Complaint Review: SBC Ameritech - Saginaw Michigan

thanks to the fellow service rep for explaination of bill ..i would just like to re-state to the customer ..sbc prints the bills and mails them out by area so all neibors in area receive a bill if a new customer sets up service on the 1st of the month but their area receives the bill with a monthly cycle of the 15th of the month to the 15 then that new customer has actually had service for 45 days and will be billed ..example phone charges from janurary 15 to feb 15 = 1month service $30.00 .....service established jan 1 to 14 = 14 days pro rate amount of 15.00 total amount due 45.00 total days service 45.... i too am very sorry this was not explained in detail. contrary to many opinions on this site sbc does have employees who care if the customer is upset or unhappy but with any company thier is a few bad apples in the bunch...and they can affect the company in a negative way ...i asure you most sbc employees strive to do their job well under very stressful conditions and we do want the customer to be satisfied .....my sincere apology ...

I am sorry that you feel we were dishonest in our billing. You should have received a full explaination & been advised what your next month's bill would contain as well as the aprox amount. That is your right. I want to help, but it will be difficult since I am not looking at your bill. However, there is some general information that may be helpful to everyone. We mail customers letters of confirmation for the ordered/removed services. It is simply to advise you of what was changed on your account, it is for your information. And it also helps to ensure we've done things correctly and that the responsible party was in fact the person who authorized the changes. Simply, it is just another way in which Ameritech strives to communicate with our customers & to ensure accuracy. You are ALWAYS paying one month in advance for the services that STAY THE SAME. Example; for local calling plan, call waiting if you have it, the mandatory line charge, the 911 surcharge, etc. The items that vary month to month, like long distance calls or calls to 411 information, are billed in "arrears" because you have to actually make the call before you can be billed. THE FOLLOWING WILL HELP EVERYONE BETTER UNDERSTAND THEIR BILLS: When you received your very first bill EVER from Ameritech. You were billed for; 1 full month in advance, connection charges, and then prorated charges from the date service was installed until the date your bill printed. (Any & all connection charges, prorated charges & prorated credits will be listed out under "Other Charges & Credits") Example: Let's say your monthly service is $45, your connection fee was $36.50 total but you had it split over 1st 3 bills. Your service was installed on Aug. 8 and your bill prints on Sept. 4th. Your bill will be $97.67 give or take a few bucks for taxes, so we would explain your 1st bill should be about $100. Your bill would look something like: Monthly Service $45 Other Charges and Credits: (basic connection charges $XX.XX listed out for you) $XX.XX Total of connection $36.50 Transferred to Installment Billing $36.50cr ("cr" = credit) Prorated monthly service from Aug. 8 to Sept. 3 $40.50 Connection Charges, Installment 1 of 3 $12.17 Add $45+ $40.50+ 12.17 = $97.67 Your second bill would be only the monthly rate + the 2nd installment of your connection charges; $45+ $12.17= $57.17 if you had long distance calls on your bill you would add those as well. MAKE SENSE? Now, lets say you've had service for years but have no special calling features on your line, your bill is $20 a month. This month you decide to add call waiting. There is a $6 connection fee & it is $4 a month. It is June 17th and your bill prints on the 25 of every month. Your 1st bill would be aprox. $31.06 This works out to: $24 Monthly service (incl call waiting in advance) $6 connection fee $1.064 prorated charge for call waiting used from June 17 to June 25th You must always look in the "Other Charges and Credits" section of your bill. If you do not understand your bill (God knows, we are trained on billing, yet sometimes we get confused too!) call us immediately for an explaination! If you are going from several services ala carte to a package you would see something like this: New Monthly Rate $XX.xx Other Charges and Credits CREDIT for services billed in advance $XX.xx Prorated charges for new package $XX.xx We do not "double dip" I promise that! EVERYTHING we bill you for is listed EVERY MONTH. I believe it was not properly explained to you. If you were paying separately for services that are now included in your new package, you should have received prorated credits, just as you should have been billed prorated charges for the full new package. I don't know when services were added, nor do I know when your billing date was. I can not see the bill to know if there are any other charges on it, or to see if some of that $100 contained charges for long distance or collect calls that month. You wrote "SBC Ameritech ripoff dishonest fraudulent billing..." but then you admit that we are saving you about $10 a month. I am sorry you did not understand your first bill, but I fail to see where we "ripped you off". Perhaps it would have been better if we simply allowed you to pay $10 more on your service every month.