(no subject)
When we moved to the USA in September 2011, one of the first things we did when we got an apartment was get the internet connected. We looked up AT&T online, and saw they had a deal for $19.95 per month, 3mbps, no contract, no other services with AT&T needed. A friend told us that it would be quicker signing up for it in-store, rather than online, so we went to our local store. We spoke with a salesperson called Ever, who said he could give us a deal for $14.95 per month, which we accepted. It actually turned out to be no quicker doing it in-store than to do it online, as they didn't have any modems in their store, but whatever. He specifically told us that it would take a couple of billing cycles for our discount to show up on our bill, and we had to pay $100 in advance because we had no credit history. Fine.
So it gets connected, and it's all good. The first couple of bills come and go, we paid them in advance with the $100, and they are $38, as we expected, plus the cost of the modem. Then, in November, we receive a bill for $38. My husband calls to get it adjusted, as it's supposed to be $14.95, and we get told we're on a contract. Um, what? No one ever told us we would be on a contract, we never agreed to be on a contract, no way. The CSR we speak to notes this in the system, and says we won't have to pay a break-of-contract fee if we cancel. She adjusts our bill, and says the next one will be correct.
This turns out to be a recurring theme. Next month, we receive a bill for $38, adjusted to $23.05. Nope, still not right. Ring, adjust, assurances all will be right next time. This keeps happening, and last month, when we ring for an adjustment, we get a CSR called Evan. Evan is...odd. He refers to himself as a wizard, our passcode as a magic word, and there are other references to spells and higher level wizards throughout the call. But! Evan figures out that instead of our bill *being* $14.95, we're getting a credit of $14.95, which is leaving us with a bill of $23.05. He says we need to speak to the rebate team to get this fixed, as there was obviously a system glitch. So, we say we will call back and speak with them (as they were closed at the time).
We were busy, and so we didn't get around to calling them, until this month, when we get our usual (wrong) bill. My husband phones the rebate team, and they tell us we're not eligible for the $14.95 plan, we never were, because we don't have any other services with AT&T. Wtf? The woman we spoke to was quite rude and unapologetic, and my husband asked to speak to a supervisor. Instead, she transferred us to the billing team. So my husband explains himself all over again to Angel, including what Evan told us. She tries to tell us that we are, in fact, getting the correct adjustments because she can see them in previous bills. We point out that those adjustments are manual, and only there because we ring up and complain. She then says that the manual adjustments are delaying the automatic adjustments. But that doesn't make any sense - we have to get the manual adjustments because the automatic ones never happen! We end up asking to speak to a supervisor, and Angel puts us on to Jeanette. Jeanette calls the rebate team herself, and they assure her that we are getting the correct adjustments. Jeanette says that around the 14th of the month, the correct, automatic adjustment will be applied and our bill will be $14.95. So, we're going to wait and see, but we're not holding our breath. It has been 6 months now of incorrect bills, long phone conversations, hold times and manual adjustments, and we're just a bit sick of it.