintues left to speak to her since I am only allowed 15minutes as other soldiers are waiting to use the phones. She tells me that even though she can see the miltiary orders I faxed them and that my account was in fact placed in suspension for military service .....she paused and said " I am so sorry this is happening to you after all you do in the military...I wish I could help you but there is nothing we can do because it was sent to collections" Now I have 3 minutes left to speak to her...she explains that there were 50 minutes of usage late billed from another cell tower two months after I left for Iraq and they sent me the bills. Since no payment was made it went to collections. I asked why on earth would they send bills to my old address in the states when I am in Iraq and they have the orders to see that..... Time is up have to let her go.
Wait in line another 45 minutes get back on the phone and start the process all over again explaining what I found out to new representative as quickly as possible. The new representative tells me she doesn't know why it happened and late billing can sometimes occur and that even though the account was suspended the late charges were still billed and the balance remained and with no payment from me ( Me being Mortared in Iraq at the time completely unaware of a bill due at all since I paid it to a $0 balance when I left) then it was sent to an outside collection agency with late fees, termination fees (oh it helps to say I had a cell phone and a data card with them so two termination fees) and what ever else they could throw on there... 5 MINUTES left....I almost beg her to help me ... I am willing to pay for any usage that was "LATE BILLED" but should not have to pay for termination fees, late fee's ect... She tells me there is NOTHING they can do but give me the phone number to the collection company.
TIMES UP.... I sit there pondering how it is so insane that I can do the right thing (I kept copies of the fax sent and $0 balance bill) and still manage to get screwed..then it hits me like a ton of rocks.......COLLECTIONS....OMG MY CREDIT...I get back in line another hour to use the computer.... I find out that collections have been reported on my account for almost 6 months from that bill...............the bill that was late billed and that they sent me to my home address while fully aware I was in IRAQ!
I went to my JAG office with the information .... I was surprised to hear there is no protection from the soldier and sailors act to prevent something like this from occurring, however they did help me draft a letter to the collection company to get it resolved... It took 7 months to clear up I wound up paying every penny of that amount because I can not let it affect my credit report or my security clearance will/or can get suspended or revoked.
I am saddened that this happened and at this point don't even know if it was AT&T or Cingular who did it, but I do not use them as a carrier... VERIZON rocks!
Bill
I think here my problem about cingular bill will be solved.
payday loans
Thats a payday loan. I deliberate on he should give way in favour of a personal advance instead?
Need recommendations speedily
Stop!!!! Anybody be acquainted with of a worthy lender that YOU personally get occupied in the past? Have occasion for recommendations fast.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Merry Christmas to all... and to all a good night.
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iPhone international data usage
My name is Thomas Kearney and I am an investigator for a class action law firm. We are looking to contact anyone who has had issues using an iPhone international data plan outside of the United States or knows about the issue and would like to participate in a class action law suit against AT&T. Please contact me at tkearney@ucsc.edu without hesitation.
terms of service
You can't file a class action law suit against AT&T....as follows is listed within your terms of service, here's a link with the whole service agreement: http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/articles-resources/wireless-terms.jsp?locale=en_US
Once you're there click on terms of service and it will pull the whole file up
=====================================
DISPUTE RESOLUTION BY BINDING ARBITRATION
Please read this carefully. It affects your rights.
Summary:
Most customer concerns can be resolved quickly and to the customer's satisfaction by calling our customer service department at 1-800-331-0500. In the unlikely event that AT&T's customer service department is unable to resolve a complaint you may have to your satisfaction (or if AT&T has not been able to resolve a dispute it has with you after attempting to do so informally), we each agree to resolve those disputes through binding arbitration or small claims court instead of in courts of general jurisdiction. Arbitration is more informal than a lawsuit in court. Arbitration uses a neutral arbitrator instead of a judge or jury, allows for more limited discovery than in court, and is subject to very limited review by courts. Arbitrators can award the same damages and relief that a court can award. Any arbitration under this Agreement will take place on an individual basis; class arbitrations and class actions are not permitted. For any non-frivolous claim that does not exceed $75,000, AT&T will pay all costs of the arbitration. Moreover, in arbitration you are entitled to recover attorneys' fees from AT&T to at least the same extent as you would be in court.
In addition, under certain circumstances (as explained below), AT&T will pay you more than the amount of the arbitrator's award and will pay your attorney (if any) twice his or her reasonable attorneys' fees if the arbitrator awards you an amount that is greater than what AT&T has offered you to settle the dispute.
AT&T international roaming charges
Despite paying $60 for a package we came back from 2 weeks in UK with $1500 bill. We don't think that AT&T are taking the responsibility to instruct us on how to use our iphones abroad to avoid these charges. Their cost is extortionate. It needs to be fixed.
I just got back from Mexico
I just got back from Mexico and found a email message on my computer stating that I had excessive international data useage. I had no idea what they were talking about. I took the email message to the local AT&T Corporate store and asked a sales representative. They could not access information, so she called the AT&T corpoate customer service number directly while I waited. We got a person on the line to explain. I told the man on the line that we had taken the iphone for emergency contact only. I have a Mexican cell phone I use while in mexico for local calls. When the rep told me that I have $1500 of international data useage I was ready to strangle someone. The iphone is a new phone my wife purchased and another my daughter purchased after she graduated college. Slick advertizing. There was no indication in a operator manual that you going to be charged excessive data rates even if you do not use the data functions. The iphone just uploads data al by itself. The AT&T rep did offer to back date a plan for $59.99/month to cover the international data transfers. I thanked him for that and asked for his supervisor in order to get the $59.99 times two credited back out on my local service plan over three to six months. The supervisor said no. I feel there is some consumer fraud around this international data transfer thing with iphone. I am interested in getting this opened up more publically either by case-action law-suit or state attorney general's offices consumer affairs division.
Its ridiculous the things
Its ridiculous the things this phone company can get away with. If your phone is not on a plan with texting and internet service then why would they make it available to those who aren't paying for it in the first place? The only reason they are doing this is to steal profits from people who can't even afford to pay their bill on time. They have been ripping off paying customes for years and have no shame. What they are counting on is for their customers to roll over like dogs and give in to the added charges that dont add up. They are counting on customers not to look at the bill and add up all the tacked on fees that shouldnt be there. The only way to win with them is to refrain from having an account with them period.
if you dont want to use the
if you dont want to use the internet all you have to do is to call in and ask for data opt out so there will be do issue regerding your internet on your phone. now if you still recieve overages on internet then that will mean that att has a problem on its network. also if you have billing issues call it in. remember that for all the calls text downloads you make or do to the account they have a record of it. also you can look up your account at att.com
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Illegal Billing
The billing process against me was so unjust I sued the local company dealer and WON!! My family was given a "30 day free internet and messaging trial" I had to go back to the store 2days after they got their phones, because the model i wanted had to be shipped in, they TOLD ME (thank god i record everything on my mini cassete) that i was on the plan, and before the first billing cycle was complete to end the trial i requested the usage info, they charged me 1300 dollars not including the origanal 119 dollars used to purchase the phone hardware and activate it, I fought with them to the point where it wasn't the bill that bothered me, it was the fact that their company ON PURPOSE, created a collection of procedures that covered everytopic, in an attempt to slip a micky in with their deals and speacal offers so that they can bill a "standard" amount to their consumers.......They rolled over for me when they recived the court date, they know they can carve out .0002% of their massive gross profit to keep legally active people swept under the rug, if you want to hit them where it hurts, get a lawyer and take them to court, it a judge were to award 20,000 dollars to a single person, it would become a media circus and their stocks and services could potentally suffer a crippling blow because of customers dropping the service when that story airs
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Currently working for AT&T Mobility....
Well I will say this.....
I am one of the few that value my job and I do not mind helping a customer in need for a legitimate reason. Just like with the CSR a customer may speak with, you get a few to many that try to get over. As a result, CSR's end up stereotyping customers' which often leads to a horrible experience on the customers' and the CSR's end. I just GET so angry when a customer calls and feels that just by speaking with a manager (which I am one) means that they can bend the rules / receive hundreds or hundreds of dollars of credit just because no one bothered to read the CSS (Customer Service Summary) before signing it or agreeing to the terms of service. I feel that all customer's should be treated fairly and equally to some extent, BUT know that the accounts are thoroughly notated and I feel that it is out of order when someone calls in to get credit every month for an issue that they know they are causing or angry because they feel they are not being treated as a loyal customer (but you have had 7 or 8 non-pay suspensions on your account in the past 5 months), or nobody told you that international calling was not included in your calling plan (does anybody know the meaning of DOMESTIC ROAMING / LONG DISTANCE)...and the list goes on....just like I get angry when I here my agents hear that are talking to customer's that have gotten crappy service from AT&T and act as if they do not care...this again creates a bad experience for the customer that causes forums to be put up and posted dogging out the CSR population as a whole and it is not all of us who treat customers like boo-boo....I wish there could be a happy medium where all CSRs acted like they truly cared and wanted to resolve the customer's issue, and that certain customer's would not call in asking us to darn near "walk on water..." and fix/or bend the rules for an impossible situation to fix assist with....agh! I feel that it is negligence on the CSR and the Customer's end....
International Data
AT&T does not empower there people to make decisions. I do just got screwed by them. My son and husband went to Toronto for a 3 day Hockey Tournment and came back with a $4,000 bill. The Iphone was incuring charges when my son was on the ice. At&t says we should of known to turn off the data plan. I told them not to use the phone while they were there so they didn't. They think they are doing me a favor by back charging me $199. Now I understand why everyone want Apple to open up service to other carriers. I love my Iphone and would love to cancel 2 of my phones. I would love to sue.
regarding a bill dispute
Hello Sir,
I am brining it to ur notice about an issue i faced with at&t recently.I have been an at&t customer from 27 september 2007 till date.When i checked my credit report last month i noticed that there was a collection posted to my credit report stating that i owe at&t $730.So I was surprised to see that as i pay my bills on time every month and dont see any due.When i contacted at&t over this they told that there was another account opened with at&t at same time on my ssn that was closed in nov 2007(same year) for which they had a bill of $730.99, which iam totally un unaware till now.When i explained this to one of the supervisor ,he looked into this and said that some times it happens that 2 accounts will be opened at the time of contract begins(one of that being virtual) and opened a ticket and told me that i dont have to pay any thing towards that bill and he would report it to collection company.Now when i called at&t today they said that that request of crediting $730 was opened for current existing account and it has been declined saying that at&t doesnt credit any amount as there was noting to credit for(for current account and it makes sense).So when i told the customer support agent that it was to be applied to the closed account that had balance rather than existing account , they are saying that they cant help me any way.Iam really suffering for no mistake of mine.If you can help me over this please reply me to my email sunithakrishna79@gmail.com .Hoping i will find an helping hand that can help me in getting rid of this amount that i never owe and help in retaining my credit history by removing the collection from my credit report.
thanks
sunitha.k
All these comments sound
All these comments sound like a typical customer service call, maybe u should feel bad for the person at the other end maybe you shouldn't... After all they do not make the policies up... They go by what they are told they should do... And some people do not take responsibility for their actions and the actions of their kids (which are usually the cause of high bills) the person at the other end is also a consumer and has gone through something like your issue at one point in time but when people call in they feel as though they are the only ones that have had this issue and that the rep doesn't want to help, which they would but imagine if att gave away the bank to every person that calls in... They are a company afterall and they have to make money not give it away.
Currently a CSR rep...
If you are roaming outside of the country IT COSTS MORE TO USE YOUR PHONE. @ att.com/wireless it tells you the prices of the calls per country. i hate it when you say "well i didn't know" but did you ask? But if you are ever looking to get charges removed..
act calm and collected, polite and personable and say you either didn't know or was given wrong info. if that doesn't work ask for a manager (most of the managers don't want to take your call, so will let us credit the amount). ANY fee can be waived. Want to cancel your account? Say you are someone else calling on your behalf because you passed away. Yeah i know it sounds a bit crazy but it works. you dont have to show any proof. Or ask to be "re-rated" if you have overages. Everything is available @ your fingertips. If you dont want to call in (or bother me with dumb ass questions) just go to the website att.com/wireless. you just have to know what you are looking for. Its interesting seeing customer's issues because it is what i deal with everyday. And we do get training. VERY often! depending on how busy we are (which we normally are) we can have up to 6 hours of training a week. We just have some dumb ass reps. So i do apologize about that. I am not one of them! I know my shit! Make sure to power cycle your phone every other day for 30 seconds a day. And if you are having issues with the phone, power cycle the phone BEFORE calling us. It normally fixes the problem.
On behalf of every rep working for AT&T Mobility
IF YOU ARE HAVING ANY ISSUES WITH/ABOUT YOUR CELL PHONE. DOOOO NOT CALL ON THE GODDAMN PHONE. HOW COME ONE BE SO RETARDED?
Thank you for being a part about the AT&T Family =)
About death issue
I hope that everyone will realize that if you call in acting as someone else and claiming that the you have passed away to get your acct cancelled and etf waived, a) it's reported in the way the we write off any balance owed and b) it's considered fraud and punishable to the full extent of the law. So, please be aware if you do decide to do this it is ILLEGAL and will catch up with you.
