ATT assessed an early termination fee of $325 to me, plus 2 months of service charges for purchasing an iphone ATT model which was unable to get reception at my home. It was returned within 14 days, (well within the 30 day published return limit according to ATT's terms of service to avoid a early termination fee). When I complained about the improper billing ATT's sole response was to transfer my bill to Bay Area Credit Services for refusal to pay (despite the bill being disputed and clearly inappropriate).
They have also failed to respond to an informal complaint filing with the CA PUC. Apple should be appalled at having business partners like this that openly and willfully flaunt their own published contracts, as well as state utilities law and any normal standard of business ethics.
Outline of the case:
I purchased a new ATT iphone from Apple on June 17th. Said phone failed to be able to reliably make or receive voice phone calls from either my home or office. After a number of support attempts by apple support staff I returned said phone to apple on July 6th and terminated service on the spot in front of apple staff. I was advised both verbally by Apple staff (acting as an ATT sales rep) and in writing by ATTs terms of service that cancellations & returns within 30 days will result in no liability for early termination fees nor billings for additional service charges or activation fees.
I was billed for an additional month of service (plus cancellation fee) in mid-July (2 weeks after cancelling and returning the phone. A July 25th and September 1st complaint letter to ATT have received no response other than a transfer to a "bay area collections service" that calls repeatedly. So much for the vaunted sanctity of the american business contract. ATT clearly is so far behind they feel the need to rely on outright fraud and mafia style bogus collections for unpurchased services in order to stay afloat.
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