Here's his story:

I have been an AT&T/Cingular customer for some time (5+ years). I own small business and have 7 phones with them on a small business plan, my normal monthly bill is well over $300. Shortly after Mother's day this year I started getting $2000+ bills for roaming in Nicaragua and Mexico. Neither I nor my phone have ever been to Nicaragua. I called AT&T and they actually fixed the problem in a few days and gave me a credit. So far so good.

However, the next month's bill came and the calls are still there, and the next month and the next month. Finally I had them shut the phone off completely, because they couldn't stop the billing. So the phone is now off, and I am still paying monthly service on it. However, they managed to rack up over $6,000 in charges for roaming in Mexico and Nicaragua before I forced them to shut it off.

Here's the kicker, AT&T says the phone is in both places at the same time. Their own bill shows a call being made from Nicaragua at the exact same minute it is incurring a data roaming charge in Mexico. When I point out that this is physically impossible they just respond with "pay the bill," I imagine it to be similar to what dealing with the Mob must feel like.

I won't get into the byzantine mess that is AT&T's dispute issues process (to be fair, in the 5 years before this incident, I always thought they were pleasant and helpful when I called for anything); suffice to say after over 12 hours on the phone with AT&T (who have a wonderful system that won't allow you to call anyone back), they finally shut my phones off today. This is despite swearing just last night that my service wouldn't be interrupted.

For the record, despite all these issues I was a "good" customer and continued to pay the portion of my bill that was legit.

Please help, or at least if you can't help publish this so other people can stay away.

Serves me right for buying an iPhone.

Thanks,
Chris

Hey, we didn't say it, he did.

Chris, have you tried these numbers?

Greg wants to know why AT&T doesn't feel the need to honor its quote for a Dish Network package. He notes, "I were to claim I made a mistake in agreeing to a two year commitment, I hesitate to think you would let me claim that I should not be held accountable for that." But it's not that AT&T "mistakenly" quoted him a price. An AT&T rep gave him one price, and another rep agreed to honor it and to make a note on his account. Now there's no record he ever spoke to anyone, and the rep who originally helped him won't return his calls.

Here's a copy of the letter Greg sent to AT&T's execs:

Dear Mr. Stephenson and Mr. Pund,
 
I apologize for raising my concern to your level, however after 7 months of inability to get my problem consistently resolved through the customer service centers, I felt stronger action was necessary.
 
I have been a customer of AT&T/Dish Network since July of last year.  When I agreed to leave Comcast for your company it appears (we would find out retroactively) that your sales customer service representative erroneously priced the bundled satellite, internet, and phone package.  I entered into the verbal agreement based on the price that was given to me by the representative, whether she made the mistake or not.  Over the last 7 months I have been told that while this person made a mistake, I would in the end have to pay for it.  This person was a representative of your company and if I were to claim I made a mistake in agreeing to a two year commitment, I hesitate to think you would let me claim that I should not be held accountable for that.
 
Upon finally working with a manager at your Arlington Heights, IL customer service location I was able to get the situation resolved, or so I thought.  A manager named Lenell had agreed to go into the system monthly, with a reminder on his calendar, to adjust my bill to the agreed upon amount.  This was $89.98 due to the fact that we had added services such as HBO and DVR.  Since this agreement, the bill has consistently not been corrected and I am having to spend multiple hours every month to get it adjusted.  I have left multiple messages with Lenell's desk, only to have them go unanswered.
 
When speaking with a customer service representative last night I was told that the case notes do not have any notation about Lenell crediting me this amount every month and that he gave a "good faith" credit to adjust it.  I was also told that it was outside of policy to change a bill to the price Lenell agreed to so they could only give a ~$35 credit which would put my bill at $130 versus the $89.98 that was agreed upon.  Again, as a representative of your company, Lenell agreed to adjust my bill and has failed to live up to that expectation whether it is in your policy or not, and I am now being told by your customer service team that I am incorrect that this agreement was ever made.  For this reason I am attaching the detailed notes that I have kept since October 2007.  I think you will find that these notes match precisely with the calls I have made to your Customer Service Centers and are very detailed about the exact conversations that were held.  I have also requested that every recording of every conversation I have had with your customer service team be pulled in order to verify my claim.  I do not appreciate being called a liar in a round about way since notes were not kept properly by the agents at your sites.
 
Again, I apologize for having to raise this to your level, but feel that when a company agrees to service a customer at a certain level, for a certain price, they have an obligation to live up to that.  I would not have left Comcast had I not been given such a good price quote.
 
I would also like to notify you that I will be running a comprehensive credit report and if I find any negative reports from AT&T associated with this issue, I will be filing a claim with the FCC and pursuing legal action.
 
This was an opportunity for your customer service team to make a great impression on how issues can be handled and resolved, and I believe that the entire team has failed.
 
At this point, I would like to pay my service current at the agreed upon rate and terminate my service.  I would prefer to pay more at Comcast than to have these struggles ongoing.  I am looking forward to your response.

(Photo: mrbill)