DO NOT CALL CSR
So this moron will no longer have a job. How about if you go back to community college you terd and finish off the Xray tech credits you need. What a fool!!!! Why are people retarded? Ask yourself that question...lol..You will be out of work soon if your prayers are answered and noone calls your LAZY ASS...heehee
Do you think that you can
Do you think that you can get what you want if you talk to a Manager ???
I can tell you that when i take Manager Calls i do NOT credit any account and i ask for proof of anything you are disputing.
"Want to cancel your account? Say you are someone else calling on your behalf because you passed away" = FRAUD !!
Because of persons like you i have fun on my job ans Customer Service Manager !! THANK YOU because i love to hear customers like you getting upset !! ...
Yeah Roger, I can tell you
Yeah Roger, I can tell you are a manager, because you don't pay attention. In my post I clearly stated I am an AT&T rep. I was giving advice to the customers posting on this site, you jack ass. If you are truly a manager, then you know exactly what I said was the truth.
Rude and undereducated reps
Its very clear just from the posts here from the AT&T/Cingular CS reps that they are 1. rude..... name calling? Get some class!
2. You expect the consumer know all that you do? How many months of training did you recieve when you were hired? And you receive ongoing training all the time. And STILL most of you don't understand the material! If you did then everyone would get the SAME answers for the exact same issues rather than a different answer everytime we call or having to be transferred because YOU don't know the answer!
3. So what we call in with an attitude!?? If we are getting a run around, have received POOR customer service, have had to make repeated callls with no relief, you bet your sweet a** we're going to have an attitude when we call! How about learning your job and DE-ESCALATING the issue by FIXING it!!!
4. The store reps ARE idiots. I have worked in call centers for years, one was for VERIZON and the store reps are SALESPEOPLE first. They make a COMMISSION on every phone, calling plan, add on, accessorie even taking a bill payment! So dont say that the CUSTOMER is at fault! They add things all the time withoutthe customer's knowledge and they outright LIE! And so do you!
rude and uneducated rep
how ABOUT THIS,, YOU SOUND LIKE A TYPICAL LAZY ASS JUST TRYING TO BLAME IT ON SOMEONE ABOUT YOUR MISTAKES,, THAT'S WHY THEY GIVE YOU A CONTRACT SO YOU CAN READ IT,, THE STORE REP ONLY HAS THE RESPONSIBILITY TO GIVE YOU A FREE PHONE OR @ 2YR PRICING,, BUT THE FIRST THING YOU DO OF COURSE IS THROW AWAY ALL THE PAPERWORK,, START USING THAT PHONE LIKE A LUNATIC, AND THEN WHEN U HAVE AN ISSUE, YOU ARE JUST LOOKING FOR SOMEBODY TO BLAME WHEN YOU ARE THE ONE TO BE BLAMED FOR,, CUSTOMER,, BE RESPONSIBLE!!!! AND PAY YOUR BILLS AND THEN YOU CAN TALK ABOUT S*%$.... AND INVESTIGATE FIRST AND READ WHAT U HAVE AND ASK ALL QUESTIONS BEFORE YOU GET SOMETHING,, BUT I AM PRETTY SURE THAT YOUR ACCOUNT IS PROBABLY SITTING @A COLLECTION AGENCY,,AND YOU SAID SOMETHING ABOUT LEARNING OUR JOB?? HOW ABOUT YOU LEARNING ABOUT CONSUMER RESPONSIBLE SPENDING,,STUPID!! LOL
How about not snapping at
How about not snapping at the person as soon as they pick up the phone? It's not like the ones that picked up right then are at fault. How about this?
1.You yourself SHOULD have known all of it. Everything is at your fingertips if your lazy ass wasn't....lazy as hell to look it up. Nowadays there is something as magnificent as the INTERNET where you can RESEARCH all of that information, but of course, you're going to be a lazy ass and do nothing, then bitch at a call rep because of it. The fact that your "arguments" are so stupidly put together proves that you are one of these lazy ass customers that think they are right all the time.
2. Do you really think that they wouldn't insult you back after they get abused for trying to do their job? Do you REALLY think that they aren't going to? They are HUMAN after all, and everyone has a limit. If you really think that everyone can be calm and composed after being abused so much, then you, sir, are an idiot. How about you learn not to call them names first? It's something you should have learned when you were in grade school.
3.As for the transferring, the customer service department is trained for only a few things. There are hundreds of departments in a company that specialize in something, meaning if a group like customer service who are trained for a general help, there WILL be people who are able to help you better since that was what they are SPECIFICALLY TRAINED to do.
4. As for sales reps being idiots, are you 100% sure on that? Maybe some will BS you in order to sell you something, but it is still your own decision that is at fault. Of course they will say ANYTHING in order for you to make a contract with them. It's up to YOU to understand that and to have some doubt as to what they are saying, especially if what they are saying sounds too good to be true. Common Sense Vs Stupidity? Common Sense should win all the time, too bad so many people are too stupid to understand.
International calls
I originally signed my contract with Cingular and was quite happy with them but then AT & T came and took over my contract. I upgraded my plan so it would be cheaper and I noticed they put international calling on my phone but never informed me of any of the rates. I thought it was part of my package. I never thought or knew it was so high. I used the phone to contact my husband overseas and went I travelled to see I received calls from home never knowing that I was being charged $2.00/ minute. AT&T didn't inform me until the bill was up to $2000.00.
I tried disputing the bill but haven't heard anything from them except nasty calls from collections.
Any advice?
International Calls
Hello. I also received a bill for an outrageous amount towards calling overseas and have been disputing this issue. What was the result of your case?
please put the dispute in
please put the dispute in writing or they will say it did not happen if you just called them. Send them a letter by registered mail and keep copy of the letter also so when the collection agency calls you can tell them you disputed the claim the right way. Good luck to you hope you win
DISPUTE ADDRESS
Anyboyd has a dispute address?
I got a wireless data line that didn't work once while in Europe, I've been trying to cancel it and spent more than 1 hour waiting for the "International Customer Service" Department... I'm not waiting anymore. I was hung up on twice. I need an address to address my complaint and cancelation in writing.
"no service" but cingular contract and etf fees
My wife was a Cingular wireless customer, her contact was up and she was moving. A sales rep told her there was service in the town she was moving to, so she signed a two year contract. When she moved two months later, surprise! There was no service at her house, no service at school and no service at her job. Cingular refused to let her out of the contract, so she refused to pay and eventually they closed the account charging an ETF. This bill is now in collections. I need information on resolving this.
cingular 27,000 text messages in one month
Here is my cingular story. I had cingular for 2years. I had the unlimited web plan. one month i get a box in the mail from cingular and wow its a bill for 27,000 text messages for over 3,000 dollars i called and the gentleman said they had to send me to the bill dispute department. a very nice man got on the line i explained what was going on and he said let me look up ur bill. all of a sudden i hear him laughing and he told me to hold on he calls someone else over and they both laugh he ask how did u receive ur bill i said in a box he chuckled he told me there is no way i made these charges and looked at my other bills for 400 a month he said they would investigate i said okay i told them to deactivate my fone. so i thought it was being handled 2months later i get a letter from a collection agency saying i owe 3,500 to cingular i called them saying the bill was in dispute he said how did u dispute the bill i said i called them he said i would have to write them so i sent a letter to them. a month later i get a bill saying to pay 1100 dollars i did i sent a check paid in full they cashed it i thought finally its over. jump ahead two years later after the merge with at&t they had sent my paid in full closed account to another collection agency for the same amount. i told them i paid it they said they need at&t to tell them that so here i go again calling at&t they said yes we see it was paid u have a zero balance i said ok can u tell that to the collection agency u sent my paid in full bill to they said well maam thats out of oyr hands now once it goes to collection it is up to that company to stop calling u i said what do u mean it was ur mistake u sent it to collections and now u wont do anything to stop them from harrassing me when i never owed u. they said yes maam we cant do anything. so i sent the collection agency my cancelled check and a letter from the other collection agency i paid saying the bill had been paid and i still am getting threating calls from them. thank you for this forum
Read my sotry above, they've
Read my sotry above, they've got me in collection for double.
That sucks same thing
That sucks same thing happened to my friend. She cancelled her contract and was billed for the time she had left, she paid the bill, six months later a collection agency called saying she owed the money still. At&t does not care that her credit and your credit is ruined because of their failure to manage their accounts.
ATT&T Contract Dispute
Hello All,
Sorry to hear all the misunderstandings. I had a similar event happen to me. I deployed to Iraq last year and used the military disconnection program. The outsource rep in India told me that I did not need to send a copy of my deployment orders or have to pay anything since my bill was current. A year later, I try to connect a new service and was told that I could not due to a collection on my account. I have been billed &375 for $175 disconnection fee plus late fees for 12 months. It took me 20 phone calls to get an American base rep, she took care of me. She gave me the fax number to their main management office that takes care of all disputes. I'll let you all know if it works. Here is their fax number: (888) 470-2270.
AT&T contact to serve small claim
Hi all,
They're charging me for Internet on a per usage basis while the phone connects to an email server every 2 minutes. The password to the email server is not even current so I never get anything. Phone was configured by an AT&T rep, I tried to delete the connection won't work. I canceled my data plan and I'm now getting charged per use. My phone is currently shut off though I'm paying for their service.
Can anybody share contact information to serve AT&T in the small claim court? I leave in the state of WA and while this information should be public there's almost nothing I can find on them. I think their UBI number (Universal Business Identifier required for a business in WA) is 601986747 but I'm not sure of even that.
Need an officer and an address.
Thanks much!
Contact info for AT&T entities
Try www.manta.com. My company complaint was regarding cancellation of wireless internet during their 30-day money back guaranty period. All that was due was for service provided. The product/service disconnected every 30-150 seconds, if it connected at all, therefore essentially providing no service at all. I receive a collection letter for over $250 prior to actually receiving a bill for service. It has taken hours, multiple phone calls to a District Manager and still nothing has been resolved about removing the mistakingly remanded collection account. I did dipute the debt to their collection watch dogs, but have not heard any response, to which they had 30 days to validate the debt. I'm dealing with AT&T Mobility, who seems to believe that they have zero responsibility to correct their billing errors. The manta page for AT&T Mobility references the corporate address, phone #, the state in which it's incorporated, it's parent co., the SIC code and it's President's name and title. Also include the Better Business Bereau in all you communications (registered mail to AT&T). Also, look into your states small claim legislation, but most likely your contract will call for mediation, so read your contract. Best of luck....
usually if you agree to a
usually if you agree to a data plan that accomodates your usage they will adjust for all overages or usage charges and you can also request to block the wireless internet which is free.....you can also request a 1 time rerate for an adjustment for 50% of the overages but you will not get anywhere in court because the charges seem to be valid and its likely your service is interrupted due to non-payment even if you are making payments your service will not be reconnected until the entire past due is paid
You can go to the
You can go to the wireless.att.com and go to device tutorials and find out how to change the settings yourself. OR you can have the service blocked it just takes a phone call. If you have a data device it is probably doing other things that use data such as autoupdating or maybe XM radio or watching video, or even games?? Add a block feature to the account and then try to do things you normally do on your phone. If there is something you can no longer do, but can't when it's blocked, then that is what was using the data. If you want to use the service, re-add add the data plan!
Too many people complain about how the service charges, and they think that they are not using the internet, but they are. Cell phone companies don't just charge for nothing, your device is connecting to the network for something! Figure it out and fix it rather than wasting time with court.
mail in phone bills for you to look at excessive fees
I have so many different fees on my cell and land line and I would like you to go over them. Received UCAN Newsletter but lost it and do not have address to send copies of billes. ThaNK YOU. J.T.
AT&T address to serve small claim
Hi all,
They're charging me for Internet on a per usage basis while the phone connects to an email server every 2 minutes. The password to the email server is not even current so I never get anything. Phone was configured by an AT&T rep, I tried to delete the connection won't work. I canceled my data plan and I'm now getting charged per use. My phone is currently shut off though I'm paying for their service.
Can anybody share contact information to serve AT&T in the small claim court? I leave in the state of WA and while this information should be public there's almost nothing I can find on them. I think their UBI number (Universal Business Identifier required for a business in WA) is 601986747 but I'm not sure of even that.
Need an officer and an address.
Thanks much!
UCAN's Address
UCAN's Address is
3100 5th Ave. Ste B
San Diego, CA 92103
You can also call us at 619-696-6966
For email and fax options
thanks
$320,000 monthly phone bill without leaving the country
Beat this.
I use a data card with an unlimited data contract on a data 3g card. We recently upgraded two of our 10 cell phones on the corporate account and inadvertently used wrong card to connect again to the internet. Without our knowledge the bill continued to rise until we viewed the EOM statement and found the data was being consumed on the wrong sim card and rather than receiving just a monthly data charge of $60 for unlimited usage i have received a whopping $230,000 invoice. Despite all the phones on the account receiving data packages and a reasonable explanation for how during the course of the setup of this simcard there must have been some misunderstanding with the representative we spoke with etc. Our claim after 7 days has received a flat out no reduction and pay the bill.
