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  • Report:  #100340

Complaint Review: SBC Formerly Southwestern Bell Telephone - Kansas City Kansas

Reported By:
- Bucyrus, Kansas,
Submitted:
Updated:

SBC Formerly Southwestern Bell Telephone
SBC Service Areas Kansas City, Kansas, U.S.A.
Phone:
800-585-7928
Web:
N/A
Categories:
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good? What's this?
Every month I receive two bills from SBC, on efor my home phone and one for a phone in a rental house that is vacant. I have a long distance calling plan on my home phone through SBC and no plan on the rental house phone. There is a phone in the rental house in order to have a security system. The phone is never used. My bill for this phone is $27.37 per month. When I received my bill this month, I discovered it was for over $2.00 more than usual.

When I read over the bill I found a $2.00 plus tax charge for a long distance plan. I immedidiately called SBC at the customer service number, 888-585-7928 and spoke with Tina. She informed me that since I didn't have a long distance plan on this phone they had "changed my plan" and sent me a post card telling me so. I advised her that they had NOT sent me a post card (I would have called them then and argued the charge) and why wouldn't they have sent a rate change with my last month's billing or THIS month's billing instead of just adding it to my bill without my approval.

I told Tina why I had this phone and that I was not interested and did not want a long distance plan on this phone. She then informed me that this plan would keep me from being "slammed" by another long distance carrier and that if the house was being shown (I am in the process of selling it) anyone could use the phone. I told her that was a nice try but since my daughter and I were the only ones showing the house, we were well aware of whether or not anyone was trying to use the phone and the alarm system kept anyone from breaking into the house to make long distance calls.

She then told me that she could give me a plan that would keep me from being slammed by other long distance carriers for TEN CENTS A MONTH with no explanation as to why I wasn't given that plan versus the TWO DOLLARS A MONTH. I then asked her if they had "changed my long distance plan" on my home phone so that I wouldn't be surprised when I got that bill. She told me that plan had not been changed. I will be checking that bill closely when it is received. Please check your SBC phone bills.

S.n.

Bucyrus, Kansas
U.S.A.


8 Updates & Rebuttals

L

Anytown,
Kansas,
U.S.A.
This happened to me too

#2Consumer Comment

Mon, July 18, 2005

I too have been a victim of SBC's slamming. The situation listed above is the same as what happened to me, with the exception I had only one account. Rude unhelpful customer service (or what they try to pass off as customer service). I spent hours battling with this company over these BS charges. I finally switched to another company. I will never do business with SBC again.


S.n.

Bucyrus,
Kansas,
U.S.A.
I Contacted Corporate!

#3Author of original report

Sat, July 02, 2005

I contacted their Media Rep and they put me in touch with the Corporate Office. A very nice person contacted me and told me that she would correct all of the errors, overcharges, and late fees that had accumulated on my account and that she would monitor my bill for at least three months. I did tell her I had received my last bill and that my long distance plan was going from $10.00 a month to $13.00 a month and since I have a cell phone with free long distance I was going to cancel the LD (which I did). This month I went online to pay my monthly bill and I have a credit balance. I am very pleased with the way SBC handled this. I hope the Corporate office makes sure it doesnt' happen to anyone else.


S.n.

Bucyrus,
Kansas,
U.S.A.
I Contacted Corporate!

#4Author of original report

Sat, July 02, 2005

I contacted their Media Rep and they put me in touch with the Corporate Office. A very nice person contacted me and told me that she would correct all of the errors, overcharges, and late fees that had accumulated on my account and that she would monitor my bill for at least three months. I did tell her I had received my last bill and that my long distance plan was going from $10.00 a month to $13.00 a month and since I have a cell phone with free long distance I was going to cancel the LD (which I did). This month I went online to pay my monthly bill and I have a credit balance. I am very pleased with the way SBC handled this. I hope the Corporate office makes sure it doesnt' happen to anyone else.


S.n.

Bucyrus,
Kansas,
U.S.A.
I Contacted Corporate!

