Complaint Review: SBC Ameritech - Arlinton Texas

Hello, I was previously an employee of Ameritech, in their "Customer Care Center." I think your situation is terrible. I wish I could say that I hadn't heard of this type of thing from customers before but I have. It should in NO WAY be your fault that they lost all records pertaining to your situation. The only fault you have, is in trusting them to have done their job and not getting documentation for down the road. Now, you're are down the road and they are taking you for the ride. Unfortunately, because you said you have no documentaion, that puts you at their mercy. I wanted to ask you if you had any of the following... Was anything else stolen other than the calling card that would help prove you reported your card being stolen too? Do you remember any of the names of the reps you spoke with, dates? Did you pay by check or how did you pay? Did they ever offer you a report on the investigation they SHOULD'VE done on those calls? They are SUPPOSED to investigate calls, meaning they find out who those numbers belong to and let you know. You should still be allowed to have access to the information within this report and why they arrived at these charges being sustained. See, you're being given the blanket statements that the reps are trained to tell you. I NEVER deal with the little guys...no offense. They just don't have the pull that the Supervisors and managers do. If I were in your situation, this is what I would do. I would call SBC, even though your acct is now with a collection agency. I'd DEMAND to speak with someone either in the Corporate office or a supervisor in the billing/collections dept. Immediately ask for their name and title. Keep all notes of who you speak with and what they tell you. Then, tell them the situation. Of course, they'll most likely give you the same run around you got before. Then, tell them that if they are demanding you pay for something you've already paid for that was fraudulent anyway, you DEMAND a copy of the investigation, who conducted it and the date. You tell them, this is for your attorney's records also...it shows your serious. You don't have to give them any info as to who your attorney is, so...you don't really need one yet. Then, you ask them if these numbers were called to verify that this was someone you knew, which means they should've asked you also if you knew these people. Obviously, if you had no idea who they were and vise versa, that helps prove your case. I wouldn't accept this from SBC. This is totally rediculous. I've also dealt with Risk Management for a friend of mine. They are only collecting on the acct they bought from SBC. They won't help you at all unless you can get proof you don't owe this. They'll just keep reporting negative data to your report, until it's settled or written off. So, unfortunately, you'll have much work to do on this. But, what ever you do...if someone from SBC responds via fax, email or what ever, ALWAYS keep that info. It's the only thing you have right now. You have a right to know why this investigation wasn't done and if they have no proof that it was...how can they prove you DIDN'T in fact pay that amt? I'd also ask that since they lost all your records(conveniently), how can they know you didn't pay this???? I'd also do some research on line to see if any other customers have reported this same problem of their info being "lost." That is something that may help plead your case when dealing with them. Good luck and I hope this helps a bit.

