In August, I bought a phone upgrade for my Alltel service from Wal-Mart and paid for it at Wal-Mart. Then Alltel billed me $83.55 for the upgrade on both my Sept. And Oct. Bills. I called Alltel's CS, and the lady immediately issued credit for one of the charges. She told me that to receive credit for the other $83.55 charge, I would have to either take my Wal-Mart receipt to an Alltel store or mail it directly to Alltel. She said it is Alltel's policy to bill customers for phones bought elsewhere, but they then credit the charges back to the customer. I don't know what the purpose of this is unless Enron's former accountants are now working for Alltel.
I took my Wal-Mart receipt into the Alltel store in Southern Pines, NC on Oct. 21, and was given a copy of an Account Adjustment Form in which a credit was issued in the amount of $88.50. I don't know how they arrived at this figure since $83.55 is all that was owing to me, but I didn't argue the amount with them because I didn't want to get Alltel more confused than they already are.
To date, the credit still hasn't been applied to my account, and I have made countless phone calls to Alltel's CS dept., which is nothing but a joke. I've come to the conclusion that Alltel must give an IQ test to persons applying for CS jobs, and anyone who scores higher than 50 is overqualified for the job. Every time I have spoken to someone in CS, I am talked to very rudely and told that the charges are correct and that a credit was already issued in Oct. For the $83.55. I tell them that is true, but I was billed for the phone twice and only one credit has been issued.
The last time I spoke to a CS rep. About this matter was on Dec. 31, and I told her if this issue is not resolved this time, I'm turning it over to the Better Business Bureau because I am sick of trying to resolve it through Alltel. She then started repeating to me the same garbage I had already been hearing from Alltel for the last few months this has been dragging on. She and I then got into a shouting match with each other on the phone, and she told me I would have to contact the Alltel store that issued the credit. I told her I was contacting the Better Business Bureau, and she said, "You can do that".
However, because of how Alltel has treated me, and their unwillingness to resolve this matter, I am now convinced that this is not just an honest mistake; so I searched the internet to see if other people had experienced similar problems with Alltel. That's how I found this web site. I was really shocked at the high number of complaints against Alltel. I didn't read all of them, but I do see that a large number of them are in fact billing issues. I also checked the Better Business Bureau's web site, and they give Alltel an unsatisfactory rating.
I have now concluded that an investigation needs to be conducted of Alltel and their billing practices, which is something the Better Business Bureau can't do. Therefore, I have decided instead to turn this matter over to the Consumer Protection Division of the North Carolina Attorney General's Office.
I have never dealt with a company that is as unwilling to resolve customer complaints as Alltel. Regardless of the outcome of this matter, there is nothing Alltel can do at this point to make me regain respect and trust for them. The worst part is, I'm only a few months into a 2-year contract with them!
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