#5Author of original report

Sat, July 02, 2005

I contacted their Media Rep and they put me in touch with the Corporate Office. A very nice person contacted me and told me that she would correct all of the errors, overcharges, and late fees that had accumulated on my account and that she would monitor my bill for at least three months. I did tell her I had received my last bill and that my long distance plan was going from $10.00 a month to $13.00 a month and since I have a cell phone with free long distance I was going to cancel the LD (which I did). This month I went online to pay my monthly bill and I have a credit balance. I am very pleased with the way SBC handled this. I hope the Corporate office makes sure it doesnt' happen to anyone else.


S.n.

Bucyrus,
Kansas,
U.S.A.
SBC, False Billings, Phone Disconnect Due To SBC Error

#6Author of original report

Sat, April 30, 2005

Since I spent so much time sticking up for SBC and their Customer Service, I feel it necessary to correct my previous statements. I will try to shorten this as much as possible. 22 July 04, receive bill for SBC account at empty rental property I own. Price has increased. Contact customer service, talk to Tina and discovered I had been given a new long distance plan and that I should have received a postcard with that information. I did not. I find out that instead of the increase I received, I can get a less expensive plan. I have informed SBC this phone is only for the alarm system in the house. I am told that they can't prevent anyone from calling long distance on that phone. I tell them if someone breaks in they can make as many calls as they like before the police get there. I am asked if I want to use their Internet service at this number. I repeat NO ONE lives in the house. 18 Aug 04, receive next bill and there is no credit for the additional money I was charged. I call again, speak to Joy in customer servcie and she tells me she will credit the amount in question. 08 Dec 04, receive bill for my home phone number. It has a price increase. I call customer service and after a 5 minute wait, I speak to Joy. She tells me that SBC gave me a new long distance plan because I did not respond to the information they sent me. I didn't receive any information. Joy says she will put me back on the $10.00 per month long distance plan and that she can save me money on what I am paying for extras on my phone. She asks me if I want to use SBC Internet service and I tell her I am not interested. She is going to save me $12.70 per month and the only additional services I will have are Caller ID, Caller ID Name and Number Deliver, Call Waiting and Call Notes. The next day I call to check my Call Notes and guess what? NO Call Notes, no ANY extras. I call SBC again. I am so sick of calling SBC that I don't even write down the name of the person I talk to. But she does add the services back that I have an I won't save any money because Joy misquoted the price. Again I am asked about SBC Internet service and I tell her I am not interested. I then get two letters from SBC, one dated 09 Dec 04 and one dated 11 Dec 04 both regarding my home phone number thanking me for choosing SBC's products and services. I put the letter in my SBC home phone file. 20 Dec 04, I receive a package in the mail from SBC THANKING ME FOR JOINING SBC YAHOO! DIAL UP ON 08 DECEMBER. I call SBC customer service gain and talk to Adrian. Adrian apoligizes and tells me that I will not be charged, but now I have to talk to the Dial Up Department. I can't cancel something I don't have. I am transferred to the Customer Service Department and get cut off. I don't have a chance to call back until 21 December 04 and I speak to Craig in Dial Up. He gives me a disconnect service number and tells me to throw away the package and not worry about it. 29 Dec 04, I receive my phone bill and have been charged for Internet service, but I have also been given a credit for SBC Internet service and the SBC Long Distance service that had been changed without my permission or approval. From Jan through April I have my SBC phone bills with a chrage for SBC Internet Service AND late payment charges which is 3.000% of the unpaid balance. Let's see, which unpaid balance is that? The unpaid balance for a service I DO NOT HAVE, DID NOT REQUEST AND HAVE NEVER USED? But the story gets much better. 28 Apr 05, I come home and attempt to use the phone. There is no dial tone. I think the service is out because it has happened before. So, I pick up my cell phone (NOT SBC by the way) and call the customer service number. I announce the telephone number I am calling about as per their automatic service prompt and I am forwarded to Rose. I tell Rose that my phone is not working and I would like to find out what is wrong. Rose immediately tells me that if I give her a check by phone for $76.00 that she can turn my service back on. I am absolutely shocked and she tells me that I am past due over $200.00 and continually repeats that I have to pay her immediately or she will not restore my service. After several minutes of her telling me that I will NOT get my phone service back, I lose my temper and start yelling that I am NOT behind any such amount. The only amount they could possibly say I was behind on would be the $9.95 per month they are attempting to charge me for Internet service I DO NOT HAVE. Rose was rude, obnoxious, and refused to let me tell her anything. All she wanted was a PAYMENT OVER THE PHONE RIGHT NOW. I told her she could take a hike and I would use my cell phone versus SBC. She then decides to transfer me to the Billing Department. I get transferred to Art and then I get disconnected. I call back and soon as I am put through to what I can only assume is collections, I demand to speak to the billing department. I talk to Chris in billing. He tells me I am $225.82 past due on my bill and I flip through my computer and find all the checks I have sent SBC. I am paid in full with the exception of the Internet Service and late charges for that service. He starts checking and asks me if I have only one account with them. I tell him no. I have two accounts. He then checks the other account for the empty house and finds this very large credit on that account. Now I am even more angry. I use QuickBooks to pay my bills and not only do I send the tear off that SBC sends with my statement, the ACCOUNT NUMBER IS PRINTED ON THE CHECK. I am on the phone for a total of one hour, 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM. Chris handles everything until we again get to the Internet Service. He tells me I need to cancel that through SBC's Dial Up Department. I tell him that's great, but (a) I can't cancel something I never had and (b) I have tried to cancel repeatedly and no one in Dial Up appears to know how to cancel an account. I get transferred to Robert in Dial Up and he informs me that I will need to speak to the cancellation department. He transfers me to Marvin in the cancellation department. Marvin informs me that all of their computers are down and he can't do anything until tomorrow. I give him all the information, including my cell phone. I tell him that my home phone has been disconnected, but I have been promised that it will be turned back on in 1 to 4 hours. He says that they will call me on my cell phone tomorrow and verify that the account has been cancelled. Friday, 29 Apr 05, there is no phone call and I don't have time to spend another hour on the phone. I send an email to SBC via their website and request the name and contact information for the CEO and the Board of Directors. I get an email back from SBC telling me that I didn't give them enough information for them to assist me and I need to send them further info (you can only use 1,000 characters in their nifty little complaint section). I write back and tell them the only people I am interested in discussing this matter with is the CEO and the Board of Directors and if they are unwilling or unable to give me that information, perhaps they can give it to the Kansas Attorney General's office. I have not heard back from them as of today, Saturday.