Hello, I was previously an employee of Ameritech, in their "Customer Care Center." I think your situation is terrible. I wish I could say that I hadn't heard of this type of thing from customers before but I have. It should in NO WAY be your fault that they lost all records pertaining to your situation. The only fault you have, is in trusting them to have done their job and not getting documentation for down the road. Now, you're are down the road and they are taking you for the ride. Unfortunately, because you said you have no documentaion, that puts you at their mercy. I wanted to ask you if you had any of the following... Was anything else stolen other than the calling card that would help prove you reported your card being stolen too? Do you remember any of the names of the reps you spoke with, dates? Did you pay by check or how did you pay? Did they ever offer you a report on the investigation they SHOULD'VE done on those calls? They are SUPPOSED to investigate calls, meaning they find out who those numbers belong to and let you know. You should still be allowed to have access to the information within this report and why they arrived at these charges being sustained. See, you're being given the blanket statements that the reps are trained to tell you. I NEVER deal with the little guys...no offense. They just don't have the pull that the Supervisors and managers do. If I were in your situation, this is what I would do. I would call SBC, even though your acct is now with a collection agency. I'd DEMAND to speak with someone either in the Corporate office or a supervisor in the billing/collections dept. Immediately ask for their name and title. Keep all notes of who you speak with and what they tell you. Then, tell them the situation. Of course, they'll most likely give you the same run around you got before. Then, tell them that if they are demanding you pay for something you've already paid for that was fraudulent anyway, you DEMAND a copy of the investigation, who conducted it and the date. You tell them, this is for your attorney's records also...it shows your serious. You don't have to give them any info as to who your attorney is, so...you don't really need one yet. Then, you ask them if these numbers were called to verify that this was someone you knew, which means they should've asked you also if you knew these people. Obviously, if you had no idea who they were and vise versa, that helps prove your case. I wouldn't accept this from SBC. This is totally rediculous. I've also dealt with Risk Management for a friend of mine. They are only collecting on the acct they bought from SBC. They won't help you at all unless you can get proof you don't owe this. They'll just keep reporting negative data to your report, until it's settled or written off. So, unfortunately, you'll have much work to do on this. But, what ever you do...if someone from SBC responds via fax, email or what ever, ALWAYS keep that info. It's the only thing you have right now. You have a right to know why this investigation wasn't done and if they have no proof that it was...how can they prove you DIDN'T in fact pay that amt? I'd also ask that since they lost all your records(conveniently), how can they know you didn't pay this???? I'd also do some research on line to see if any other customers have reported this same problem of their info being "lost." That is something that may help plead your case when dealing with them. Good luck and I hope this helps a bit.

Hello, I was previously an employee of Ameritech, in their "Customer Care Center." I think your situation is terrible. I wish I could say that I hadn't heard of this type of thing from customers before but I have. It should in NO WAY be your fault that they lost all records pertaining to your situation. The only fault you have, is in trusting them to have done their job and not getting documentation for down the road. Now, you're are down the road and they are taking you for the ride. Unfortunately, because you said you have no documentaion, that puts you at their mercy. I wanted to ask you if you had any of the following... Was anything else stolen other than the calling card that would help prove you reported your card being stolen too? Do you remember any of the names of the reps you spoke with, dates? Did you pay by check or how did you pay? Did they ever offer you a report on the investigation they SHOULD'VE done on those calls? They are SUPPOSED to investigate calls, meaning they find out who those numbers belong to and let you know. You should still be allowed to have access to the information within this report and why they arrived at these charges being sustained. See, you're being given the blanket statements that the reps are trained to tell you. I NEVER deal with the little guys...no offense. They just don't have the pull that the Supervisors and managers do. If I were in your situation, this is what I would do. I would call SBC, even though your acct is now with a collection agency. I'd DEMAND to speak with someone either in the Corporate office or a supervisor in the billing/collections dept. Immediately ask for their name and title. Keep all notes of who you speak with and what they tell you. Then, tell them the situation. Of course, they'll most likely give you the same run around you got before. Then, tell them that if they are demanding you pay for something you've already paid for that was fraudulent anyway, you DEMAND a copy of the investigation, who conducted it and the date. You tell them, this is for your attorney's records also...it shows your serious. You don't have to give them any info as to who your attorney is, so...you don't really need one yet. Then, you ask them if these numbers were called to verify that this was someone you knew, which means they should've asked you also if you knew these people. Obviously, if you had no idea who they were and vise versa, that helps prove your case. I wouldn't accept this from SBC. This is totally rediculous. I've also dealt with Risk Management for a friend of mine. They are only collecting on the acct they bought from SBC. They won't help you at all unless you can get proof you don't owe this. They'll just keep reporting negative data to your report, until it's settled or written off. So, unfortunately, you'll have much work to do on this. But, what ever you do...if someone from SBC responds via fax, email or what ever, ALWAYS keep that info. It's the only thing you have right now. You have a right to know why this investigation wasn't done and if they have no proof that it was...how can they prove you DIDN'T in fact pay that amt? I'd also ask that since they lost all your records(conveniently), how can they know you didn't pay this???? I'd also do some research on line to see if any other customers have reported this same problem of their info being "lost." That is something that may help plead your case when dealing with them. Good luck and I hope this helps a bit.