Another one from Fort Collins, CO. I have been dealing with this company, and 2 collection agencies for over 2 1/2 years. I started the shared minutes plan with a phone for myself and my son, back in June. The first month and one day were fine (go figure). So were the first 2 bills. Then suddenly I started getting all kinds of dropped calls; Calls that were shown as outgoing calls and the minutes in the call log, after just unlocking both phones occasionally;and not being able to connect.
It was during the second months bill that I noticed that not on several occasions, there were outgoing calls showing a number we had called, but with a totally different area code. Of course after being on hold anywhere from 20 -120 minutes every time I called, I was told that the calls were actually being made, but that the tower was accidentally picking up a different area code.
This is when I started disputing it in writing and not paying that portion of my bill. Then I started getting late charges. They told me I had 10 days from the date of the invoice to receive the bill and get it back to them! So I started keeping track of when I received the bill. 90%of the time I didn't even get it for 15 to 20 days after the "date of invoice". And on several occasions they wouldn't credit my account for days after it was deducted from my checking (Luckily I was smart enough not to do auto debit!).
Of course I continued to call to no avail. Then I noticed several calls that were made in the same minute. I called again and they informed me that the contract stated that you were charged from the time you pushed the send button even if no one answered within 30 seconds, or the phone didn't even actually make a connection. I disputed this too, by sending a copy of my contract which I received with the phones, that send you were charged for non-connection calls if not answered within a "reasonable" amount of time. I don't know too many people who answer their phones within 30 seconds. Add to this the fact that sometimes it would take up to at least 2 minutes to even get a connection with ringing.
By this time (Oct. or 3 months of service!), I was very unhappy with the service and customer service, so my son and I documented every call, attempted call, busy signal, dropped signal, and every time we unlocked the phone to discover that it would say "last call - 18 minutes"! You can only imagine how TIME CONSUMING this was! I also noted and documented every time I called them and wrote them.
What was even more interesting, was that I would make or take a call, and the timer would show one time, yet the last call menu would show a totally different time, and you guessed it, it was longer everytime except one occasion! And yes, they blamed it on the phone, and said if I wanted new phones, I would have to send them in and wait for them to be repaired... Without credit for the time we were without the phones!
So every month I called, spent hours on hold and documenting everything, copying it and mailing it to them, only to be disconnected for being late, 3 weeks before my contract expired! Only was it after a couple of months being disconnected and disputing the bill, did I ever get a call back from AT&T. I just happened to be busy and they gave me a number to call back in 10 or 15 minutes, and it would not work!
Next thing you know, I get a letter stating that the account was in collections and AT&T would not have anything to do with me. So I copied EVERYTHING (about 200 Pages!) again, sent it certified again! To the first collection agency, Allied, only to be ignored again. I figured they had just dropped it, when over a year later, I get a call from GC Services collection agency. They PROMISED they would look at the information if I copied it AGAIN and sent it. So I faxed some of it and sent all of it. No response. So in August I copied it AGAIN and sent it certified and faxed it again, and still nothing. Then come Nov. I have a bad credit report.
So it is not only AT&T, but also the collection agencies. And I am tired of taking so much of my time and money! I even drove around with their name and my # for a class action suit on my van, and sent them a photo! So I would love to join you all! Please let me know how! I hope I can figure out how to get any responses to this, and hopefully I am doing what I need to to get it to all of you!
And if you still have the service, check your calls!!!
Heidi
Fort Collins, Colorado
U.S.A.
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