I am speechless. I have read through this form and see no negotiations with this company and don't know what to do. naturally my job is on the line!
SImilar Situation
What was the result of this?
Thank you so much
ATT vs. CINGULAR
hi all,
I would like to share my story here too....last month I visited to international country & got approx. $ 1000.00 bill.
Last month when I was in international country I saw my cell phone had auto find local wireless GSM network & I was able to make/receive local calls.
I went to ATT website & started looking for international options & plan details to make sure I don't get charged crazy...
I saw following items pre-included in my plan which I never saw when I was with CINGULAR -
a. GSM Coverage shared $0.00
b. Expanded International Roaming $0.00
I opened up ATT website for internation roaming details & noticed that they have written information as follows -
a. International coverage, voice, data details -
City - XXX
Services - Voice, Data, Picture etc..
Network - GSM/GPRS
b. International roaming charges -
Voice - $ x.xx
Data - $ x.xx
etc...
I interpreted this as follows -
a. My plan has "GSM Coverage shared" which might mean I can share same minutes internationally with $ 0.00 cost.
b. Expanded International roaming - If I will be in roaming zone of particular international country then it will be charged to me at the rate of $ x.xx
So here I go....I started using my phone for calling/receiving local city people (my friends, relatives etc.)
After 1 month I got bill of $ 1000.00
I have couple of issues with it -
a. When I had CINGULAR plan International option/package was not by default included under my plan - In order to make/receive calls in international city I would have to pre-setup & take international package in my plan (Makes total sense!)
As appose to these ATT folks made this option by default TURN ON ! So I had no clue that what will be the charges if I access it & overall impact!!!
b. As any other layman in this world I also interpreted using GSM coverage totally differently & screwed myself!
c. Why ATT can't send an SMS saying that you started using your phone Internationally & would be charged for $ x.xx per minute on my very first call !
My future actions -
1. Fight for it !
2. File a case if not get resolved !
3. Do whatever I can to get it resolved !
thank u all for sharing ur pains same like me !!!
i worked for cingular which
i worked for cingular which eventually became att all i can say is that the international dialing and roaming feature was added in a sweep to all eligible accts before the company became att the 0.00 charge for the expanded international roam means there is no additional charge to have the ability to roam internationally but the website provides the per min rate in every possible country you could have called customer service if you did not understand the information given on the website............but lets be real here, you honestly thought your NATION plan included international roam calls at no additional charge???
International
I understand how easy it is to misunderstand how things change between compaines and how things listed as one thing and mean another. The issue though is some of it is common knowlege that international calls/roaming will be an additional charge. For example, home phone service charges additional when you call international numbers, and it always has been that way, so why would it be different with wireless? THe other issue is that people just assume and use the service rather than asking first and getting the details. I went to ATT's site and found all the rates and plans available. I do not disagree with you here regarding them adding the international call allowance without notifying the customer. This occurs after the service has been active after so much time, the line becomes eligible for these features. The features are free, but all they do is let you make the calls at standard rates. People complain that they were charged excessive amounts for the services, but in my experience, ATT has always been more than willing to add the correct package to the account and rerate the bill as if I had that discount package at the time of usage due to misunderstanding. They do send a text message when a line is showing excessive usage while roaming or calling internationally if they do not have a plan. This happened to me and if they had not sent me that text message and I had not called in and put a roaming data package on, my bill would have been over 2000.00! My opinion the charges are high, but that's why they have plans that cover. I have to remember that they have an obligation to pay the carriers we are roaming on. The best thing to do to avoid the hassle is call and get the information first or look it up online, then you are covering yourself before the charges occur.
I've worked for AT&T
I've worked for AT&T wireless as a rep for 6 months now. Yeah, reps are often too lazy or rude, but that all starts from the way the customers act.
Some points to share
a) When something like this happens, I automatically switch to asshole mode:
Me: Thank you for calling the new At&t 'bout your wireless service, my name is xxx, who am I speaking with?
Cust: Why my bill is too high? I only use it for emergencies, when it was Cingular I have had no problems... bla bla bla
This bugs me and buggs all of the reps, please be polite enough to answer the questions of your name, your phone number, the accounts holders name (even if you are) and the last four digits of the SSN/Password of the account
b) Complains like "I was told in the store that..." piss us badly, you people sign a paper. The contract has tiny letters? Well yeah, but thats not our problem if you don read 'em
c) The truth is, reps can give adjustment for up to $250 including taxes, 1000 rollover minutes, supervisores can give $400 including taxes and 4000 rollover minutes, anything greater than that will be escalated and you'll be called back
d) At&t is highly commited to quality, thus having regular call-monitoring, plus the chance for the customers to qualify the service after the call (Post call survey, PCS), or random-selected calls were 2 things are considered: First Call Resolution and Total resolution. A rep who gets a bad PCS or doesnt get a FCR gets suspended and in some cases fired. This doesnt mean that there are not bad agents, all of us have done things the wrong way, but again; it depends the 95% of the time by the way you customers threat us
e) When you have something that has been pissing you off like your cell phone working poorly, high amount bills or something, contact customer care and say the words "I want to cancel" even if you have an early termintation fee, if you are good enough to the company you will be transfered to a saveteam that will make you LOTS of offers, from exclusives price plans, to adjustments or new equipment, in case the customer care rep takes your cancellation request... well, that means you are nothing for the company
For now I think it will be all, coming back from a 8-hour shift, speaking to customers that don't even know how to get a prorated charge is kind of annoying
I'm sorry, but when Cingular changed, it was for the worse...
First of all, before I go any further I want to say that I have worked in more than one call center, including a two-year stint with MCI in thr '90's. I'm not uneducated and I know what to do to get the best possible customer service from a call center. That being said....
I've been a Cingular slash ATT customer since November of 2000. When I was at MCI I heard a lot about how bad customer service was at ATT because they felt entitled as the big dog to treat their customers as if they owned them. When my own mother called ATT to cancel her long distance service (because she had a pic freeze) she was told by the rep that she would be back in six months because ATT was killing MCI and would own them by then. Took a lot longer than that for MCI to go out of business and it wasn't ATT that did it to them.....
Anyway, I loved Cingular. I had great phones at great prices with great customer service. Then, I heard that AT&T was buying Cingular and thought "oh no" and boy was I right.
Because of my husband's wierd pay structure I have to call in every month and ask to pay my "past due" balance (which it isn't) a couple of weeks after the due date. I have asked for a different billing date but was told that was not possible (it was under Cingular). AT&T changed my billing date when they took over without asking me first. Well, in the last year on three different occasions they have shut my phone off at 8:00 am the day I am supposed to pay the bill, and in one case, when I called in to get it turned back on, the rep actually said "Maybe you should set your arrangement up for the day AFTER you want to pay it to make sure this doesn't happen." My response was "Perhaps AT&T should honor their payment arrangements a little better." The rep actually LAUGHED.
In addition, I have had the same plan and the same number of lines for several years now. I have a total of 4 lines, 2 with unlimited data and texting plans. At one time I had about 2300 rollover minutes, 1500 which mysteriously disappeared. No, they did not expire. When I called to discuss this with AT&T at first the rep told me that they had without examining my account. After she DID examine my account she said "oh yeah, I forgot, that was a glitch in the billing. They should reappear after a couple of months". Excuse me....
Finally a supervisor came on the line and said she would take care of it, and apparently she did because the next month my rollover minutes were back to where they should be. It still took me 45 minutes in total to resolve this though, and if I hadn't been insistent then we would have lost those minutes...
Up until today though my biggest gripe was that since the takeover my bill, with no changes to my service, has gone up between $1.50 & $3.00 per month. My bill used to be around $120 per month, now it is almost $150...with almost no changes in usage, no overages, and NO changes to the account or plan. When I called about this the rep told me it was all federal, state and local tax charges, and there was nothing they could do about it. However, my best friend who has Alltel has not seen her bill go up one bit, and she lives right here near me. Very interesting.
And then there was today. I'm stuck at home with the flu, and I need to access my computer at work. Cable internet was down for some reason, so I hooked my cell phone up to my laptop and tried to connect....no go. I played with the settings, nothing happened, so I called AT&T. After I got tech support the rep said "Oh, you don't have a tethering plan on your account" "No, I don't" I said. I don't normally need to tether and have never needed a tethering plan in the past. Since I have unlimited data on my cell phone plan I have just used tethering intermittently in the past, and since I've never gone over the limit I didn't need it.
In July, apparently, AT&T did something so that you can't tether to your laptop unless you have a tethering plan, essentially locking out the casual, occasional user like me.
Well, I'm done. AT&T, you just lost a long-time customer who spend a good deal of money each month and paid her bills every month, who re-upped every two years like clockwork and who used to say good things about your company when it was Cingular. I'm done, you've run me off. My contract comes up next month and as of right now I'm shopping for another cell phone company.
at&t
"you people sign a paper. "
That doesn't make the business practice of ridiculous int'l charges ethical or correct! AT&T's method of charing over 20x the amount fo rint'l roaming without customer notification OR customer approval is just plain WRONG. The little text on the contract is NOT sufficient and also, does not explain the true costs. It's a dirty business practice. AT&T should change the int'l plan policy to simply cut off unless the user signs an intl agreement before the int'l travel.
you are the reason customer
you are the reason customer service sucks with att you have worked there 6 months and you act like you are the authority on customer satisfaction but you are barely out of trans bay and you dont know your ass from a hole in the ground you give the customers incorrect information and then they call back and i have to clean up your mess....grow up and do your job because im tired of doing it for you
p.s. you dont get fired for a poor post call survey or bad wave score, you dumb ass. you are union, they can never just fire you for 1 infraction
Post call survey
At&t does fire for postal call surveys.Thanx to customers i have money to Pay bills,plse if u can dont take that survey,yes we know that there aré bad customer service reps out there,however u might also get that Rep. That will go out of there way to help u dear customer the best way possible
Hope I don't get you
When I call....you are highly rude.
As an addition: f) All
As an addition:
f) All activations or equipment upgrades have a fee, regardless that you pay or not for the price of equipment, Activations are 36 for primary lines and 26 for additionals, and the upgrade fee is 18, if you are told in store that none of this will ocurr, ASK FOR A WRITTEN COPY of this offer, for the 50-60 calls a day I got more then 5 where the customer was told in store that one of this will appear, an obvious scam from the salesman to get his compensation that us (customer care) have to deal with
Fewest dropped calls?? Hah!
Fewest dropped calls??? Hah. A 2 minute conversation requires me to dial the same number 5 or 6 times using up minutes. When I complained, they told me that they had excellent coverage in my area!!
After several months of high bills, despite rollover minutes, and getting nowhere with customer disservice, i finally gave up and let them shut the phone off.
Charge me for WHAT?!
The other weekend I went in two the store to upgrade my phone and extend my contract. Well within the last year, I moved to a town about an hour and half away from where we originally lived so my husband could go to school. Anyways, I told them my zip code and the gentlemen thought he was funny and said oh wow, ummm well you don't live in an area where we have towers.. I was like my phone works great we have no problems. He goes well here is the deal there is a "political battle" going on because they conisder AT&T a monopoly and so they won't let us expand, so everytime you use your cell phone you use another companies tower and we have to pay them for every minute you use.. I was like SO! I pay enough each month and have been a loyal customer for 5 years plus.. He like well At&t is going after people who are doing this (like i knew i was doing something) and charging them $375!!! Are you kidding! I said well they can't just charge me without giving me a warning and he said I just did. So I said you aren't going to give me a new phone because you will get in trouble? he was like well uh yeah. I was like okay, so what am I supposed to do? I am stuck in this contract?! he was like they might let you out, the whole time joking with his co worker about the "political battle" crap that he thought was the best punch line ever... So I guess I am just waiting for a letter although I feel like tell cingular to let me out now. Has anyone else heard of this?
Wow....Punctuations would
Wow....Punctuations would have made that big run on sentence so much easier to read, not to mention by attempting to read what you typed made me feel like a dumb blonde
Like, yeah, of course, like you should have, like known about things like, EONs.
charge me for WHAT reply
its called EON...excessive off network...you may pay so much per month...but over 60 percent of the time that you use your cellphone is roaming off someone else's network...its kinda does make since if you think about it...you may pay about 100 bucks a month to the company but then att gets charged almost 600 bucks for your calls by another company...it makes no since to keep them as a customer..but they do let you out w/o your term fee
FCC ON WEB
FCC ON WEB
XM radio charges
Im shocked. my daughter subscribed to XM radio for one month for 8.99 a month. got the bill today for $4,500. it seems to turn out that you get XM radio access, but you pay the stream separately, at $10/MB (or about $500/hour) . other than the webpage is totally misleading, they allow underaged to commit to debt piling up to $4,500, the web page never indicates that the download cost is $10/Mb, the web page indicates that AT&T requires unlimited internet access -which she obviously didnt have, so its no requirement as they post-, im thinking on hiring a lawyer. has anybody experience with such expereinces? any hint helps, but i will definitely not pay $ 4,500 for having listened to radio for a month. tks//
when you get the free trial
when you get the free trial it advises it recommends the unlimited data plan, just request an unusual usage rerate....they will put you on an unlimited plan for 3 months and credit all overages minus the cost of the plan, 15.00
XM radio charges
This is exactly what happened to me! We have only had the phone for 3 weeks and I got a bill for $700.00 for internet access, thinking it was a free trial for the radio.
