One thing you should know is that when we look at your account, there is no big checkbox that says "this is why the system called you." Besides any big red-flags like a past due balance or you roaming like mad, the CSR isn't going to have any indication why the system is calling you.
The CSR SHOULD, however, be able to make it so you aren't getting solicitation calls. It might be some fluke of their system or someone typed in their number wrong into the robocall list. *shrug*

@Oranges w/ Cheese is lonely: oohhh i've been guilty (once) of entering a random number on a form once. Maybe that could have happened. Or it might have been a transposition error in good faith.

More likely the second one.

@Oranges w/ Cheese is lonely: That sounds like a design oversight to me. Surely if the computer system is prompted to robo-call someone about an issue, it could add a message to the account indicating what prompted the robo-call in the first place? You should be beating the system's designers with sticks for designing it like that.

I never return robocalls that just say there's an important matter and that I should call them back. If there's something important they have to tell me then they should leave me a message about what it is.

I have gotten this several times in the past year. It has always been an attempt to upsell me. Usually on services I already get from them. "Have you heard of ATT UVerse?" "Yes, don't you see in my customer record that I've had it for 6 months now?"

@sean98125: Yes, it's surprising how poorly these automated sytsems are implemented. I can't help but picture these marketeers buying a robocall device like some county-fair elixr. Take it home, plug it in. Integrating with systems and other departments? Nahhh! Maybe send an email.

They've damaged their own effectiveness.

Rule #1 Never call back ANY number from a robo caller.
#2 Ignore any call from a live person if they ask you to call a toll free number without a detailed reason.
#3 Ignore any message from anyone (unless you know them) who gives you only a call back number.

If the call is really important, the caller will know your name, and will leave enough detail in the message for you to know if the call is worth returning.

@Sockatume: If she's at the level where she's making the calls, she probably isn't allowed access to a stick, let alone designers.

@floraposte: She should burn them in effigy then. Nothing's worse than a corporate decision that brings ill will raining down on the front-line staff.

AT&T does this if you're late with your payment. When I switched from Verizon I was really surprised when I got a call for a bill that was 2 days past due that I had just forgotten about. Verizon would just double up the next months bill no problem. I thought it was a little odd at first but I guess it's not bad in the case where you legitimately just lose track of the date like I did.

Oooh.. that happened to me once with Comcast when I moved. They said I had a $0 balance online but when the bill finally came around again I had a late fee.

When I contacted them they said, "What, you think you didn't need to pay your bill? You know you don't get free cable service."

They ended up returning the fee as a "one time courtesy to me." Right.

@Sockatume: You'd think, no? But have you SEEN the systems at&t uses?

Considering they've swallowed up a handful of other cell phone companies, they're working with about 4 different billing systems. They're finally merging them all into one - but its crap crap crap crap crap. Plus, you have a nice call management piece of software, but its completely different then the billing system. Ever wonder why it takes the CSR about 30-40 seconds before they actually DO anything? Because we're waiting for the stupid program to load up.

Yes, normally there is a note that says "this person was called - no answer, we left a message" but it doesn't say WHY.
As I stated before, normally they'd call for a fairly obvious reason - late payment, insurance ??'s, etc. But otherwise if everything looks good we have no idea.

@Sockatume: Hear hear! Everything AT&T does brings ill will down on their CSRs :(

I'd love it if they tried to robocall me on my iPhone 3GS while I'm at home. They have about a 75/25 chance they'll even get my phone to ring...on their network.

@vastrightwing: Indeed. For the longest time, the outgoing message on my voicemail said "Give me one good reason to call you back, or else I wont."

I have to blame the OP here (which is something I never do):

"I didn't pay the bill last month because it also said then that I had a zero balance"

The bill said it was zero, so he didn't pay anything. Did he think they were just being kind and giving him free service? If you're using your cell phone every month, you have to pay for it. Every. Month.

@Oranges w/ Cheese is lonely: Yeah, the curse of the front line--you represent the company to all its customers and you have virtually no power in it. (For what it's worth, I've actually been pretty well served when I've called AT&T Customer Service, and I hope for your sake that means it's not a bad gig, as CSR positions go.)

@aaron8301: He may have thought that they hadn't yet done all the processing neccessary to produce the bill. I've almost gotten screwed paying credit card bills early - my payment went to the last billing cycle instead of the current one, which in turn became unpaid.

ATT isn't a credit card company, but I can understand a similar mindset. Having a balance of $0 when you know you purchased something means to me that their system is slow and I need to wait to pay at the right time.

@aaron8301: Well, if you pay your bill online, and there's a $0 there, sometimes they won't even LET you pay anything. The bill didn't exist in the system for Ben OR AT&T. So it's a glitch.

@sean98125: Leaving some information in a voicemail message might violate privacy laws of the account holder because the company doesn't know who may be able to access it.

@vastrightwing: Rule #1 can be dangerous for people who don't pay their bills on time. Returning a robocall can be the difference between someone getting their cell phone service suspended or not.

I got those calls each and every month for quite a while after I got AT&T's combined billing. The combined bill, for landline and wireless, is so disconnected (pun intended) from the two separate entities that once in place, neither the wireless company nor the landlane company can figure out if you've paid your bill.
And worse, neither of them can give you customer service because evidently the combined billing comes from somewhere else, possibly not located on this planet.

AT&T is disconnected with all billing aspects. I had combined billng for years. And at least 3 times a year they did not bill for my wireless service. Then when the next month came along, I got billed for 2 months of wireless service. I contacted AT&T and they said the reasoning is because their landline and billing portions of the bill are not in synch. I recently dropped my landline and internet with AT&T and I received a final bill and a bill for my wireless service (which I did keep). Now they are not able to tell me what I actually owe money on. They are not able to provide me with a detailed bill. I can not go online and view past bills since I am no longer a customer. Dont get me wrong. I am not trying to get something for free..I just want to pay what is due.