Alltel Cellular - cancelled phone Insurance - continued to get billed for insurance - ongoing billing problems

# 22 for July 16, 2003

Complaints.com received the following on July 15, 2003:

From:

RE: Alltel Cellular - cancelled phone Insurance - continued to get billed for insurance - ongoing billing problems

I purchased an Alltel Cell Phone 6-7 months ago. I cancelled the insurance after the 1st month as the phone cost me only 99 cents so I felt $4.20 monthly for the 2 year contract seemed a waste of money. The 1st month was also to be free.

I didn't receive a first bill and thought nothing of it as it was to be free anyway. 5 weeks later, the phone was disconnected generating a $35.00 reconnect fee!

Then. last month, I phoned the day my invoice was due, Note - I never missed a payment nor went over the allotted time (actually well under each month), I phoned them to state my daughter was in the hospital out of town and I would be in the next morning when I returned to pay my bill which was only the monthly service charge.

I then noticed the insurance was still on there and when I returned checked all previous billings. It has been charged for all months since I purchased the phone and I tried to call home to let them know I was returning from the hospital as my daughter was being discharged and all was OK only to find out that the cell was disconnected after 15 minutes of my call to Alltel to inform them that I would be 18 hours late in paying my bill.

If we had past due months or were even 30 days behind, I could understand. I could also understand if we had skipped payments on previous billings. My credit was good enough to get the service but not to pay it the next day for only $ 42.00.

Their customer service is no help and treats me like a criminal! I can't cancel the contract for service dissatisfaction or your charged $ 200.00, so you get stuck paying $ 80.00 to have the phone restored for a $42.00 bill with no recourse!

galderisigirl