XM rippoff free trial charges on AT
yes my one line got a $240 charge because my girlfriend didn't realize the "free trial" for XM radio promoted on her LG Line meant she would be charged for data usage. She thought it was like my sirius radio in my car and came from the sattelite.
i understand there is a warning but she doesn't use the phone for the internet so didn't know what that meant, plus english is a second language and not a perfect one for her.
All these pitfalls are ridiculous. It makes sense XM should only be available for unlimited internet access, otherwise its a ripoff on the pay per use plan. They only offered me half back but that was before I realized the charges came from XM radio.
hey matthew. i had the exact
hey matthew. i had the exact same thing happen to me. $4,700 bill!! dont know what to do. any advice??
Hi. for me it turned quiet
Hi.
for me it turned quiet good. At the beginning they denied my claim and requested the payment. I threatened them with local media and lawsuit, based on:
- In the webpage they never mention the price of download. it says its expensive, but now how expensive.
- as a family plan, and changes being made by any other line than the main line (mine) they are quiet sure dealing with underaged
- In the webpage they promote that the XM radio requires unlimited internet access, eventually it does not require as they misleadingly state, its good to have but no must.
-the webpage offers a parental control, but by clicking my zip code it says its not available in my area, you might want to chekc that
they called me the day after, especially concerned about what i satated that i would go to the media, and suggested to void the 4.5k provided that line subscribes to an unlimited internet access for 19.95 a month for 6 months (based on that the service was proivided, which i agree, and an unlimited internet plan would have been mandatory). I consider this to be a reasonable deal.
One thing: forget to have it solved on the phone, post a claim through their webpage, their agents are all dummies (and I mean it, i have 4 lines and pay an average of 1k a month in telephone service -much international and roaming-, i have each and every month issues with them.
hope it helps
Placed claim with AT&T too!
Hi. Yesterday my husband and I received a large bill, as well, regarding Data Usage. We originally reupped our contract with AT&T and got new phones because the old ones were crappy (we'd had them for 2+ years). On the new phones we saw that there were some interesting applications that offered 3-5 day trial periods, like XM Radio and the MobilTV, and there was also a handy forcast application. I thought, "well these would be great to try out and see if we want to subscribe. I had no idea that accessing these applications would mean that I would be connecting to the internet. If I did, I wouldn't have even bothered checking them out. As it was, it said free trial and I thought that viewing these applications would be free. Turns out the application trial was free, but not the ability to access it. I got charged for looking at them! When you click on the application, it says "MobiTV streams live video to your phone and will require a large amount of data. You are strongly recommended to subscribe to an unlimited data plan.." Well, why would I subscribe to a data plan when I was only viewing an application that I may or may not purchase, and have to pay for the data plan so I could view these applications during the Trial Period? So I'd be paying to look at something that was free on my phone that I may or may not subscribe to in the end... Doesn't make sense to me.
Well, got our extremely large bill (which almost put me in labor!)(to us, with only one income, $500+ more than we usually pay is extremely hefty) I found out that accessing the applications during the trial period really isn't free. Free is with strings attached. To view these applications during the free period, you must first purchase a data plan and then if you decide to purchase the application, you'll have the subscription for the application, plus the data plan purchase, which is ridiculous. Viewing during the free trial period is not free!!!
So I called the customer service reps and, I admit, was a bit harsh with the guy on the phone. Bet he wasn't expecting to talk to an angry hormonal pregnant woman. This is why my husband should have talked to them. He's more calm than I am...and not hormonal, either. But I'm a ''take action'' sort of person. Anyway. He filled out a credit request form and said it would take 7-10 days for an approval or denial and I'd get a call from the people who deal with credit requests once a decision had been made. I wasn't satisfied. I wanted to talk (and still do) to someone from that department to explain to them why I feel cheated and why I would not have knowingly and purposely put myself in a position where we would owe so much money BEFORE a decision is made. I mean, why would anyone? I called back today several times, much calmer and more polite, I assure you, and spoke with several different people regarding my issue and pretty much was told I can't speak to the "Escalations Department" because there isn't one and that the people who deal with credit requests don't deal with customers so I can't be transferred to them, and yet they will be the ones calling me to inform me as to whether or not they've approved my request. What???? How is that not dealing with customers? And then I was informed by the customer service representative that if I was denied, I can't resubmit. Well, if I'm denied, I'll have to contact the office of the president of the escalations department that they claim doesn't exist and go from there. If I get nowhere, then to the media it is I guess. I would really love to avoid the media, though.
Good news though, until they reach a decision, they won't charge me late fees for the portion of the bill I'm disputing, so I only have to pay the remaining balance and they won't shut off our phones. Since I know now that I'll be charged for any and everything I try to access, I haven't even bothered looking at any other applications that may be "free" on my phone.
Sorry this is so long. Good to know there are others out there who've experienced the same issues I have and I'm not alone. Although I wish none of us had to go through this headache. (And the customer service reps have to listen to us rant and rave about how wrong it is, too. You got to feel a bit sorry for them. They don't make the policies. Wish I could apologize to the guy I spoke with within minutes of viewing our bill. And he was new, too!)
I'm having the same issue with AT&T
My daughter called sometime in December to get unlimited internet services and instead they gave her unlimited text service...so she has use the internet part of the phone assuming she has unlimited internet services...now my bill is $3,842.00. Because she used it as if she had unlimited...they are now telling me they denided my request to make necessary adjustment, because they said she didn't ask for that to be changed, i know my daughter would not have used the internet if she knew it wasn't unlimited. I'm now writing to the Office of the President for AT&T, asking for some assistance in getting this resolved. Just like you said a $4,500.00 cell bill is crazy as is $3, 842. cell bill. please advise if your steps of help.
Thanks
Heart Throbbing Mother
What to do
They shouldn't have denied the request since it was ATT error. ATT will always correct their error and credit, but as long as the issue is fixed going forward. If you were disputing charges for being on pay per use, and they get the credit request and you were not on the unlimited plan, it will be denied. This may not have been your fault, it may have been the rep that you spoke with that did not fix the problem. I advise to try again, call back and get someone else, you will get credit for the error.
Cingular xm radio bill
Whatever happen with this I am currently suffering with a 2500.00 bill. That actually sent me a bill that is due but I won't be able to view the data for another week so I have no idea what I am really being charged for, all I do know is I can't afford this and my daughter phone that they sent for a replacement had this free trial of xm radio on it.
Please help if you can.
Thanks
If the phone came with XM
If the phone came with XM radio free trial on it, she didn't have to use it. If she did and bypassed the warning to put unlimited internet on the line, then that is why you have a bill. Call and ask to add the unlimited plan, ask for a rerate of the charges, and then you can remove the plan and block the internet later.
How to Cancel XM Radio Mobile through AT&T
According to the MobiTV website to cancel XM radio do the following:
For Java powered AT&T Cell Phones:
1. Go to the main menu
2. Launch MEdia Net/Web (this will take you to MEdia Net Home)
3. Scroll down and select My Account
4. Select Next
5. Select My Purchases
6. Select Purchase History
7. Select the MobiTV purchase:
mm/dd/yy; MobiTV; $8.99 or Select Modify Subscription
8. Choose one:
Do not renew on mm/dd/yy
Stop now and provide refund
9. Choose a Reason for unsubscribing
Customer will see a Confirmation page
For Windows Mobile Phones:
1. Launch Internet Explorer
2. Select Favorites from the Menu
3. Select MEdia Net from the list of Favorites
4. Select My Account
5. Select My Purchases
6. Select Purchase History
7. Select mm/dd/yy; MobiTV; $8.99
8. Select "Modify Subscription"
9. Choose one:
Do not renew on mm/dd/yy
Stop now and provide refund
11. Choose a Reason for unsubscribing
You will then see a page confirming your cancellation
An AT&T customer can request to be directly canceled from XM Radio Mobile by contacting AT&T Customer Care by calling 1-800-331-0500.
I Hate At&t , my bill is
I Hate At&t , my bill is $279.25 and I didn't go over my mins. How is that???
Did you use the internet?
Did you use the internet? Download any games/programs/songs/ringtones? If you did access the internet on your phone without having an internet plan, then they will charge you per KB downloaded.
Unfortunately that's happened to me before thinking that the internet was included, of course it wasn't since I hadn't asked for an unlimited data plan. In the end I was being charged 600 dollars. I called the customer service, and asked a few questions about it. Customer service was rather nice and explained things for me. If anything, it was my own ignorance that caused me to have a rather big bill compared to the usual price. Customer Service was helpful and not as "rude" or "disrespectful" or "incompetent" as so many people here claim them to be. Most of the complaints here are from people that feign ignorance of their own ignorance, and chalking up any blame on AT&T.
WHINEY PEOPLE
BECAUSE YOU ARE AN IDIOT!
Whiney People
Oh shut up. Just because you are ugly and smelly and no one will have sex with you does not give you the right to call other people idiots...
At&t Screws another
After many years with AT&T service, We moved across country, went to the AT&T store and requested that our numbers be swapped over to the new state so we would have local numbers. The store clerk incompetently took over 2 hours to complete this simple task, we bought new phones, accessories headsets and chargers totaling well over $500, agreed to a new contract and they bartered for my rollover minutes which I initially had almost 8000 and they said they would give me 5000 but offered no explanation. Several months have gone by and it appears that I have 2 accounts floating around...one account that is new and legit with our new local numbers, and our former account that was appearently never "relocated" instead it remained open generating monthly fees that stacked up quickly. And to boot, they never gave me a single roll over minute on my new account. I also paid on both accounts simultaneously as we were in transition of moving and I didn't have the bills in front of me to verify that they were billing me properly. I have made 5 consecutive phone calls to AT&T regarding fixing this problem, each consuming more than an hour of my time on hold and explainging the situation. I have found that it is a complete waste of time to even try to explain anything to the person who initially answers the call, yet when speaking to "managers" who give their name, but have no extension or identification number except their "name" can not do anything either. With each painful call I have made to resolve their mistakes, I have been thoroughly assured that the situation has been resolved completely. Yet as each bill comes, it shows that I am further in debt...NO RESOLVE OF SITUATION!!! Now I have been put in collections for the issue and As of tonight once again the situation has been resolved beyond the shadow of any doubt and I should have nothing to worry about...well la di friggin da as if its all better now. This time I mentioned involving the BBB, the FCC, PUC, my lawyer etc and they transfered me to someone with a direct call back number who in 25 minutes tells me that it is resolved and he will call me tomorrow to confirm everything with the other departments when they open. IM NOT HOLDING MY BREATH that he will call again, instead I am carefully documenting everything because AT&T is stealing from me and they are operating fraudulently. What can be done to get AT&T to pull their big corporate head out of their big corporate Butt and start SERVING their customers with accuracy and courtesy and to repay people what is rightly theirs?
Same thing is happening with
Same thing is happening with me! They said my bill was resolved and now to find out it is in collections for $676. Same problem happened with calling them, that you had. They dont fix anything... its a big waste of time calling them.
I dont suppose you have figured out a way to get this resolved? (i noticed your post was from december).
Thanks for the info, I'll do
Thanks for the info, I'll do that if this last measure doesn't work. I am disputing the claim on my credit report and if that does not work, i will call the fcc.
call the fcc .they have a
call the fcc .they have a web site
Fraudulent Cingular Bill
I have a account in my name that is not mines. I want it removed, has not happen yet.
$4600 in wrongful charges by AT&T
At least we are not alone according to these other posts. :/
Long story short, in March 2007 my company moved our service to Cingular. We purchased 5 8525 phones & signed up for pooled voice minutes and unlimited data plans for all 5. At least that is what the written quote from the salesperson said, amd that is what we agreed to. We had a new A/P person who didn't question the bills until August. That is when we disovered that they put the phones on 4MB data plans resulting in $700+ overages each month. Should be easy to realize to fix right? Several phone calls - each time they say they "will look into it." Result? Denied. Faxed copy of original quote from their salesperson stating that the plans were unlimited. Result? Denied. To add insult to injury the "notes" in their system from the phone calls (to their ill-trained and uncaring customer service reps) are inaccurate and they keep referring to them as if they are irrefutable but somehow what we have IN WRITING can just be ignored. We have now been denied twice which apparently means that they will no longer even consider the matter. Maybe my letter to their President and the copy of it to the FCC will get a little more respect. I won't hold my breath though.
help
can we get president address for at@t
AT&T Mobility
I HATE AT&T MOBILITY! NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH CINGULAR!
duh
yeah...you do know that cingular pretty much wrote a check for the remaining wireless portion of att...all they did was change their name bc it is more recognized.....same billing system...same towers...different name...its all in your head...think about it...did cingular require all 60plus million cust. to call in to change their account information and get new phones when the change was made...no...now look at the fact that anytime someone who originally had att is required to convert their account and HAS to upgrade their phones...
Free XM Trial BEWARE!!!
