AT&T - As the months went by I started seeing extremely large phone bills and after really investigating realized they had not put this phone on the plan I asked for

AT&T - As the months went by I started seeing extremely large phone bills and after really investigating realized they had not put this phone on the plan I asked for

Misinformed customer

Dear Mr. Zeglis,

My name is Brenda Turpin. I am a long term customer of AT&T and I have always been extremely satisfied with the service and conduct of customer service up until October 2003. I signed a two year contract on a seperate line in February 2003 with the assumption that this line would be on the same plan as my current phone considering this is what I requested. I was told by the salesman on the line that everything was exactly as I requested.

As the months went by I started seeing extremely large phone bills and after really investigating realized they had not put this phone on the plan I asked for. I proceeded to call the customer care department and explained they had put this line on the wrong plan that I would indeed pay the charges since I neglected to notice the problem when the first bill arrived. I then requested the Regional Advantage plan that my current phone was activated on and they then told me they did not offer that plan any longer. The customer care department went through the plans they had and I chose the Digital One Rate Plan for my second line, but I wanted my original line to stay the same.

The next bill came and I realized they had switched my phone line to the Digital One Rate plan and left my other plan as it was. Again, I was charged numerous roaming and long distance charges that they required me to pay though at no fault of my own. My original plan had no roaming nor any long distance charges. I immediately called the customer care department and they instructed me they could not change my plan back to the regional advantage plan because they did not offer it anymore. Once again this was a mistake that your company made that I was forced to deal with. Due to their mistake my phone service was interrupted due to the fact I was led to believe one thing and they did another. I then had to wait several months to come up with $1,000.00 to fully pay this bill before my service could be reinstated.

I reinstated my service in February 2004 with the agreement they would get my plan to the price I agreed upon with the same terms and condition regarding the roaming and long distance. At this time they were trying to be courteous and trying to help me benefit from their mistake. They then offered me the courtesy of one free month of unlimited text messaging and two free months of unlimited mobile to mobile minutes. The text messaging to expire in March and the mobile to mobile to expire in April 2004. Since March I have paid for the courtesy text messaging and the mobile to mobile. I have called repeatedly about this mistake and being told they would credit this to my account, but instead they keep charging my account and have yet to give me anything as a courtesy.

Since April I had an accident that I was injured in and I knew that my payments were going to be late. I immediately called AT&T receivables management and explained my situation and how I was going about paying my bill. I made a promise to pay until it was paid in full and then explained to them that I would not be able to pay my June 16- July 15 bill until the August 3rd when my disability payment arrived. Receivables management understood the circumstances and said it would be fine and that my service would not be interrrupted unless I did not live up to the agreement. Today is July 23, 2004 and my service was interrupted early this morning.

Once I found that my service had been interrupted I called Receivables management and explained that it was not yet the 3rd as agreed in my previous phone call and the seven different phone calls that was placed to me by your Receivables management department on my cell line I spoke with them seven times and everything again was just fine. When I called Receivables management they were very rude and said they refused to reinstate service until full payment was made still knowing that it was impossible. Had it been possible I wouldn't had to make payment arrangements.

I felt it important to notify you of this due to the fact that you make large sums of many from me every month and I feel that in order for you to keep your valued customers these mistakes cannot continue to happen. Furthermore, I feel that if I make a promise to you and I adhere to that promise that your company should do the same for me. This shouldn't apply to any one person, but to the whole community of customers that you offer service to. It is evident that not all your customer service reps and receivables management department employees are trained properly or they are misinformed themselves.

As your customer of almost three years I feel the promise to continue my service until August 3rd needs to be adhered to just as I adhere to the promises I make to you and I also feel that my account needs to be credited for such charges that I have listed above. For some people their cell phones are necessities and not just for a luxury. Your customers work very hard to pay the fees that your company is unjustly charging and in my opinion your company isn't giving any single individual anything. Therefore business will decline for AT&T if these errors continuously go unnoticed by the company.

In closing, this email is being sent to correspondence and the Better Business Bureau. Please contact me immediately at 770-535-2sss. I will also be sending this to you certified mail as well.

Sincerely,

Brenda T Click this link to e-mail the above consumer: //