PROBLEMS WITH AT&T

Never used them, sorry I can't help! I am a Sprint customer myself!

I hope your life with Sprint is better than my life with AT&T

Try your Public Utilities Commission. They would be the ones who govern them Suzi. Good luck! C):-)

Oh yeah....... My daughter had loads of problems with them. At least I'm pretty sure that was the company. They kept billing her hen she had canceled a plan, changed things on her without her knowledge. It was a big deal but it was a few years ago.

Maybe I'll have her chime in to you if she has time. She is Kate J.

I have had Verizon since before it was Verizon...20 years ago. Never had any problems or any unpleasantness. My daughter's phone went whacky...we had no insurance...out of the guarantee period...they gave her a "like new" that was reconditioned. Works great. Can't tell it's not new.
Sorry to hear of your troubles.

I don't use them either. Isn't it amazing that there are some good alternatives now?

I use Qwest, had many problems with them too!

I never signed up with AT&T, but somehow I wound up with them anyway, and my $39.00 month bill suddenly turned into $215.00 monthly. When I disconnected, they continued billing me. I'd call and be put on hold for forty-five minutes and then the call would be dropped. I finally called the local AT&T and they said they'd take care of it. I continued to be billed. Finally, in desparation, I contacted the FCC ---and AT&T responded, saying I never disconnected. I gave them the name and phone numbers of the person who said he would disconnect my lines. They told me he wasn't allowed to disconnect me, so it didn't count. It's a long story, but now they've turned it over to a collection agency. It appears this problem is ongoing for many many people and we are considering a class action lawsuit.

Never used them. Switch to Sprint.

I have had good luck with Sprint. No problems with them to date.

But now that you have me going .....
My Mother had MCI. I moved her phone to Sprint more than once and put every block on it I could think of but MCI would sweep up her account and bill more than the rest. Finally when I had to close my mothers house down, I called all the utilities and everyone was very nice except for MCI. They would not turn it off on my request even though I told them she was literally on her death bed. I paid the rest of the bills off but refused to pay that one. Once in a while a collection agency mails something and I just throw it away. Don't buy MCI stock. All the Accounts Receivable Asset is poor old death folks who they refuse to shut off. Sorry ....

Get out quick .

Wow, well the only problem I seem to be having with At&t is that they let anyone bill you for anything....I keep getting billed for voice mail services and other such things and then have to call and have it removed. I asked them how they could do this and they say they are just a billing company for other companies, so even tho I don't allow this and have told them unless they hear from me not to add anything else on to my bill they will still do this! So every month I have to wander thru the bill and find what new charges I have that I didn't allow.....doesn't seem legal, kinda like allowing people to charge on your credit card because its a credit card company....

soooo I went from having it paid automatically every month to paying when I feel like it and only paying for the services I signed up for. I hope it drives them nutty and I'm sure it has to cost them money....maybe this is the way they will change their practices.

They spy on you, too.

I do use them but I haven't had any problems yet. Sorry. Good luck with clearing it up though.

We don't have AT&T out here in Washington. But in my experience, ALL the 'utility companies' find ways to rip you off, in one way or another, and no one ever really does much about it, either. Human nature: if they know they've got you by the huevos, (aka - they provide a service you can't live without) they will take advantage, every time! And of course, since it's 'big business', they've got all the politicians and law makers in their back pocket, so don't expect any help from them! (aka - thanks to consistently over-charging their customers, they've got lots of money to pay them off!)

Some examples of utility company rip-offs I have personally observed:

Electric company - utility bill does not consistently reflect actual usage. If using electric heat - bill jumps up automatically in the fall, whether I've actually started turning the heat on, or not! (I'm tough, so I go longer than some people, without heat. That's how I came to notice this. Otherwise, I might not have!) Bill does not go down one iota, however, when I stop using certain high consumption appliances! If I call to complain or question the charges, I'm told to start monitoring my own meter, and/or it's all the hot water heater's fault! (I don't buy it, and I don't have time/energy to monitor my own meter)

Phone company - all sorts of taxes and fees I've never heard of, are consistently added on to the price I am 'quoted' when I sign on for any service. Of course, they will try to tack on any extra charge they think you might not notice... how many people just pay it, without even looking? They can easily make MILLIONS off of such people!

Gas company - once again, fluctuations in charges don't seem to be consistent with fluctuations in usage!


Garbage company - charges are listed in such a confusing manner, I really can't tell exactly how much I'm being charged, for any one month. (they bill in 2 month cycles, which makes it even more confusing) I was once charged for a whole year, for a service I never ordered or asked for - something to do with them having to go in 20 feet, to collect the garbage can. (the charge was listed in such a confusing way, I didn't even notice it, for a long time) My can sits right on the edge of the city sidewalk, where they wouldn't even have to step in 1 foot, to collect the can...so no way this charge applied to me, but they still tried to argue the point, when I called to complain. It took them 6 months to give me credit for all the extra money I paid for that, and they never so much as apologized, for the mistake! (in fact, it seemed like they were simply bothered by my complaints, and really expected ME to feel guilty, for complaining about it. They even tried to suggest that the charge might be legitimate, if I put the cans a little too far back from the sidewalk! Like 3 feet, would be the MOST they would ever be from the sidewalk!) They also frequently tack on 'extra can' charges, when I'm not putting out any extra cans. (assuming it will be too hard for me to remember when I put out extra cans, and when I didn't) I suspect some of these 'suspicious charges' may have been in retaliation, for me complaining about how my cans were always being thrown around the yard, and lids lost, by their employees...

