I recently got phone service with Southwestern Bell. I have always thought they were a reputable company. I had never heard anything bad about them.
The plan that I signed up for -or should I say the plan that I was told I was signing up for - was supposed to consist of local service, call waiting, caller i.D., and 500 long distance minutes all for $35 per month. I understood that if I went over the 500 long distance minutes I would then be billed 5cents per minute. I also had my connection fee of $46.70 broken up into 6 monthly installments of around $8.
Well, the first month, I went over my 500 long distance minutes, so of course my bill was more than $35. I had no problem with that. I paid the bill, before the due date, no problems. Then, I get my bill for the second month of service. I noticed that this time, even though I had not gone over my 500 minutes, my bill was more than the $35 I had agreed to when I signed on.
Now, I uswed to work at MCI, so I know how to read a phone bill. I know about the taxes, the Federal Universal Service Fund, the inter/intra lata lines, and all those other hidden charges. Its not like I expected the phone bill to be an exact $35 each month, but I certainly didnt expect to be paying $85 (minus taxes). Especially when I hadnt gone over my long distance allotted minutes!
What the bill said I was being charged for, was $45.00 per month for "local service". Now, I remond you that when I signed on with SBC, I was told my plan included local service. I called customer service to try and clear things up.
When I got someone on the line, I explained my problem. She first tried telling me that it was not the local service that was causing the bill to be high, it was that I had gone over my 500 minutes. I told her no, it even shows on my bill that all long distance calls I had made were included in my plan. Long Distance was not the problem.
Then she tried saying, well maam, you have international calling which costs extra. I again told her, no it doesnt even say that anywhere on my bill, I never requested it, and that is not what im being charged for.
I grew tired of trying to explain my bill to this woman, so I requested that I speak to her manager. She then hung up on me. I called back, and before speaking to the employee who answered my call, I requested any available manager. I was promptly transferred.
Once again, I explained the situation. The manager told me that I was being billed for local calls. I informed her that local service is supposed to be included in my plan, so she then put me on hold while her computer pulled up my account info. When she came back online, she informed me that my $45 per month was not for local service, but for a dial tone. Never in my life have I heard of a phone company charging for a dial tone, let alone $45 for it!
So I asked her why this charge wasnt on my first bill, she couldnt answer that. So then I asked her why I was never informed that I would have to pay for my calling plan, plus a dial tone. She came back with a very rude "What, you thought you could just pick up a phone and dial! You need a dial tone to make a call, we shouldnt have to tell you that!"
It was then that I told her to just go ahead and disconnect my service. She told me not to pay this bill, because it would be combined with a final bill. I have yet to receive my final bill, but am not looking forward to it. I know there really is nothing I can do but suck it up and pay the bill, which is why I came here to warn as many people as I can.
0 comments