I logged into my ATT (former cingular) account this morning to pay my bill, and was SHOCKED to see my amount totaling $645.
I (for two phones) never pay over $100-120 per month.
Heres the deal:
We purchased a new phone for my wife last month. We got it home, and she decided to download a few ring tones. Ok great. Well, on ATT's homepage, there was an offer for 3 FREE DAYS of XM Radio. (free? Ok, great)... She used the trial, (off and on for 3 days)... then quit. No Strings attached, No cancellation Necessary... Well apparently the FREE TRIAL wasn't really free. It totaled up 44,000 msg/kb charges to our ATT phone bill, totaling over $500 in itself.
In my mind, this must be some kind of joke... it is completely deceptive, fraudulant, and outright insaine...
I have as of now spoken with 3 different ATT reps, none of which "have any authority" to do anything about this issue. One rep stated her supervisor was "on another call", and would not release his name, or extention...
I cannot get to anybody who apparently has any anything at the company, and feel as if Im just blowing hot air. Im guessing I am calling some 3rd party call center in Indonesia somewhere...
I did make a call to the Office of the President...
and spoke with a secretary there who has an "executive" looking at the matter... They are soppost to give me a call-back in 24-48 hours. So we'll see what they have to say.
This IS Insaine... Ill keep you posted.
you incompetent boob, xm is
you incompetent boob, xm is free. The service tells you that you need a data package to use it...xm is free, the internet it runs through is not...I'd ask which of you two, your wife or you is the smart one, but I know the f***ing answer already
charges
my first month w/ AT&t, it was $265.00, now I got a late payment charge for using 1 phone and it soars up to $673.00 and I don't know where my rollover minutes are.
your posting
Hi,
read your posting. i wonder if you could speak to the president. today i got my phonebill for $4500 for my daughter using XM radio, to which she subscribed for $8.99. im thinking of hiring a lawyer but would rather hear from other experiences first. tks// matthew
XM reply
edit:
apparently...( I just spoke with my wife further in this matter,) and she claims she did not even go onto the internet to see this offer..
It is an option in her "media" folder in her new phone (you know, games, pictures, etc... ) and according to her had no disclaimers, etc attached. I will be looking at it later after work, and taking pictures to post up.
She is not an idiot, and does not fall for the "typical e-scam"...
How are they doing these portable xm devices these days, where you can strap an xm radio to your hip and go jogging. I would have only assumed it had a built in xm-tuner of sorts, etc...
When your daughter started
When your daughter started using the XM radio, the phone displayed a message that an unlimited data package is recommended for the service, did she happen to mention that to you? It only pops up once, so if you miss it the first time, call customer service and add a plan or block the internet. Instead of getting all worked up and escalated, why don't all of you just ask how to fix the problem and ask for help with the bill due to misunderstanding? Everyone threatning to go to the president, or get lawyers, when it was your negligence in the first place. I mean, the phones are not 'radios', they are data devices, wireless at that. How do you think they are connecting to the satellite radio if it doesn't connect to ATT network? Everything is data! ATT will fix it for you, just call in as 'concerned' not 'angry and threatning' and it will all be fixed.
LG Shine had it on menu - so no warning?
My girlfriend got a $240 charge on the LG Shine access to the "Free XM Radio Trial" that is on the Shine's menu, not through the media net or web browser. Does that mean there would be not warning?
240 for free XM on LG Shine
XM Radio is built into the menu of my girlfriends LG Shine, others said there was a warning and I assumed she must not have understood it since English is her second language and she thought it wasn't an internet service but like my car sirius radio.
Would the LG Shine access through this link - NOT THROUGH THE Web Browser - not have included a warning?
XM radio
I also bought a new AT&T phone and tried out the "FREE" xm radio trial for 2 days.. I got my bill about a week ago.. and it was $972.00 .. I called and spoke to 3 different reps. And they are telling me that I cannot get credit for it because only the XM radio part of it was free.. NOT the data usage.. It is misleading to customers.. I do not recall anything about being charged for data usage if i used the "FREE TRIAL".. Please tell me what it is that you did... I am not going to pay $972.00 for something that I thought was free..
Should be common sense that
Should be common sense that the data being transferred is being charged. It's somewhat the same with the internet. You can access the internet, but you will be charged for the data being transferred. The XM Radio was free, only the data usage wasn't so unfortunately AT&T has their ass covered, since they technically did offer a free XM Radio trial. They probably had the data usage in fine print at the bottom of the contract or whatever. Should always bring a magnifying glass to read those ;)
when you download xm radio,
when you download xm radio, there is a warning page that states that the program uses alot of internet and recommends a media package.
I was charged a cancellation fee
Yes, My contract was up and I feel one month behind during Christmas. Next thing I know I get a cancellation fee on $350 for early termination of my contract. My contract was actually up two months prior. So a $450 bill turned into a $795 bill. How does this happen?
once your contract expires
once your contract expires it goes month to month they do not add a new contract also the highest early term fee they have ever had was 240.00 it is now 175.00 it could be a system error if you were charged early term fees...but it sounds like you are mistaken
because it is your
because it is your responsibilty to cancel the service after two years. the company doesnt care, they will just renew your contract for another two years. YOU are responsible for everything, they are just there to collect the bill.
your contract is not renewed
your contract is not renewed unless you go get another discount on another phone. NOTHING is changed to your cell phone account unless you request the change...that includes cancelling...that is less short of not paying your bill....in which ur phones would become suspended before cancelled
they do not renew your
they do not renew your agreement unless you request that. and in reguards to the original post, if your agreement was over and you were charged the early term fee, call and dispute it!
Mistakes CAN happen, we do not live in a perfect world. If there is an honest error call, they can fix it, that is of course if the contract was up at the time you cancelled.
rofl
Is this a joke? You need to study law a little bit! At&T cannot sign another contract for you as well as any other wireless carrier. This is illegal. Get your facts straight idiot
$1200 unauthorized charges to Honduras, Cingular AT&T =obnoxious
Somehow, while upgrading to an iPhone I lost a SIM card that was for the second line of my plan. Unbeknowst to me, someone got a hold of this SIM card and called 140 minutes to Honduras. My AT&T wireless bill for those minutes was over $1,200.00. I complained that I had accidentally lost or thrown away the SIM card and did not even know that my account was allowed to call internationally without prior activation of that feature. At first, Cingular/AT&T reps told me the "recovery team" would look into this matter and probably would credit my account. They were supposed to call me within 7-10 business days. They took 9 business days to get back to me. I first saw notification of the bill on August 24, 2007. I called 611 immediately and told the representative about the problem, and I had thought at first the exorbitant bill was an error on their part. She told me that the charges were probably valid but that I could file a claim for a credit and if I was a good customer and did not have unusual credits in the past that the "recovery team" would likely authorize a credit to my account. Today, September 7th, a full 9 business days later, they finally call me and tell me that the charges are valid. I am utterly disappointed in AT&T/Cingular and am reviewing my options. Should I just refuse to pay them? I did not even know someone could call Honduras (or any international location) without prior activation of that feature on one's contract. They really hate their customers and treat them unfairly. Beware contracts, beware of AT&T!!!!
140 minutes do not cost 1200
140 minutes do not cost 1200 dollars. the most that we charge is 3.49 per minute.
???
Feel for you bro. That sux!! HOwever you are the one that lost the sim card and it took you how long to realize it? Keep track of all my items daily. Good luck tho!
ATT drops my cell tower - no service!!
ATT just informed me I no longer receive cell service at my home b/c they no longer use the same cell towers in my area. They have offered to let me out of my contract at no charge to me. My contract is three months old and I paid for the stupid phone. I want my phone money back and any refund for service missed. And why shouldn't they pay me a termination fee? Anyone ever go through this? There must be 20 of us at my complex that are all getting screwed.
look at it this way...you
look at it this way...you just got a 300+ dollar phone at the discounted price...get the unlock code and take it to another carrier
Cell Tower
Alex, where did this happen and what have you all done thus far? What did the company say when you asked to end your contract without an early termination fee? You and anyone else in your complex should immediately file an online complaint at www.cpuc.ca.gov (if you are in Clifornia) and write certified letters return receipt requested to the company protesting that your contract was broken and demanding full refunds for service missed. In addition, you want out of your contracts without any early termination fees from the company and the stores from which you all purchased your equipment and signed up for service effective immediately for failure to render agreed-upon service. You should state that you were not warned in advance or at the point of sale that you would not have any service or coverage where you live.
You were given over a year
You were given over a year in warnings. a complaint wont do anything.
I believe the post said ATT
I believe the post said ATT WILL waive the ETF fees. The phone on the other hand, it's used now you won't get full price for it. Most likely when you upgraded you got it very cheap, so take the deal as the other responded and unlock it to another carrier.
Being billed for cel I traded in a year ago
I moved to Salt Lake City, Utah last year, July 2006. I had a Cingular wireless phone from California.
When the contract expired in September of 2006, I traded in the old Cingular cel phone for a new Utah Cingular phone.
Service has been fine.
However, I recently recieved a collection notice from AFNI for service on the old California cel-phone.
Apparently, Cingular did not turn off the old California cel phone service. Keeping in mind, that, for the last almost a year, I never recieved a bill for this California cel phone that I traded in.
Now, I have traded cel phones in before and acquired a new contract over the years. I have never had such an issue.
I mean, you can check the records on the old California Cingular cel phone and see that it was never used. In fact, I still have that old phone and remember turning it on and finding that the service was indeed not on.
So, I dont get this but, I did not do anything wrong here. Except pay my bill on time.
How can they do this ?
Now, this collection agency, AFNI, is attempting to collect this so called debt from me and messin with my credit.
How can they collect on something I was not liable for and was never notified of ?
Can I request the records for this old cel phone ?
I mean, I traded it in and I have a different cel phone now.
call customer service and
call customer service and explain the situation.
Fraudulent Cingular Bill
Please respond to the email sent to you and provide the documentation requested. We are able to assist if we have the information needed. For anyone else with this type of problem, you are urged to take the following steps:
1) Write a certified return receipt requested dispute letter to the collection agency. Request verification from the collection agency that you owe the debt as soon as possible. Send copies of this dispute letter and your proof to Cingular and to the 3 credit reporting bureaus. You can find contact information for the credit reporting bureaus at www.privacyrights.org, Fact Sheet 17 A. You are also encouraged to file a separate dispute with the credit reporting bureaus and to request a case file number. Your letter should request a written response no later than 30 days from the date of the dispute letter.
2) It is very important to file a complaint with your state's public utilities commission. For California, there is an online form at www.cpuc.ca.gov.
3) Even though the police department will not want to do so, file a police report immediately. You will need it to show you have taken action and for documentation.
4) If you get no response from the public utilities commission, the collection agency and/or the company, there is no point in waiting. Take the collections agency and the company to small claims court! Responses will come very quickly if you have to go this far. There are guidelines as to how to file and request court costs on the Internet for almost every jurisdiction.
Finally, make sure you follow up on all of the above actions. Making phone calls is a waste of time. Your hold times can be very lengthy and you run the risk that your conversations will not be logged. If they are not logged, they didn't take place and it's your word against the company's, the collection agency and any other place you contact. Fixing fraud is very time-consuming. But, the ramifications of doing nothing are far worse.
Anyone with a similar problem, please post and update resolutions so we can all benefit from your experiences.
service
I bought a Cingular phone and prepaid plan because I passed out twice this summer, and wanted protection..The prepaid service on the 351.00 cingular phone never worked. When you cll to complain some are nice =others like all call centers are ridiculous. I have not had help for 2 months . local store will do nothing. I am trying to recover from cancer. This is so sad to me.What organization can get me a working phone. I am prepaid for a year. How can I get to the top.. and get something done. thanks sik By the way I sent in my new phone they sent backa refurbished which was worse.Now they say its the sim card. Ever customer care person says a different thing read off a paper. This new A t and T is going under fast..belive me . it's awful .need help
RESOLVING CINGULAR - AT&T COMPLAINTS
Cingular
First do everything you can to resolve the matter with Cingular:
* Carefully document your position. Be sure to have copies of your Service Agreement, any relevant bills, etc.
* Be specific and be fair and reasonable in what you are asking for. Asking for more than that will tend to be counterproductive.
* Be persistent, but always polite -- getting upset or even abusive will only be counterproductive.
* If it's a network or coverage problem, call Customer Care (611), and ask to be transferred to Technical Support. (Standard Customer Care personnel can't really handle such problems.) Be reasonable, and give Cingular a reasonable period of time to correct any problem.
* Call Customer Care (611), and ask to be transferred to Escalations. (Standard Customer Care personnel have very little authority.) Be persistent, calling back if necessary.
