AT&T Sucks – Check your bill

[swake]

Check your wireless bills carefully, AT&T has been on a cramming binge. I have four iPhones with that crappy company spending over $200 a month so they should treat me like gold for what I spend with them. Instead for two months in a row I have been crammed. Scummy offshore companies that place unrequested "subscription" fees "gossip news" and "jokes "for $10 a pop. I've had three lines hit with $80 in charges in the last two months. Last month I called and got the charges removed and supposedly had this kind of thing blocked from my phone. Did AT&T block it as requested, of course not. Today I get my bill and I was hit again this month.

I did some reading on the subject since I was hit so hard and it turns out that AT&T not only allows it, they profit greatly from it. A report on MSNBC said that Verizon and AT&T have made over $600 million from their share of these scams and that up to 80% of AT&T phone lines have been hit.

So I again have a fun filled evening planned where most of my time will be spent talking to some idiot in Mumbai trying to get him to understand plain English and fix my bill, again. Rest assured the credit this time is going to for a lot more than the $40 they tried to scam off of me this month. God I hate AT&T.

Check your bills and never, ever, trust AT&T

People think less regulation is always are idiots that don't understand that a good portion of corporations are no better than common thieves. AT&T certainly falls into that list.

[heironymouspasparagus]

What I been saying....

[PonderInc]

This is why I no longer have a land line!  

Every month I was getting bogus charges.  Somebody was using fake email addresses and then signing up for services and charging them to our home phone number.  Every month, I had to call ATT, wait on hold, tell them that we were not subscribing to Celebrity Gossip News (or whatever), and have them credit the charges.  One customer service rep said they had "blocked" this activity from my account.  The following month, I had two more "3rd Party Services" charged to my bill.  That month's customer service rep said that there is NO WAY to block this type of unwanted charge.  My reply: "Yes there is.  Cancel my phone."

On one hand, very few people were still calling me on that number, so it wasn't a huge loss.  My only concern is that during an emergency, a land line is much more reliable than a cell phone.  You never have to worry about "all circuits are currently busy."   You don't have to sit in the car to charge your phone during a power outage.   And most importantly, on a land line, you get immediate response to 911 calls (and they know exactly what your location is)...as opposed to calling from a cell phone, where it takes FOREVER to get through to a dispatcher...and they don't know your location.

[godboko71]

This is why I no longer have a land line! 

Every month I was getting bogus charges.  Somebody was using fake email addresses and then signing up for services and charging them to our home phone number.  Every month, I had to call ATT, wait on hold, tell them that we were not subscribing to Celebrity Gossip News (or whatever), and have them credit the charges.  One customer service rep said they had "blocked" this activity from my account.  The following month, I had two more "3rd Party Services" charged to my bill.  That month's customer service rep said that there is NO WAY to block this type of unwanted charge.  My reply: "Yes there is.  Cancel my phone."

On one hand, very few people were still calling me on that number, so it wasn't a huge loss.  My only concern is that during an emergency, a land line is much more reliable than a cell phone.  You never have to worry about "all circuits are currently busy."   You don't have to sit in the car to charge your phone during a power outage.   And most importantly, on a land line, you get immediate response to 911 calls (and they know exactly what your location is)...as opposed to calling from a cell phone, where it takes FOREVER to get through to a dispatcher...and they don't know your location.

Sigh is all I can say about ATT. Also a land line had three transfers to get EMSA out to our neighbor when he was confused the other day, plus being put on hold once we got to the right "department" glad it wasn't a super time sensitive emergency.

[nathanm]

Tell your family members to stop texting random shortcodes and they won't end up unwittingly signing themselves up for stupid "services." I've had at&t reps flip features on my account in an attempt to get themselves more commission, but I've never had them add things that would cost me more money, nor in 14 years with their service have I had any cramming from third parties.

It did happen to my SO back in '05 or '06. Turned out she saw an ad on TV that offered a "free" ringtone, not noticing the hidden in plain sight fine print indicating that you were actually signing up for a monthly service at some ridiculous fee. So yeah, don't do that.

Also, if you're going to continue using at&t, I strongly suggest you find a way to get yourself in on Premier. I've found the "business" phone reps are much easier to deal with. I suspect you or your wife or your friend or someone else is an employee or member of an organization with a deal. Many alumni organizations do, if nothing else.

I don't disagree about them being common thieves, though. You'd be surprised at how many of the (largish to gigantic) companies you deal with are. The vast majority fall into that category.

[swake]

I have a fan account with "premier" support. It doesn't help.

[nathanm]

Are you sure you're getting Business End User Care and not the consumer folks? Try 1-800-331-0500. After you confirm your number it should say something like "welcome to enterprise customer care".

[swake]

It always does.  And it's terrible.

[Townsend]

I was invited by a third party to join the fun for only $9.99 a month last night.

I texted "stop" and was sent a text telling me I was not a member.

I then called 611 and spent some time with "Carl Peterson".  He sent me texts to show I will not be charged for any unsolicited offers, one to show how to "manage your messaging preferences"; www.txt.att.net and for calls; www.att.com/acb.

I had him up my parental controls on the account to block these texts.  Hopefully I didn't just screw myself on my security texts from one of my financial services.

[JCnOwasso]

it isn't just ATT, I had the same issue with SPRINT this last month... and it was on my dad's phone.  My dad doesn't text.  I got lucky and just submitted a help ticket and they credited the charge and the taxes. 

How is Verizon?... anyone?

[swake]

it isn't just ATT, I had the same issue with SPRINT this last month... and it was on my dad's phone.  My dad doesn't text.  I got lucky and just submitted a help ticket and they credited the charge and the taxes. 

How is Verizon?... anyone?

The government report I read on MSNBC said that Verizon and AT&T had taken in $10 billion for these scam companies over the last five years and made $650 million off of it. Verizon is very much part of the problem.

[AngieB]

We've been with T-Mo for about 6 years. I've never had bogus charges show up on my bill. 

[heironymouspasparagus]

it isn't just ATT, I had the same issue with SPRINT this last month... and it was on my dad's phone.  My dad doesn't text.  I got lucky and just submitted a help ticket and they credited the charge and the taxes. 

How is Verizon?... anyone?

Same crap.

All of them are about the same.  Sprint is supposed to be one of the best according to the "public opinion polls".  All of them stink.

[Conan71]

It's never happened to me and I've been AT&T for longer than I care to admit.  No offense Swake, but it sort of reminded me of one time on another forum all these people were griping about random viruses showing up on their computers and I asked if they were clicking on links from people they didn't know or out of place links from people they did know.  Of course, everyone fired back a resounding "NO!".  

Funny, I never got those viruses on my computer and I've never had those funky charges on my phone bill.  Wonder why that is?  

[heironymouspasparagus]

It's never happened to me and I've been AT&T for longer than I care to admit.  No offense Swake, but it sort of reminded me of one time on another forum all these people were griping about random viruses showing up on their computers and I asked if they were clicking on links from people they didn't know or out of place links from people they did know.  Of course, everyone fired back a resounding "NO!".  

Funny, I never got those viruses on my computer and I've never had those funky charges on my phone bill.  Wonder why that is?  

I was cranky with ATT a couple months ago, and while ranting on the phone, I asked them if their system showed how long I had been a customer.  23 years they said!  Geez...guess I might try another one of these clowns just to kind of spread the thrill around....