Im a California resident writing regarding an outrageous yet unnecessary international roaming charge on my wireless phone bill of $2,257 that occurred while I attended my fathers funeral in India. These charges were incurred over the course of 11 days while traveling from San Francisco to Cochin, India to attend my fathers wake, funeral and spend time with family in India during this difficult time. Not only was this an incredibly traumatic, emotional time, but the customer service from ATT was severely lacking, and the reps failed to share critical information which would have significantly lowered my bill. On top of that, the ATT website does not provide this information.
The entire bill of $2,257could have been avoided had ATT Customer Service done their job and properly explained the services available to me (and my husband) with the device I have, specifically a Blackberry Curve phone. I have been an ATT customer for over 2 years (and for over 5 years prior to a 2 year break) and Im appalled they do not explain their services to customers who call in and or more clearly on the jumble they call a Customer Service website.
This is a broader issue as I am sure there are thousands of people that travel to India from the US that may be ATT customers and it is incumbent upon ATT to explain the choices available to consumers so that they are aware of the options available to them. If ATT does not resolve this situation quickly, they will lose an incredible amount of business in a country 1 billion strong.
My husband and I live in California and travel often for business and pleasure and we have used other wireless and data services for both work and pleasure but have never experience the dearth of professionalism as experienced by ATT. We have requested that all charges be reversed and that ATT provide clearer information regarding SIM phone unlocking AND international plans to clients that have emergency international trips.
Sequence of Events:
1/16 a. M
I received news that my father had died quite unexpectedly and suddenly in Cochin, India. Theres nothing that quite prepares you for such news, let alone a 22 hour international trip and the planning and logistics that normally take 4-6 weeks were squeezed into roughly 7 hours.
1/16/08 Midnight
I was able to secure a flight out of SFO, get my visa, anti malaria pills, pack for tropical weather and try and make some lasts minute business calls all within about 7 hours. I told my husband to call ATT and get my phone onto whatever international rate was available for my phone, basically the cheapest plan available. We
1/19/08 I arrive in Cochin India with my brother and go through a terribly shocking, tearful set of events with my family as my father had died quite unexpectedly. It was a very traumatic, emotional 2 weeks in India so there were plenty of family members both in India and outside that continued to call and email my brother and I to support us through this loss.
1/20/08 US My husband calls ATT and explains that I am on an emergency trip to India. They tell him that I can sign up for international roaming at $2.29 a minute. They fail to:
1- Look up the fact that I have a Blackberry, which would have been able to be switched over to an international plan
2- Explain that I could have unlocked my phone and provide that information if I had chosen to go that route
3- Explain data, voice and other charges and that voicemail would be charged at the same $2.29 rate
In essence, ATT Customer Service failed to provide information during a very difficult time during my life, where I should (or my husband should) have been informed of the various options available so that we could make an educated decision.
2/11/08 I go to the ATT Unity Plan website since my land line, DSL and wirebill are connected. I am not able to see the international charges, so I call the 800 Customer Service number and they tell me that I should be able to see the bill. They fail to explain that there are two different websites (with two different URLs, passwords, etc that do not link to each other, what genius)
I finally go to the correct site and see the minutes but no final bill, so I ask the rep and she says, its $2,257 dollars since you used 986 minutes of roaming. I nearly fell out of my chair when she quoted that number. I told her I did not agree, that there must be a mistake and that I would call back. I explained to her that there were many companies that showed up on my phone as I was roaming, so I was not sure the information was accurate, and why werent further options outlined to my husband when he called? I told her I could have purchased a phone and used it for 2 years in India rather than use ATT and these rates were not competitive. She then mentioned that it was possible to unlock the phone to which I said Why wasnt this explained to me earlier? As an option, especially given the fact that I left on such short notice for such a sad, traumatic event in my life.
This is not customer service, this is customer disservice.
I spent a few minutes reviewing the charges and there seemed to be quite a few errors, so I called back, this time using my cell phone.
2nd Customer Service Phone Call: I state that I am calling regarding my International Roaming charge and to dispute the charges, specifically the ones
that stated 986 minutes in overage charges She opened up a dispute and explained that the charge was in fact $2.29 a minute for roaming calls. I asked her why it was never explained that I could have unlocked my phone or the Blackberry International Plan. She said she did not know why and she apologized. I also explained to her that the data charges seemed excessive, so they needed to be reviewed since they may very well be in error, as there were two different companies in India that kept cropping up on my phone which means I may have been charged twice in some cases for calls or data usage.
I hope that no other customer is subjected to what I was during a time of grieving, loss and pain. All customers should be given full detailed information on plans available to them and if ATT fails to provide information, they should credit the customer for the charges.
I request that all charges be removed from my bill as I was never given the proper information regarding 1) Blackberry International Phone plans
2) Unlocking capabilities of Phone 3) Roaming charges for data and voicemail usage. My entire bill would have been far less or $0 had these details been explained to me. ATT must take responsibility for explaining options to their customers that are in the best interest of the customer and failed to do so.
Best Regards,
Yasmeen
Burlingame, California
U.S.A.
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