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View Full Version : A T & T 's Latest Trick-the-Customer SCAM



Dachsie
5th May 2015, 10:04 AM
I received my paper ATT bill in the US mail and it was missing the page of the bill that has the little perforated tear off stub that you send back with your check payment in the US mail.

I have been transitioning to all paper and cash for a long time but it is getting increasing difficult.

The absolutely horrible customer service person who would only identify herself as Alex and said she had no identifying "operator number" said many customers called with the same missing part of their bill.

She then tried to push me into paying electronically with a credit card and I cut her off and I could see then that ATT deliberately failed to send out the last page of the bill probably to thousands of customers who regularly send them a paper check in the snail mail for bill payment. This is their way of forcing you into electronic payment method. How creepy and dishonest is that. (This of course is a small instance of ATT dishonesty. They routinely lie to their customers on larger matters.)

She said I had to answer several code questions that I had no idea what she was talking about before she could order a new paper bill be mailed to me and then if she was able to have a new bill sent to me she could not promise that when I actually paid that I would not be paying late and therefore subject to a penalty fee.

There is nowhere on the two pages I was sent the address to send payment to. They had a window envelope for address to show through but forgot to send page of bill with the address.

I told her just send me a new paper bill and she said she could not do that unless I told her the correct answer to 'what is your favorite restaurant?" and I told her I never set up that question as my code question.

Then she asked me last four digits uverse account number that is not printed on the bill I had in hand. I told her I had no idea and was not going to search for that.

She said well, unfortunately I cannot send you a new paper bill because you could not answer these questions.

I told her "This is YOUR screw-up and you are trying to jump through a bunch of hoops to fix your screw-up and that is absurd!"

I told her I was going to submit a complaint about the unhelpfulness toward me and asked her to transmit me to another person. Then she clicked and transferred me to a busy signal.

Guess I won't pay this bill.



They lied to me when I signed up for computer and phone uverse service and failed to tell me that I was really still going to be on a dedicated singled line which is what I had before which only meant that I have about four more wires and cables to contend with. They really are trying to force people to get on their fiber optic system.

Think I will go back to regular copper cable phone service when my contract is up and maybe just go to the library down the street to use the Internet.

Just had to vent!

Jerrylynnb
5th May 2015, 10:42 AM
Amen, Brother! I second your post with bold and loud thunder. I have fond memories of days gone by (a really long long long long time ago) when "Ma Bell" was as American as apple pie, but, my oh my, how things have changed.

I grew up with friends and relatives who worked for Ma Bell, and it seemed to me that it was an example of how government regulation and private business could work together for the better good of all concerned (for the longest time, Louisiana still had pay phones scattered all around that only cost a nickle - thanks to Huey Long).

Them days are long gone.

I use AT&T mostly for the internet connection, but, since I have that, I also went ahead and got a land line, and, like you, I am continuously irritated by various stunts they pull to get a few more bucks out of you, on a monthly basis. If I didn't need AT&T for my internet connection, I'd just drop them like a hot potato - I use trackphone for any long distance and I just keep buying more minutes at WalMart or wherever I happen to be when I get low.

If I could find a better internet provider for out here in the sticks, it'd be bye bye ma bell, forever more.

I haven't gotten my bill this month, but, thanks to you, Daschie, I'll be watching to see if they exclude the payment tab - if that happens, its going to be a divorce between me and Ma Bell, and I'll be off the internet until I find a better service (no more posts here or anywhere during the interim).

We need a rallying point against this kind of rapacious business practices.
We need another Huey Long.

Dachsie
5th May 2015, 11:01 AM
Thank you for your support.

P S

I am a great fan of Huey. Have read wonderful books about him. Here is one of my favorite quotes from him.

"You give me a couple of elections commissioners and I'll make those lever machines sing Home Sweet Home."

Cebu_4_2
5th May 2015, 11:14 AM
My whole internet life has been stuck in non competition zones, first comcast and now ATT. Landline and internet $120.11 per month. I need both for business and with no options.... outrageous.

ximmy
5th May 2015, 11:31 AM
Get rid of ATT. I got rid of them years ago.

Also, a while back, I feel like I got scammed by another company (for more charges) and I simply did not pay the bill. Months later they called and said they had to write it off & send it to collections, and we made a deal that I payed the original amount, no other charges.

Jerrylynnb
7th May 2015, 01:08 PM
Daschie,

A neighbor has an old Uverse pay stub from June of last year - the address may be the same, but,
here is what is printed on that pay stub (where it is supposed to show in the "address" window).


AT&T
P. O. Box 5001
Carol Stream, Illinois 60197-5001


If you like, I can scan this stub and send it to you as a bmp file.

They didn't pay it last June, but switched to auto pay so they still had this unused and unsent pay stub.