After my nephew experienced problems handling his own wireless account, I added an additional number to my account for his use. I cannot say for sure what happened when this young man had an account in his own name, but suffice it to say, he ended up paying AT&T/Cingular a whole lot more money than he thought he owed.
In the process of adding him to my account, I specifically asked what I could do to lock out any changes to the account and/or plan, without my express permission. I was informed, by AT&T/Cingular that I could password protect the account to lock out any and all changes to the account, without the password.
However, it seems, when AT&T sucked up yet another company, buying BellSouth and Cingular in Tennessee, they left a huge gaping back door for making changes to an account without a password. The first change occurred when my nephew got an I-Phone, which changed the plan completely. He was able to get online to AT&T/Cingular, key in his phone number and do as he pleased. But when I tried to log into the account, I had to also enter the password before I could even view the account. Whenever I have called AT&T/Cingular to discuss this matter or any other number of the other problems I keep running into, they ask for my password saying they can't even access my account without the password.
I ask you, does this make any sense at all. The actions of AT&T/Cingular have cost me thousands of dollars and each time I try to resolve the situation, I end up talking to the rudest people on the face of God's green earth. When I asked one of their agents not long ago why they would not honor the password protection and leave the huge back door into the account for changes, she simply said we do it because we can and you can't do anything about it, you have to pay for all the charges on the phone, even if they were as a result of changes to an account I had specifically password protected, in order to avoid the very issues I'm now facing.
Additionally, when AT&T first took over in Tennessee, they offered "a deal", if you allowed them to bill your wireless and land line phones all on one bill. It was going to save me more than a few dollars so I decided to take advantage of the offer. When the first bill came, it was a huge mess, with the cost of my land lines and cell phone combined being three times the normal costs. I called and, yes, I was told there was nothing I could do about it, other than pay it. "I didn't understand the charges and I had no choice". So I elected to pay my cell phone bill separately, as I had always done, and then pay for the land lines. A couple of months later, I get a notice threatening to turn off all my service because I owe them over $400. I pulled every invoice, every check, every receipt from an online payment and can prove that I've paid each and every bill. However, the big bad AT&T claimed they had not gotten the money on the cell phone bill, which was incorrect to start with, and even though I'd paid AT&T Wireless the correct amount, they still showed it was owed and I had to pay them.in essence I paid it not once, not twice, but three times. AT&T/Cingular stole over $400 from me. I suggested they retrieve the money from AT&T Wireless/Cingular, since they'd been paid, and I was told they could not do that, as they were separate companies. Help me, but if they offered a deal for billing these two phones together, cell phone and land lines, does that not say to a normal person this is the same company?
I am so fed up with this behavior I can hardly see straight. The utilities have managed to get rid of things like the Public Service Commission in my city, where you could at least file a complaint against a company like AT&T and get some sort of resolution. They are running wild, unchecked, and taking advantage of or simply stealing from their customers and they do it for one reason and one reason only, and that is because they can, since there is no one to stop them. Consumers don't have a snowball's chance in h-ll against these companies.
This brings me to one final point. If you've had email service with BellSouth/AT&T for 8 years and one day you try to log on and nothing happens and when you call the company, they say that email account and/or address has never existed, wouldn't you think the person paying the bill for internet service for 8 years should be entitled to get all of her money back? After all, according to AT&T/BellSouth aka god, she has never existed.
It's time someone checked this company and brought them up short. If we, as consumers don't do something, we will continue to be over-charged, under-served and mistreated by the bunch of animals now handling our phone services.
Do these people remind you of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, and the many other big companies who have allowed greed and their less than honest business practices put this country's financial system into a tail spin? When are we, you and I and our neighbors and friends, going to put a stop to this unacceptable behavior?
Honeysuckle Rose
Nashville, Tennessee
U.S.A.
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