* If that doesn't work, ask to be put in contact with the Office of the President (actually the highest level of dispute resolution). Don't start there -- it's a last resort, and you'll be taken more seriously if you've done everything you can to work it out through normal channels. Again, be persistent, calling back if necessary. If you can't get through that way, try these reported contact points:
* Cingular Office Of The President
5565 Glenridge Connector, Atlanta, GA 30349
404-236-6000
* Cingular Office Of The President
1910 Customer Care Way, Atwater, CA 95301
866-894-2464
agree to a point
you would be surprised how much leeway a regular rep has...their is no need to escalate as soon as you get on the phone...all thats going to do is piss off the manager and you wont get anything...all the rep has to do if its over his head is put you on hold and get manager approval...and if you just escalate your less likely to get the same deal the rep could had gotten you bc the manager is upset bc thats why the reps are there...to help the customer
I disagree
When I spoke with a customer service rep about my issues, they told me that since the amount I was disputing was so high I couldn't get it resolved by a manager/supervisor and would have to have a credit request submitted either way.
i agree
Great post!! "getting upset or even abusive will only be counterproductive" Personally think everyone for once should have to work at a cell phone place for 3 months..then they will change their attitude towards rudeness.
at&t cingular
okay i had cingular for 8 years, i lost rollover minutes when i changed my plan i was also one of those that upped my plan due to rollover minutes, but didnt get to keep them... when i changed to a smaller plan, but that wasnt all at &t buys them and all of a sudden my bill is doubled i check it out, the first page states i have a family plan 89.99 i have a lap top card 59.00 okay i look at the next page i have two phones both are being charged 89.00 per phone plus the one phone wasnt even suppose to be in service when i upgraded i wanted a individual plan. for over a year i was charged 79.oo for my lap top card, then i go in to a store speak with a tech after waiting 3 hours i get the 59.00 plan long story short i use to pay about 150 for my family plan, att bought cingular my bill was 300, then 450 they told me it was a legit charge, i stated the one phone when i up graded was to be removed i wanted a individual plan and the data on the on phone there was none because it wasnt being used apparently the tech put in an upgrade on the phone and re signed me up for another two year contract... i stated no the two year contract was to be on the 2nd phone listed but under a individual plan.. after three months of calling stopping in stores i gave up i switched to verizon... now i get a bill from a collection agency telling me i owe 1176. excuse me att owes me money first of all i over payed the first month by 150, the second month 250, let alone the time it takes to stand around their stores 12 hours of my time, phone time waiting and arguing with them another 8 hours i make 28 and hour=960.00 plus the aggravation i dont owe them nothing.
Tony please send my any info
Tony please send my any info regarding the outcome of your case. i am also in the same situation.
collections for ATT bill
can you pay ATT instead of the collections
Thieves
Thieves!
Has anyone ever seen a $48,797.09 phone bill from ATT ????
I recently went to Mexico for 5 days and of course brought my Cingular 8525 with me. A few weeks later I open my phone bill which is normally about $100.
It was $$48,797.09 !!!! And they refuse to take off the charges!
They are claiming that the charges are for Data Roaming. I did not even use my phone for data on the trip. I usually get my e-mail on this phone automatically, but they didn't show up. I had to use the hotels internet for $5 per day.
When I called ATT it took me 6 tries, each time getting transferred about 5 times each call. They promised to call me back twice and never did.
Finally I reached a supposed supervisor in the "High Use" department who claims that he has no manager for me to speak to. He also turned my phone off becasue I said I was not going to pay the bill. He also said he would ask someone to call me back and so far, no one has.
After reading the terms of my agreement it says I cannot sue them and have to use arbitration. From the web sites I found the possibility of me winning that are next to none...
What else can I do??? I don't even make that much in a year!
I suggest adding the
I suggest adding the international data plan, usually they will help and credit a portion of it as if you had the data plan at the time for the misunderstanding.
What I don't understand is, why do people buy data devices to get the data then complain when their phone uses the service without the proper plan? Before traveling we should always make sure we know what we will be charged and how to avoid it. I have heard it so many times. If you get your emails automatically every day, that will still happen while traveling! You may not have gotten them, but your phone still connected trying to get them. Think about it, your data device is like a small computer on broadband!
Who knows this stuff...
Please explain to me who knows this stuff...who knows that if they travel outside of their area or country with a data plan they will end up being b*ttf*ck*d...and the smarmy attitudes here from the reps..."if you're too stupid to read your contract"... better not say that in person because I won a lawsuit with Dish network because someone on the other line had the gall to say that to me...in case you didn't know, that's SLANDER. Yeah, people who travel outside of the country should check on these things, but I wouldn't think to! I know one thing, if I ever travel outside of the US, I'm leaving the durned thing at home!
Yeah...it's called READING
Yeah...it's called READING your contract AND the cell phone MANUEL. All the people that are complaining about their bills when they brought their cell phones that auto download emails and such should learn this. AT&T is actually in the right since it's your own fault for bringing your auto-roam phone overseas, where their towers aren't at. Of course international charges will be added. If anything, leave your phone at home and rent/buy a phone over there for use.
As for "who knows that if they travel outside of their area or country with a data plan they will end up being b*ttf*ck*d" that would be any intelligent person, unfortunately it doesn't seem like there are many out there.
wow you must not have
wow you must not have anything to do all day but go through this site and rant and rave on everyones comment but yet you dont have the balls to post your name to any of the dumb ass ranting comments you have made. grows somes balls or better yet stop being a dick. these people have come here to find help or just blow off steam if you dont have a problem with any service you have ever gotten from any company then congrats you the only person that havent and if you did have a problem i bet you just sit back and never said a word or tried to get the company to look into the problem. yeah thats it you just let em run over you right. nah you called them or went to them and you filed a complaint. so why dont you just let these people say their peace and let someone try and help them
How can $50k ever be
How can $50k ever be reasonable? Instead of just running the meter when charges are 2X, 5X, 10X or 100X the normal use for that user, why don't they try to contact you to warn you, or shut it down until you contact them that its intended. My credit card company wouldn't let this happen. Neither should my wireless provider.
Why should they contact you?
Why should they contact you? It is assumed you know everything about the phone since it does come with a manuel and that you read the contract. It's your own fault if you get charged up the butt for not knowing your own phone and contract.
First they promise a full credit, then change it to 50%.
Well ATT finally agreed to credit my $48,797 bill when I reached the Office of the President. The woman I spoke with was very nice and agreed that the bill was not accurate. She turned my phone back on and said that the credit would be processed within a week. I paid my outstanding bill minus the data roaming. Finally, someone there who was not a robot and reading from a script!
Now two weeks later the internal collections department is callig me saying that the credit was denied and they could only offer me a 50% reduction and all charges were checked twice and are valid.
Plus I got a new bill with an $800 late fee. My bill is now $49,994. This is getting to be absurd. I think my blood pressure is hitting an all time high.
International Data Charges
I am in a similar situation. I signed up for a wireless air card for my laptop so I could receive e-mail no matter where I was. I was under the impression that I was covered internationally as well. That have since told me that was not the case and sent me a bill in excess of $56,000.00. Yeh, that number is pretty high. They have offered to pro-rate me to an international plan which would bring it down to $12,000.00 but that is still rediculous for internet usage for a weeks time while in Europe. Have you gotten any resolution on your end. Any advice you can offer would be helpful.
Shawn
You would like some advice,
You would like some advice, about how to have avoided this? LEAVE THE BLASTED AIRCARD in the states. If you are traveling out of the country at&t, has applicable data plans for international Usage, and you should have called to verify that your plan would have covered you outside to US; Re-Rate is what they should have offered you, which should bring your bill down to the same amount; but however, they don't have to do anything, as you did take the card out of the country, without verifying that you wouldn't receive any usage charges.
Why on earth would get you
Why on earth would get you get the impression that you would be covered internationally. Those aren't AT&T's towers...and you and everyone else knows this. The information is available to you...on the internet...in your contract...and sometimes and supposed to tell you. AT&T pays other companies in other countries to use their towers at a particular rate set by that company. Just because you didnt know or were to lazy to look it up (out of sight out of mind i suppose) does not mean you were not liable.
att
yet another lie from at&t....I know what you mean except my is only $780. Good luck - I am not epecting much from them....
NEVER AT&T AGAIN!!!!!
at&t
A very good lawyer once told me "contracts are only worth the paper they are printed on".
A good buisness lawyer should be able to "kill bill".and also the media can be helpfull
too.
tonight on news at 11 a 68,000 dollar phone bill!!!
a hungry lawyer can have a field day with that crap!!!
also his charges could be PAID...if he wants to fight!
my advise.....call a really really good lawyer oh and send those phones back!!
Is there any intelligence out there?
As I'm sitting here reading the many ex-customers complain; I started to realize how easy it is to place blame on others. "The international rates are too high"," I didn't go over my minutes, they are fraudlantely charging me", "I lost my sim card and I didn't tell the company, but I'm mad because they don't believe and they think I don't want to pay my bill" The truth is half of you people failed to read the terms or service or even took the time to understand what the hell you were getting yourself into. Do any of you buy a car without looking into the sales contract or terms? I'll be the first to admit that at times my experience with AT&T has been less than satisfactory, but 90% of time if my bill was high; I talked to much or did not listen to the redundant expecatations that the company set. Whats amazing is how many people play dumb!!! If you think that AT&T contract is not solid; I guess that would make sense because your are same people that think a Multimillion dollar corporation with an army of lawyers could never produce a contract that for most legal purposes would hold up in court. Truth is, you wanted a phone, got a pretty good deal and were more concerned with talking on the phone with your mom or snaggled tooth friend, than with how all wireless service in the usa operates. Be honest people, they provide the service, you use it and think somehow you are entitled to have the company regulate how much talk and text message and than when you talk too much or text or check your email the company should eat it because you can't see why; They give a list of all the calls you made, all the texts, all the emails and you people deny it still; claiming the big evil AT&T is robbing me;GET REAL!!!!! Have you people ever heard of using your head. Yeah, I must admit that 68,000 is a little excessive, but he did not even stop to think, that maybe my service has different rules outside of the US(just like culture or laws), or maybe I should check too see if I actually disconnected my internet browser on the phone; I mean if you leave your rent a car running and run out of gas, do you ask the rental company to replace the gas because you were to incompetent too check. My advice is look at the complaints on all cell ph. providers;AT&T is the biggest so they are going to have the most complaints. All wireless service operates on the same premise and for the most part are the same. Get a 68,000$ bill with T-mobile you'll be lucky to get a 25% credit. Stop complaining about your inadequencies in understanding the decisions you made or failed to make. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is!! And to those of you on this page who have screamed or abused any ph. companies reps, you are the ones too blame; who wants to help belligrent assholes, who can't even take the time too look at their bill or even know what their rate plan is, if you can't read don't get a cell phone. Bottom line is:If you don't know how the wireless industry works don't get involved and remeber next time you think about getting a wireless provider; its as big of a commitment as marriage so know what the hell your getting yourself into and be honest with yourself!!!!!
wow
that was beautiful my friend...i mean sometimes mistakes are made...and if it is the cell phone company's fault...they'll have it fixed before your off the phone...or set in order to be fixed at least...but if its your fault...own up to it...its not the cell phone company's job to credit what YOU DO USE!!!!
Thank You
I could not have said it better.
"And to those of you on this page who have screamed or abused any ph. companies reps, you are the ones too blame; who wants to help belligrent assholes, who can't even take the time too look at their bill or even know what their rate plan is, if you can't read don't get a cell phone."
ATT customer service sucks.
ATT customer service sucks. Mindless idiots.
Contact the Fraud Squad
There are a lot of options available to you that will depend completely on factors that you did not post, such as: where you live, if the bill is officially in dispute with the company, and if it has been sent to a claims company. You should contact the fraud squad by filing an online complaint or calling the Hotline (619) 696-6966. They may be able to give you some advice if you share such additional information with them.
Cingular Overcharges Overseas
I used a Treo 650 for 2 years with Cingular and had no problem traveling overseas. I got a new 8525 and went to France for business for 5 days. This phone runs the internet in the background and I was charged $5,200 for roaming charges for internet use. I never even used it overseas.
When I complained they told me that this phone runs the internet in the background andi is always on. They said I should have disabled it. I said, how am I supposed to know this and that their salesman should have pointed this out as I said I use it for overseas use. Funny thing was David Blaine was in the next kiosk and he had the same thing with T Mobile as he was charged $5,000 for being in India and not using his phone. The Cingular saleman laughed.
Cingular has reduced my bill down to $1,200 which is still not fair but it does show that they admit they were wrong. I complained and now they stopped my service.
Any suggestions on how to handle the balance as the service they provide and the 8525 is perfect for me.
It is fair. You have a
It is fair.
You have a 8525, and it automatically checks for your emails and downloads them, if it didn't you would complain about that. When you are traveling internationally we have data plans, with 20 MB of international usage. Or Better yet you could put the phone in airplane mode. Betcha didn't think about that did ya? Make payment arrangements.
Cingular dispute=civil lawsuit for $1,700
I'm being SUED over a 3 YEAR OLD cell phone bill from Cingular.
I activated with Cingular, and the guy at the store hit "M" for 'mobile to mobile' instead of "N" for 'nights and weekends' resulting in 6 months of disputes regarding $1,000-$2,000 bills which Cingular would repeatedly credit and attempt to pacify with "bonus minutes". I have the old bills showing credits to my account for $1400, $800, etc.
Then these "bonus minutes" refused to "roll-over" and Cingular contended there was no way to figure out how many roll over minutes I should have. Cingular customer service reps (two of them) said they would hand-audit my previous bills as if I had been placed on the correct plan from the beginning. When I called back to find the status of the audit the reps and supervisors had no knowlege of such an event occurring.
