ATT Wireless Autopay & Late Fee

I originally signed up for auto-pay for AT&T Wireless (ATT) to simply billing.

On 2008-02-22, I was notified by my credit card company that my credit card number was compromised and I immediately closed the credit card account to prevent unauthorized charges. My credit card company then sent me a new card with a new number within a week and I immediately updated all accounts that charge against the credit card, including ATT on 2008-03-01.

When I checked my ATT billing statement on 2008-03-18, it showed that my account is past-due and that I am being charged an additional $5.00 for late payment.

I called the ATT billing department and the rep. informed me that ATT has attempted to charge my old credit card number on Feb. 29th, Mar. 3rd, and Mar. 5th, which all failed. I told them that the old number was compromised and I've updated the credit card information on Mar. 1st. However, the rep. claimed that the new number won't get used in auto-pay until the next billing cycle, which is Mar. 31st.

I complained that ATT did not notify me regarding the failed attempts at charging my card. I explained that all auto-pay services I've had experience with will notify you if they are unable to charge your account, and that a simple email or telephone call would suffice. However, the rep. wouldn't budge. She even asked me if I want to pay the previous balance over the phone. I asked if she could waive the late fee if I pay over the phone; she said "No."

My complaints:

1) ATT failed to notify auto-pay customers if there's a problem charging the credit card. They would rather let the charges accumulate.

2) ATT would not utilize the updated credit card information if they're unable to charge the old number.

3) ATT would not refund/waive your late fee even if the customer's not at fault (due to 1 and 2).

4) ATT representative are not trained to take ownership of the situation and see the problem from the customer's perspective.