I was contacted by phone by a U-Verse rep who told me about all the advantages and cost savings I'd enjoy by switching from AT&T/Dish Network to AT&T/U-Verse. He told me in plain English that my termination fee would be $13.33/month for every month still left on my contract. He then called Dish Network to verify the exact amount I'd be paying for early termination. I waited on hold, and when he got back on the line he advised me that I had 8 months left, so that amounted to $106.64. He had already offered me a $100 rebate, so it still made sense to switch, and I agreed.
A month later I got a bill from AT&T with a termination fee of $275.00! I immediately called and spoke to a rep who could not figure out why the charge was there. She then called Dish, and they had no idea either, so she agreed to remove it.
I got my next bill a month later and the charge was still there, so I called again. This time the story changed. They claimed that at some point I had agreed to a Dish promotion that gave me a discount every month and they were essentially taking back that money. I did not recall agreeing to any additional contracts, so I asked them to provide me with some sort of proof that I agreed to this, and they could not provide that information.
For the sake of argument, let's assume I did click on some agreement online with some fine print I did not understand. Either way, I would NEVER have agreed to switch to U-Verse had they told me about this fee. Their answer to that was that it was my responsibility to remember this and I was out of luck, despite the fact that their representative promised me there would only be a $106 fee for switching after confirming this while I waited on hold.
I am posting this here in hopes that no one else will fall for this scam. I've talked to managers on the phone about this issue, and they have told me that I owe them this money and there's nothing I can do to remedy this situation, despite the fact that I have been a customer of theirs for years!
0 comments