I offered to pay the termination fee and my monthly usage fee, but they told me to "pay the $1300 first, and if we determine there is an issue we will credit it back to your account."
Anyone else with a similar situation? I could certainly use some more similar problems for my defense.
castnd @ yahoo . com
36 megabytes on my 19.99 monthly data plan
I signed up for the 19.99 a month data plan which bills based on usage. This was to be used on my laptop only when I needed it. At home I use cable for my desktop and laptop.
Cingular says I downloaded 36 meg of data in one sitting. No way did I do this. I received a bill for $250.00 for this.
I didn't bother calling them because they have the runaround thing down pat. Instead, I am sending my complaint using the good old post office. I figure there will be a lot of back and forth on this so I'm going to have all of the details in writing.
I have Verizon for my cell phone service but their data cards only have an unlimited plan so I thought I'd give the pay per usage a try.
If you have a chance to get out of your contracts, I really recommend Verizon. When I did have Cingular, (now AT&T) for cell phone, I went into a store to get a problem resolved in Atlanta. I waited in line for 20 minutes and then was taken to the back to be connected to support. I waited for 20 minutes on hold there also. When i finally got through, the woman didn't know how to resolve the issue so after many occasions of being put on hold she finally came back on the line and asked me..very quietly... if there was anything else she could help me with. She then hung up the phone. That was the last straw. I turned to the guard they had posted in the back and asked him if they hired him because people get so irate with the lack of service that they get violent.
He laughed and said, yes that does happen.
I called back in and got through within 5 minutes. The first question I asked was how much longer I had on my contract. I was told 2 weeks. I said, thanks, hung up and walked 2 blocks to the Verizon store. No line, no guard and a working phone with all of my data from my old phone transferred within 15 minutes. I got a new number and two weeks later I dropped Cingular.
The difference in service is night and day.
If anyone decides to press a
If anyone decides to press a lawsuit against ATT, I have a donation for you. ATT was screwing me over before they merged with Cingular. Cingular used to be a good company.
I'm in
All i recevied from them is the brush-off and lies!!!!! No manager EVER returns my call.
AT&T Cingular charged me $4,400 on a $19.99/mth plan
I just signup with AT&T Cingular notebook #G connect card which consist of $19.99 5MB monthly cost.
I had just purchase a new notebook and wanted to try out this type of connection on my new notebook while I am on the road. I also trusted my instinct that my over run cost would not be over $30.00 more a month. Well as you are aware when you purchase a new computer you need to update the operating system, plus your existing software to the new operating system, little that I no that my first monthly bill would be $4,400.00 I was outrage when I receive my first bill.; so I called to discuss my monthly statement. My first response was that someone would be calling me the next day. I receive a call the next day and I was told that they would need to forward my monthly statement to a higher up representative that has the authority to make a decision on my request on my over run current charges. The AT&T representative explain to me that should had chosen their unlimited monthly rate plan of $59.99 and she offer to me to switch me over so I would not incur anymore over charges on my account. I agreed. The AT&T representative concluded are conversion that in the next few days I would receive a call. The next day I receive their call; the AT&T representative describe to me there current offer would be that they would reduce the over charges to 1/2 the current charges. My response to them was that their offer was not acceptable to me, and that I felt and entrapment was been done to me as wells others who choose that plan I had chosen, in the manner they offer on their website plus as costumer service they advertise to spend $18,000,00 per day they should charge me only the new plan I had accepted from them "the unlimited monthly plan at $59.99, plus I explain to them that I was requesting a plan that they offer. In addition, on their website they have an area that they provide that you can check on your daily current use. However there system was not providing that information to me at the time this over charges where taking place. In conclusion. I explain to the representative; been that they offer a flat rate plan with unlimited use at a profit, it would not be a loss to them plus it would provide them with a happy customer with their service, plus help me correct the erroneous error I had committed choosing the incorrect plan. Well she continue on disagreement and that she could not provide me with a response with my request been she was not authorized to make that decision. One quick note when I mentioned that I would be filling a complaint with the CA Public Utilities Commission her tone of voice was subdued. My conversion ended on a drop call on my cell phone she did not tried to reconnect by calling me back and I have not ha any further contact from AT&T Cingular. However, I have filed a complaint with the CA Public Utilities commission.
they got you like that too.
they got you like that too. let me tell you my story summer of 07' my mom and i got the att service i thought she got me the unlimited internet on the phone turns out she didnt when we got a $1,000 dollar bill in the mail than the next bill was $4,059 i was on the web alot i didnt know that it was 1cent per KB. after that we went to Metro PCS that wasnt fun then a few months later we went to Sprint which is where we are now and i dont like it i miss att they have more cooler phones. is there a way i can go back. we were going to lie to them and say somebody stole the phones or sim cards but we didnt. How do you repot them to the CA Public Utilities commission. because they could have gave us a chance
CINGULAR / AT & T BOGUS INTERNATIONAL BILLING
I traveled to France in May 2007. When I received my bill in June it was over $1700!! I have traveled to France for the past 4 years and NEVER received a bill like this. They claim the charges are related to data. I used my laptop for checking emails AND rented a local phone! I did use my Cingular phone a couple of times but that was it. I challenged the charges and American Express opened up a dispute. They received a letter from AT & T agreeing to credit $1200 back to my AMEX card. However, each month they keep rebilling the $1200. AT & T says it never agreed to the credit even though AMEX has it in writing.
I've read the posts on here regarding outrageous billing issues.
I think we should seriously consider launching a class action suit.
International Roaming
International Roaming charges can show up for the next 3-90 days after you return. They most likely were MORE charges that had not been billed yet.
overcharges by idiots at AT&T
I signed up for a new account with Cingular and bought a Treo 750. It was junk. When I called to cancel the account they offerred me a 8525 for $150. They forgot to mention it was a refurb, which they now confirm. It was bad so I sent it back and they sent me a new one. Charged me $410 for it. Said I should have been told I was going to pay more. Now they won't adjust my bill. All I want to do is pay them $4000 over the next year or two and have service,,, not be mislead by these crooks. Stay away from them. I should stayed at Altell :(
you're the idiot
if the treo was "junk" you had 30 days to realize it.
It's this little thing called a 30 day buyers remorse period.
I am also being charged for
I am also being charged for "ringtime". These one minute charges deffinetly add up at the end of the month.
Cingular AT&T Merger Customer Abuse
Anyone else get abused like this? I manage a 10 phone Cingular plan at work and have a 4 phone Cingular family plan at home. I have been paperless with email bill reminders for over a year now with Cingular. I received a bill reminder notice via email each month and then went on line to pay my bill. No problems, worked pretty smoothly. Then the merger ~ With my luck I was also selling my house and moving to a new one the last two months so I wasn't as vigilant as I normally would be in making sure I received my billing notices. So for the last 2 billing cycles good 'ol AT&T did not send me my monthly reminder by email. When I finally realized that I hadn't received a monthly notice in awhile I went on line on my own and tried to enter the website to check my bill --- guess what? my old password and log in did not work. I tried to access the "online support chat" and received a "we are too busy to help you message". So the next day, (yesterday), I call AT&T Cingular support and get my password and log in reset. Go to the web site and see that my monthly bills that normally average $200 to $250 per month went up to $350 and $850 per month on the last 2 cycles. Their support department says the charges are legit, that we just used up all of our rollover minutes which is kind of strange since we have had the same plan and usage for over 2 years without any significant overage charges. After fighting through a couple of layers of support, all I can get is a $250 credit on the $850 bill, even thought I agreed to up my plan to 3000 minutes at a cost of an additional $60 per month. As I told the rep, I have been paperless for over a year. You, AT&T are responsible to send me a bill on a timely basis. I did not receive a bill and had no way of knowing what was going on with my bill until it reached $850. Also there must be some definitiion change with the merger that has reclassified minutes that normally were free to being "out of plan". Anyone else have a bill that was consistently at a certain dollar level that now has jumped up with the merger? I know they are screwing me but without spending countless hours reviewing hundreds of pages of billing I don't know how to prove it. Anyone have any ideas or similar situation?
yes!!
You can look at it this way. You disregard a car payment they come get your car. You disregard rent you get get evicted. You know you owe for your cell bill every month come on. Read your bills and be more responsible for heavens sake. Or join the military where they will teach you discipline. This isnt a complaint this is whining.
Yes! I am having a very
Yes! I am having a very similar problem.
I have had Cingular service since I got my first cell phone, and have NEVER had a problem. I have never gone over my plan minutes, with the exception of the 2004 hurricanes, when our home land line was down x 3 weeks.
I received my bill last month & it was almost $200!!. I contacted "The New AT&T" Customer Service & got a woman who said her name was "Karen", but who was obviously in India or Pakistan, but I digress... She said the bill was legit. When questioned further, she said that my nights start at 9:00 P.M. Whaaattttt?? When did that happen??? It's supposed to be 7:00. Then she suggested that I increase my minutes. I pointed out that if she bothered to look at my account history, she could plainly see that I don't NEED more minutes; what I NEED is an honest service provider. I spoke with her supervisor "Erik" as well; neither of them would budge.
I received the latest bill yesterday. It's $112. I'm done with Cingular, er, ATT&T. This is an outrage.
Crooks
Crooks. Lets see, 59 pages of phone bill with I think 54 lines per page, that is over 2500 lines of 6 pt type to read your phone bill. Snuck that 9pm thing in when it was 7pm, just more of the same ATT fine qualities. Don't bother with customer service, they only hire robotic morons with no scrupples.
From my own experiences, it
From my own experiences, it was always 9:00 for night time minutes. I was always told it started at 9:00 PM, and yes I have been an AT&T/CIngular customer since 2000 to now. As for the customer service, they are doing what they were told to do so you shouldn't bash the people themselves...just their bosses. Most likely they are being listened to in order to keep them in check
Same Problem!
This will be the 4th month in a row where they haven't sent me an online bill! I've been doing it this way for over 3 years now without a problem, but suddenly they just can't seem to fix it. As someone who doesn't generally make it a point to simply remember to pay bills without actually receiving an invoice, this is becoming troubling. The first time this happened, they actually tried charging me a late fee which they waived since I've been a "good customer over the years" eg: They screwed up but didn't want to admit it. For the next 3 months they've neglected to send bills either in paper form or via email, and each time I've called to complain about it, they assure me they've fixed the problem. Well, here it is, June 11th, and I've still received no bill (they usually come by the 5th of every month at the very latest).
I'm thinking maybe it's time to just cancel my service. There's plenty of other carriers out there, and I'm sure most are able handle the very difficult task of actually sending out a phone bill.
Really?
So you dont get a bill, you don't pay for months, and you complain about a late fee? If you use your account online, try checking your settings, you may have it set to not send you a paper bil. This is something you set yourself, ATT can't do it for you. They don't send you bill online anyway, you have to take responsibility to go into your account and check it. If you can't do that yourself, then change the setting to recieve a paper bill, then it will be mailed.. FYI, if you have combined billing with your land line service, you will not get a bill from the wireless end of it... only from the land line end. If that's the case, then you can't see much on your bill then either, suggestion: remove combined billing, or sign up for autopay or txt2pay.
Cingular bill over $3k
I am Angel and I am a Family Liaison for the Even Start Program which provides Family Literacy services at Kimbrough Elementary School to low-income, low-literacy level families. This complaint is behalf of one of the participants in my program named Ascencion Garcia. She opened an account for two phones from Cingular, one for herself and one for her son. Ascencion came to me for help because her phone bill is $3,195.42. She doesn't know why it's that high because she has been making payments monthly. Regardless, how does Cingular allow Ascencion to run the bill so high? Regularly a phone company will cut service when the bill exceeds $200 past due or something. Please help because the well being of this family is of ultimate concern and your organization is an authority in these matters. Thank you for your attention.
It depends on what the
It depends on what the charges are for. Phones now come out with so many features, and yes people they are 'wireless' . So if the device is doing something cool, it usually means it is downloading data to do it. Internet comes active on all phones. You are only charged for it if you use it, but if you use it alot or for large file sizes the charges can be in the thousands if you are on the pay per use. Put a data package or messaging package on. When you buy a voice plan, that is only for your minutes. If you are going to use the other features, you have to make sure you know what charges may occur. I would call the company and ask if there is anything that can be done. If the charges are for usage, add a feature that would have covreed it and they will help, they are not all bad!
Cingular Bill over 3K
There is a point of clarification that may benefit everyone. Companies do not cut off services when you exceed $200. Cingular and other wireless carriers maintain that every customer is free to review billing and use of minutes at any time. With this system, customers would need to check their information on a daily basis to prevent overcharges. As an example, we currently have a case where close to $26,000 is now being charged by Cingular for one of five phones on a Family Plan during a 14-day period of time on a trip to Ethiopia. Accessing voicemail from foreign countries may lead to shocking results. In this case, there appear to be one-minute calls to between 11 and 13 different foreign countries to languages not spoken by this Ethiopian customer. The actual subscriber or account holder knew nothing about what was transpiring until she returned home and got a call from Cingular warning her that one of her phones had just reached over $20,000. We are currently working to see what could have happened during the time the phone holder was accessing his voicemail. The lessons here are twofold: 1) Don't take your cell phone to foreign countries without knowing all of the facts and if you do take it, 2) Don't access your voicemail at the International rates.
