Complaint Review: AT&T

I was using AT&T home phone service. Was very happy in general -- had a bill around $35 per month which included full set of features and two incoming lines, all taxes, surcharges, etc. I went online to see if I could get my high speed internet a little cheaper by using DSL (I'd had it in years past when I was on SBC). I was judging by the online rate offered of only $14.99 per month to add basic DSL to my existing services. Sounds great, right?

Well, when I called to sign up, the guy explained that it was only if I paid full price for the modem (couldn't use a coupon I had been sent by AT&T in the mail if I got the $14.99 per month rate). In other words, free modem meant $24.95 per month; pay for the modem, $14.99 per month. Okay, I agreed to pay for the modem thinking it would work out in the long run. The modem was supposed to cost about $50.

The whole set up process was a complete nightmare! My husband called customer service to try to get help getting the modem to work and was told it would cost him $100 per hour for their help!!

In addition to a great deal of confusion, since of course, my husband had to figure out the DSL installation on his own, AT&T also set up a voicemail on my home phone without informing me first and it took several days to realize that I wasn't getting my incoming messages like I normally did on my answering machine.

Finally got that all straightened out after about a week, and I was assured that I would not be charged any additional fees for the voicemail, but that I had to be switched to a "new" pricing schedule to include the DSL. And, some of the calling features that I had on the $35 per month plan had been taken off -- which I found out later after checking the website again to try to figure out what service they had switched me to. Oh yes, and the new phone service was $40 per month (plus fees and surcharges).

When my first bill came with the new services on it, it was nearly $160!!!! That's about $125 more than my regular bill. That's a site more than $14.99. Even including the modem which was supposed to be only $49.95 added on, the additional costs should have been about $65, but as you can see, that is clearly not the case. I called and told them to cancel, but got a really friendly customer service rep who explained to me that the man who had sold me the $14.99 service didn't know what he was talking about -- that they didn't even offer such a rate. I got that rate from their website! The lady agreed to honor the price, however as a "special rate" that only a "few customers" know about. Please! I figured they had no choice as they probably record the sales calls and could face charges if they didn't honor the sales person's promise.

Later, I discovered that the "actual" costs for the phone service I already had which cost me $35 per month (for everything) before all of this began, and the "$14.99" DSL service that AT&T sold me is really about $85 per month now!!! (The customer service rep I spoke to about this assured me that it was the taxes and surcharges that made it so high, and not AT&T's fault). Ridiculous! Worst of all, the DSL "Basic" that we are really paying $50 a month for is about ten times slower that the cable internet service that I was paying $30 for before. They got me coming and going. Stop the ride, I want off!

What a rip!! AT&T, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Selling equipment under false pricing promises should be a crime.

Mizzoumomma
Lees Summit, Missouri
U.S.A.