Our son is in the Comal County Jail in New Braunfels, Texas. This is the first time he has ever been arrested for anything and is scared to death. He called our home numerous times and also his grandmother's. Her home phone has now been restricted and she cannot get anymore incoming calls. She called her local provided AT&T and they gave her the CBS number to call. She received no satisfaction when she called them.
Yeterday I called AT&T (our provider) and they informed me that they do not service this facility, CBS does. I then called CBS and could not get through to a live person. Their AVR (automated voice response system) kept saying that "we are unable to accept your call at this time, please call back during normal business hours". It was 3:30 PM Central Time, well within their working hours according to their own web-site. The AVR also said that our home number did not have any charges on it yet our son had called numerous times. Hmmm??? Strange.
I called CBS again today and actually was able to get through to a live person named Brandy (employee ID # BRNQV) She would only give me the QV part of her ID. I had to repeatedly question her about it and she finally gave me the balance of her ID.
I asked her about the charges and she said "it is a $4.65 flat rate". I specifically ask about a "connection charge" and she said there was none. I rephrased my question a couple of times and she finally admitted that there was indeed a connection charge of $3.15 per call. She said that there were no additional charges no matter how long we talked.
I ask her where they were officed at and she said Ontario Canada. I thanked her and then hung up. I had forgotten to ask a couple of other questions that I wanted answers for so I called back and this time I got a woman named Christina (ID # BRNEK). She also did not want to give me all of her ID. I ask her how they bill us and she said that it would be on our monthly AT&T bill. I ask if they were the only company involved in the billing or if there was another third or fourth party and she said no, they were the only one.
I then ask Christina about the charges per call, and she gave me the same speal about the $4.65 flat rate. I ask her about the connection charge and she said that there was not one. I ask her if she was sure, and she said yes, absolutely. I then ask her if she wasn't sure that there was a $3.15 connection charge and she ask me where I got that number. I told her where I got it from and she said that Brandy was new and didn't know what she was talking about.
I then ask to speak with a supervisor and Christina ask me why. I told her it was because I was getting conflicting answers and wanted to verify with a supervisor what was accurate. She said that she was telling me what was accurate and that I didn't need to talk to a supervisor. I told her that it didn't matter, I wanted to speak to her supervisor. She ask me why I had called back twice, "was I checking up on someone?" I said "as a matter of fact I am, now please connect me with your supervisor" and she then said that she wasn't there. I told her I would wait and ask what the supervisor's name was and she said Julie. She then promptly hung up on me.
I have found that when a person or company is evasive in asnwering questions that most of the time they are hiding something. I had already read the blog about this company and knew that they were ripping people off, but I wanted to get information straight from the horses mouth, so to speak, and they would not give me straight information.
I am extremely concerned that we are going to get charged a large amount on our phone bill. We are on a fixed income and cannot afford anymore than what we are paying right now. We are barely making it, and this has my husband seriously concerned. He has chronic heart disease and just had a quadruple bypass, so he does not need this added stress at this time.
I am willing to help do anything I can to expose this company for what they are and what they are doing. I intend to write to my congressman and senators, not that it will do much good, but I'm going to do it anyway. Please let me know what else I can do. Thank you.
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