I recently received a bill from Southwestern Bell for $ 868.04 of which $578.25 was from my teen daughter calling the operator and requesting a local operator to dial a phone number which had our number blocked.
Southwestern Bell charged us $3.95 per assisted call to dial this local number which had our number blocked. The operator simply ignored the fact that the number my daughter was calling from was blocked. The calls were to local number 972-270-xxxx which had our home number 469-384-xxxx blocked. This was her boyfriend's number. Several months earlier I had a different problem with my daughter accepting collect calls, which also amounted in several hundred dollars in charges. At that time I asked Southwestern Bell to block all and anything that could result in addition charges to my phone.
They acknowledged this and applied multiple limitations to my phone. Now since receiving this latest bill I complained to Southwestern Bell and they responded that this service was not blocked and that if I wanted to block this feature it will cost me $19.95 to initiate the block and $5.00 per month to maintain it. This is crazy Southwestern Bell provides the service of Call blocking' (which people pay extra for) then they provide a way around it and charge exorbitant fees. Then charges again to prevent this from happening.
This is a scam that should be addressed immediately before other families with teenage children fall prey. Also, if a number is blocked there should be no way around this block. This Call Block' feature was implemented because of phone harassment and in some cases people's lives and welfare may be at stake. Again, these calls were from a blocked number and the local operator simply connected the call with no concern or regard for the block.
I complained to a manager at Southwestern Bell and she agreed that Yea kids are taking advantage of this' but was sorry there was nothing she could do. After complaining further this manager agreed to lower the Local Assist Call' amount by 20%. This still leaves a balance of over $400 for this service. I have terminated my Phone and DSL service with Southwestern Bell and will not pay for the local assist calls until I receive a ruling from the Texas Public Utilities Commission on this issue.
Southwestern Bell has sent me a collection and disconnect notice for the amount of $733.92 and also threatened to remove this optional service which was suppose to already been removed.
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