Cingular / AT&T Wireless issue
Apparantly the old AT&T Wireless and Cingular had different billing systems that were not combined when the two companies merged. I changed my AT&T Wireless account to a Cingular Family Plan account in May 2006. In May 2007 I received a notice from a collections bureau stating that I owed a balance of $26.73 on my old AT&T Wireless account, but I never received a bill from the new combined company explaining these charges. I am now facing a collection notice on my credit report due to the non-notification of the old past due amount. What recourse do I have to make Cingular/AT&T resolve this issue without my credit score being unfairly impacted?
Cingular/AT&T Wireless issue
"Apparantly the old AT&T Wireless and Cingular had different billing systems that were not combined when the two companies merged. I changed my AT&T Wireless account to a Cingular Family Plan account in May 2006. In May 2007 I received a notice from a collections bureau stating that I owed a balance of $26.73 on my old AT&T Wireless account, but I never received a bill from the new combined company explaining these charges. I am now facing a collection notice on my credit report due to the non-notification of the old past due amount. What recourse do I have to make Cingular/AT&T resolve this issue without my credit score being unfairly impacted?"
I had this exact same thing happen to me. I had a balance on my old account at the time of migration that they never told me about. Meanwhile my new account is in good standing and I've been a loyal customer. The first I heard about it was when a collection agent called me. Not knowing anything about the disputing process I paid. But now it's on my credit report. I really feel Cingular had a responibility to inform customers about the separate billing systems. How did you resolve this?
-Susan
Cingular never sent my replacement phone but kept deposit
Hi
I am so glad to know there is a website like this, unfortunately I am not a California resident, I know you can not help me. But I would like to know what I can do in the state I live in. I have a problem with Cingular. I bought a prepaid cell phone online but it was defective. I called Cingular to request a replacement. They asked me to pay $50 deposit in order to have new phone. They said this deposit was going to be refunded as soon as the defective phone was received in their warehouse. I refused to pay the "deposit", they agreed to send me the business label (everything was going to be paid, they said so). I received the business label, put my cell phone in a box and put the business label on it. I followed the instructions I received from Cingular. For some reason the package had a 2 weeks delay. It means I had no cell phone for more than 16 days. I called Cingular every single day, to see if they could help me to track the package or at least to claim it, because it seemed to be lost, because the USPS didn't know anything about the package. I couldn't claim it in the USPS office because I didn't pay the shipping. One day after the 2 long waiting weeks somebody from Cingular called me to let me know the package was lost and they couldn't do anything for me, she said I could order a new phone or change company. I didn't give up and contacted Cingular again. Somebody from the Customer Service told me that she could see in their system that the phone was received and that she was going to request the credit for the phone. I am still waiting for that refund, but the other problem is that they charged my account for $40 dollars even they knew the package was lost because of their fault and I never used the first plan and the second plan either. I would like to have the second charge refunded because I think I trusted on them when I put my cell phone in that box and when it got lost they couldn't help me to track it. Also they never infomred me that they had received the cell phone, I found it out because I didn't give up. It obvious they were planing to keep my cell phone and steal my money. Also they have a horrible "Customer service". Would please give me an advice to know who I can contact to have some help?. I know $40 is not a big deal but I think how many people have had this problem with Cingular and how much many they make with this ilegal business practices. I understand now that this is the only way Cingular can make money. I am also worried because I am not sure they will refund the money for the cell phone they already received.
I wish I have read the information about Cingular in your website a few weeks ago.
Thanks!!
Resolving a Cingular complaint
How Can a Billing or Contract Problem be Resolved?
Cingular
First do everything you can to resolve the matter with Cingular:
Carefully document your position. Be sure to have copies of your Service Agreement, any relevant bills, etc.
Be specific and be fair and reasonable in what you are asking for. Asking for more than that will tend to be counterproductive.
Be persistent, but always polite -- getting upset or even abusive will only be counterproductive.
If it's a network or coverage problem, call Customer Care (611), and ask to be transferred to Technical Support. (Standard Customer Care personnel can't really handle such problems.) Be reasonable, and give Cingular a reasonable period of time to correct any problem.
Call Customer Care (611), and ask to be transferred to Escalations. (Standard Customer Care personnel have very little authority.) Be persistent, calling back if necessary.
If that doesn't work, ask to be put in contact with the Office of the President (actually the highest level of dispute resolution). Don't start there -- it's a last resort, and you'll be taken more seriously if you've done everything you can to work it out through normal channels. Again, be persistent, calling back if necessary. If you can't get through that way, try these reported contact points:
Cingular Office Of The President
5565 Glenridge Connector, Atlanta, GA 30349
404-236-6000
Cingular Office Of The President
1910 Customer Care Way, Atwater, CA 95301
866-894-2464
Cingular Office of the President
2221 N. University, Lubbock, TX 79415
800-947-5096
877-734-0766
Email resospecialist@yahoo.com
Complaints
If you fail to resolve the matter with Cingular, complaints may be effective:
How to Complain about Cell Phone Service (Consumers Union)
Better Business Bureau (BBB) May be effective.
Consumer Help Line of a local radio or TV station
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Wireless carriers are required to respond to complaints filed with the FCC.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) While the FTC doesn't resolve individual complaints, accumulated complaints can result in enforcement action
surprise surprise
I have been trying to get a billing issue resolved and see your post with an e-mail address. Well, I tried to email them and surprise, surprise the e-mail address is no longer in effect!
Just par for the course for AT&T. What a joke - this company is __________ you can fill in the blank.
Think twice before signing with AT&T.
BILLING
I was looking at my Cingular bill online and noticed a lot of 1 minute charges.When I looked at the phone numbers I noticed that there were numbers that I very rarely answer on the bill. I called Cingular and asked if I was charged for calls that I did not even answer and was told yes . So be careful people this is another way they screw you. You are charged 1 minute every time your phone rings, even if you do not talk to anyone. So they should change the term from "air time" to "ring time"
untrue
you're not charged for calls unless you answer and it's more than 30 sec's. The only time you're charged even if you do not answer is if you are roaming internationally.
Cingular won't let me change my rate plan
I have built up roughly 7800 rollover minutes. We are finally getting around to changing our plan to a lower plan. When I called to do this the representative told me that I would lose all my minutes down to whatever the amount that the new plan offered. For example, if I changed to the 700 minute plan I would lose nearly 7100 minutes.
She said I understand and agreed that that is pretty bad...I asked to speak to her supervisor and she patched me through. When I spoke to the supervisor she was very curt and said that a notice was sent out 10 months ago citing the change in policy and so I was out of luck.
I explained to her that the reason I bought a larger rate plan inititally was because I was sold on the idea of being able to change my plan to a smaller plan and keeping the additional unused minutes when I did so.
She said that she understands that many customers bought a larger rate plan for this same reason and were allowed to change plans without the risk of losing any minutes...however, that has all changed and since the notice was sent to all customers many months ago there would be no exceptions.
I asked to speak to her supervisor and she said that he was only going to tell me the same thing... I told her I wanted to speak to him anyway. She said that she would leave a message for him to call me back.
All I want is to stick to the original agreement. I should be allowed to change to the lower rate plan and keep all my minutes intact which is the original agreement made and the reason I bought the larger plan in the first place.
What have you done thus far to resolve the problem?:
As stated above, I am waiting to hear from another customer service supervisor.
At least you had one of the
At least you had one of the brighter cs reps, I was never told that I would lose my minutes when I changed the plans. They later apologized for the reps lack of knowledge but that I was out of luck. This company really really sucks. I own my own manufacturing company and deal with the top retailers in the world and I can tell you that customer service should not be like ATT dictates. I've had all our business phones with Cingular, traveled internationally for 14 years and never had a problem until ATT came on board. Now it is a nightmare, what the problem will be on next month's bill and how many hours do you want to commit to not getting the problem answered or resolved. Stay away from ATT.
AT&T won't let me change my plan
I am in total agreement. I just got off the phone with them. I told them that I believe they are stealing from me, as my rollover minutes are expiring at the rate of 1500 per month, but they won't let me lower my plan to use them!
I also told them that the rollover minutes were the reason I signed with them, and that this new policy will be the reason I don't sign with them again.
I'm going to US Cellular. My family has it, and I haven't heard any complaints yet.
If there is a class action suit about this, PLEASE let me know!!
your kidding...
you had 12 months...technically 13 to use those minutes...if you don't use them by then...obviously you don't need them...so stop complaining...
Excuse me...
....you who are too chicken**** to use their name on here....in AT&T commercials they say the are MY minutes and I should be able to use them when I want. So are they MY minutes or not...I paid for them. Either AT&T is guilty of fraudulent advertising, out and out fraud with regards to their customers....or you're an idiot...oh wait, the last is a given...
Yeah..
You should actually READ the contract since they DO state that your rollover minutes only last for a number of months before they expire. Unfortunately rollover minutes don't last forever and will be removed/expire after 12 months or so. There are no "fraudulent advertisement", just you not reading up on everything said in the contract. You received rollover minutes, didn't use them, and according to the contract, they expire within a year.
Cingular has figured out how to screw me on International Calls
I have been using a calling card on all three phones with our account for about 3 years, and prior to that with Verizon for about 5 years. All of a sudden last month we recieved a $1000+ bill. All of the extra charges were on my wife's phone for calls to Malaysia. We have programmed using speed dialing the dialing sequence for the calling card. My phone and our son's phone had no such charges. Upon careful analysis of the bill I discoverd that in our current month there are several calls to BOTH the international calling card and Malaysia at the SAME time and we are being billed for BOTH. So far I was told the charges were valid and they won't reverse them, but I was offered a chance to sign up for a an international calling plan to Malaysia for $3.99 and then the calls from NOW ON (won't do anything about the exisiting bill) would be .20 per minute. The changres without the 3.99 plan were at $3.51 per minute. At this point it's being put up to the next level. But I do have a question. Since my wife is using her phone in Southern California are other people in that area having the same problem?
Internal Calls
I have the EXACT same problems for calls to France. They claim that the calling card is the one who screwed on the fast dial sequence.
I was also very upstet that international call feature was activated on my account without me asking for it. I have never had this problem with T-mobile.
I think Cingular should be responsible. I dial the calling card first so any technical difficulty must be related to the cingular network, otherwise the international call would not be picked by cingular, right?
$1200 in unauthorized Cingular charges
We have just encountered another problem with our Cingular bill. This is a constant continuing encounter with Cingular. It does not matter who we deal with at Cingular, they are very one sided, selective in what they consider facts and just down right rude.
Our son had made a number of calls for a total of 360 minutes to China using a calling card. Cingular had allowed the bill to accumulate to over $1200 in charges before alerting us. When we checked into the situation we found the following facts.
A calling card was used. Cingular claims that our son did something wrong and the calling card was not properly used therefore Cingular automatically completed the call and charged whatever rates they chose without alerting the caller. Cingular claims they have no "Safe Guard" to ensure this does not happen and does not see any reason to fix this problem. I do not think this is legal, and this is certainly not ethical. This is the TYPE OF COMPANY I AVOID DOING BUSINESS WITH.
I looked on the web site and found 2 charts containing information for International calls. The first site indicated that a call to China should be charged $.85 per minute. The second chart offered a calling plan that charged only $.15 per minute. We questioned the rep on how she came with the initial $3.50 per minute charge. The rep was totally unaware what we found on the web site and it took us 20 minutes over the phone to teach her how to access the Cingular web site where we had found the $.15 and $.85 charts. She gave us another web site address that we had to enter in by hand that showed the charge at $3.22 per minute and a forth site that showed a charge of $4.22 per minute. HOW CAN ANYONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND EXPECT SOMEONE TO MAKE ANY SENSE OUT OF ALL OF THESE CHARTS? This just looks like planned confusion.
Sincerely
Dennis
If you go to this page,
If you go to this page, (Wireless.ATT.Com) the drop downs are here for standard rates vs. discount rates if you had thier calling package: (I found it in 1 minute)
http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/long-distance/in-the-us....
The rates are separated to show the costs for land lines and cell phones... standared vs discounted
Standard rates to a landline in China ($3.49/min), to a cell phone in China ($3.52)
Discounted (with World Traveler) rates are (.15/ min) to a land line and (.18/min) to a cell phone.
Using a calling card is not recommended with a cell phone. Why wouldn't you use a home phone? Usually what happens is when you enter the code people hit the send key to make the call. But when you do this, it puts the call on hold and calls the number directly with the calling card still on call waiting. There is a way to do it, but you have to do it right. I don't blame the wireless company on this one, I mean there is nothing that their service is doing wong, it's the phone operator... take some responsibility!
Have given up?
Are you going to contiue to fight? I have the same problem and believe this new tactic is begging for legal action. We need to get our notes together and fight this as a group instead of as individuals. I have to believe there many others that have the same issue with Cinguler.
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