VENT about AT&T wireless

[michaelskis]

Ok, I need to vent. I just found out that well, a well respected phone company just screwed me over. I have gone with AT&T wireless for about a year now. When I came here I signed a one year contract. Everything was ok. The phone that I got did not work all that well in my apt, so this May, I upgraded to a better phone, I was told that it would not change my plan or contract.

Here is where the fun starts AT&T does not offer wireless service in the Kalamazoo area… so I need a new phone, but that is not a big deal, because my plan is up on the 20th of September. OH but wait, when I got my new phone, I only paid $100 and not the $220, *because I was on a government employee special. Well, because I got the deal, it restarted my plan… and some place in some booklet, or something, it says that it restarts my plan, so the one year is not up in a week, but some time NEXT MAY. Oh and to get out of my plan, I need to pay $175, or have someone else take my plan.

If you have done ANYTHING with your AT&T wireless phone, or plan in the past year, I would call them if I where you to check the status of your plan. I know they are a Major Carrier, but I was told that they do not offer ANYTHING in the Kalamazoo area.

 

[BKM]

Seems to be a common problem. Don't worry, the industry claims that it is working on "standards" to protect consumers. Maybe in about five years? .....

AT&T failed to coordinate properly with Sprint when I switched long distance carriers. Since Sprint has no real way of contacting them, and since thir own voicemail says "contact your new telephone service provider (which I had done), I was able to (through very irate behavior) get Sprint's charges cancelled.

 

[Habanero]

that's what James and i ran into when we moved. They said moving and changing our plans to Phoenix numbers would not re-start or extend our plans, but in fact, just changing the numbers did that. When we pointed out the error they fixed it, but their service out here is awful. They also changed James' number to the 480 number for the electric company's spanish only line (their number is 602-whatever) and gave him hell for wanting to change it again.

I'm amazed they don't have service though, that was the only carrier we could get in Texas that still had service at the ranch.

 

[Cardinal]

Let me see if I understand this correctly. When you upgraded to the better phone, you were told by the customer service representative that this would not affect your contract? I would send a letter to them stating that, and politely suggest that they re-evaluate their attempts to extort money from you or you will refer the matter to the state consumer protection agency (whatever it may be) to have them look into it. If you paid for your phone service through a credit card, contact them about challenging the billing.

I went through something similar with Ameritech. It took a year, during which they stopped responding to my letters and e-mails. As soon as the Attorney General's office contacted them about a consumer fraud complaint, though, they called me.

 

[tsc]

we dropped AT&T... they said that we could stop anytime when we signed up...well while we were in the plan...they changed the rules that you have to finish out till the next billing cycle...so we had to pay for an additional month. We have Verizon now.. and have been pretty pleased with the service and coverage.

 

[michaelskis]

Does anyone know of any infomation that could help me get out of my contract, such as Legal Case showing AT&T wireless has misled comsumers in the past?

 

[Jeff]

PLEASE, PLEASE Get me off AT&T. I pay for a cell phone that doesn't work!

And in order to stop paying for it, I have to pay $175 early termination (for 2 phones). Talk about a racket. They provide a service that sucks, and you are stuck with it.

 

[michaelskis]

I would like to suggest (and possibly get shot down) that Cyburbia publicly renounce and boycott AT&T... Maybe some one will notice, and maybe some one at the FCC or other government agency will look into the problems.

It seems like I am not the only one who has these problems. It is one thing to complain about it... but I would like to act on it. I have already e-mailed EVERY one I know (in my e-mail list) letting them know about this problem, and asked that they check there programs. People are all to often lied to by these companies, and the fine print contradicts it’s self and what the consumer is told. These corporations have taken money from people for all to long… what is a contract, it is me saying I agree based on the knowledge I have at the time of signing. Let’s make a difference… lets look out for the little guy, lets work towards a better tomorrow!!!

Ok… I am going to get off my soap box and shut up now.

 

[Cardinal]

PLEASE, PLEASE Get me off AT&T. I pay for a cell phone that doesn't work!

And in order to stop paying for it, I have to pay $175 early termination (for 2 phones). Talk about a racket. They provide a service that sucks, and you are stuck with it.

Mike, build a history with their customer service and billing departments. " On September 11 at 2:10 I attempted to place a call from Philadelphia and had a notice that you were not able to place the call. Since you did not provide the required service under my contract, I am requesting reimbursement for that portion of my monthly bill." When I make my bi-weekly service complaint call to SBC Ameritech, I am now automatically transfered to a special service team when they bring up my account history.

 

[SkeLeton]

Hmm... Why do ALL telephone companies worldwide suck so much?

 

[michaelskis]

Hmm... Why do ALL telephone companies worldwide suck so much?

Because we rely on technology too much. Just look at the whole power outage thing. It stopped people from doing much of anything other than making babies.

These companies think that they can F*** us over because we do not understand the legal system. I told them today, that since I did sign a one year contract on September 20, 2002, and have not signed any other contract, I have the Legal right to cancel my contract as of September 20, 2003.