Water company - Aside from the usual overcharging, (which I am convinced all utility companies do) in my local area, they try to turn off the water supply to renters, when the owner of the property doesn't pay the water bill on time...even though it's ILLEGAL for them to do so, they still try to do it. I've been through this TWICE, as a renter, in two different rental units. Had to go to all the trouble myself, to contact legal aid, and get them to send a letter, informing the water company that it is illegal for them to do this. As if they didn't know this, already! I'm sure they threaten to do this, hundreds of times a year, so I'm sure they know all about the legalities!

I think all of the above companies also take advantage of the disabled and elderly, at every opportunity. Knowing that such people will not be able to keep up with all their various sneaky tricks...because of limited mobility, limited energy, and limited mental capacity. That's about as low as you can go!

Then there's cable - not exactly a 'necessity', but still kind of 'expected', in our modern society. Got to keep up with the Jones' on this one! I remember when 'cable TV' first came out, we were told one of the big benefits of cable, is that there were NO COMMERCIALS! Sure isn't that way now, is it?? We pay about $50 a month, here in Washington, for basic cable, and one premium channel. And most of the time, I still can't find anything to watch! Repeats of the same re-runs on 5 different channels, for a week! I think my $50 a month is paying for maybe 2-3 things a week, that I really want to watch! Not a very good deal, but what's the alternative?? (back to 5 days a week of cops and robbers, sit-coms, soaps, and sleazy talk shows??)


GT

contrary to what GT says above in the first statement,WA state does have AT&T services....here is copy of one class action suit won in my state:

The class action lawsuit, filed back in 2004 (when AT&T was Cingular), alleges the company of advertising free roaming on AT&T's network (which was still a separate entity from Cingular) and then reneging on their promise - leading to overcharges ranging from $1 to $40 per month. AT&T argued that the wireless service contracts forbid subscribers from initiating a class-action suit, but the Washington State Supreme Court says differently - banning a class action lawsuit would "effectively den[y] large numbers of consumers the protection of Washington's Consumer Protection Act," adding that class actions are necessary to "strongly deter future similar wrongful conduct, which benefits the community as a whole."

i no longer have a cell phone,but last one i had was with AT&T...when i moved only 5 miles away,i no longer could get a signal and thus ended the service....they continued to charge me the monthly rate + late fees and turned it over to collections...i refuse to pay for non-service especially after i let them know the problem beforehand....they became Cingular for awhile and one or the other sent my info to collections...my agreement was with AT&T,not Cingular....also, i sent in my rebate forms when i first purchased the pricey phone and was never sent the $200 owed back to me....

AT&T was notorious in the 70's for adding an excise tax which was specifically levied for "war support" and me along with thousands across the nation refused to pay the illegal tax by subtracting it from each billing as well as were very active in spreading the news to others....the courts ruled in our favor!

Slam dunk em' !

cheers,gayle

Good Luck !

I would definitely file a complaint with the PUC and encourage all the others to do so! Good luck on the law suit too! C):-)

Gayle,
Thank you for the information. Excellent insight into an ongoing problem.

I know this doesn't particularly help you, Suzi, but once upon a time it was the greatest company in the world to deal with....that was back in the fifties.....something happened in the sixties and that changed 180 degrees....Haven't dealt with them lately though...

BellSouth was a great company before AT&T took them over. It was one of the last companies you could call and be assured you would talk to a real person. It now takes 45 minutes to get through all the automation at AT&T.

Don't forget, they are the ones giving your private information to the government without a warrant! If I could change to someone else I would but our wonderful FCC still allows telephone monopolies.

We have Verizon, and are fairly happy with them~

try reaching a top line supervisor at A T & T, sometimes its possible and productive

Yep they did this to me continued to bill you even though you changed to another provider

We dont use AT&T. Sorry

thanks for the share!

i've heard of many AT&T troubles... none personally... sorry for your problems...
good luck...

Funny, I was just googlin' ATT class action suits and PUC problems and ran across your complaint (w/thousands of others). I had a family plan with ATT with roaming and long distance covered in the plan. they changed the plan and wouldn't do anything except the local manager called me a liar and said I'd come in on two different dates and changed it. I inquired as to why I would change to no long distance when my daughter was living in Hawaii and he came unglued. Well the one day I did come in just to replace my daughter's phone and the next date he claimed I'd come in to change the plan was my son's wedding- oh, yeah! In my spare time I just slipped in to make sure I had a plan that cost me hundreds of dollars more---and I needed 2 days to do this ??? I somehow obtained the number of a Supervisor/Manager for Oregon and after calling for several weeks she finally returned the call, BUT she only managed "commercial" accounts-this has never been resolved There's a lot more to this-if you try broken record technique. from communications
classes, they really go ballistic, but still not resolved. So now I am again writing to the PUC...
At least I ran into this site and really like what I've seen so far. Would love to hear if you get any resolution!!