S.n.

Bucyrus,
Kansas,
U.S.A.
grateful that the customer service rep, Joy, was pleasant and helpful

#7Author of original report

Mon, August 23, 2004

I received my monthly statement on Friday, and guess what? The $2.13 for the long distance service I did not agree to was showing up as a past due balance...I called again. I'm grateful that the customer service rep, Joy, was pleasant and helpful. I was on hold forever trying to talk to someone. She told me that I had not been billed for that service this month and I told her I understood that, but that I was disagreeing with the past due balance on the bill. She told me she removed the charges and that I would not have to pay them on this bill. I'll update if next month's billing shows the same past due balance.


S.n.

Bucyrus,
Kansas,
U.S.A.
SBC, formerly Southwestern Bell Telephones

#8Author of original report

Mon, July 26, 2004

Don't bother using SBC's website for comments. I spent time looking up the website, filling out a comments box and when I hit the enter button, was told there was a error and they were reconstructing the site. How difficult would it be to have said that BEFORE letting you fill out the form with all the information.


Concerned

Kansas City,
Kansas,
U.S.A.
good job reading your phone bill

#9UPDATE Employee

Sat, July 24, 2004

sorry to hear about the charge on your phone bill that was for the calling plan. I think this may clear it up.... I dont have access to your phone bill but i do work at sbc so i have an idea of why this charge appeared. If the charge came on your sbc side it was problary for the local toll calling plan. local toll is a 50 mile radius outside of your local town but in the state of kansas. When you signed up for problary years ago it was a no monthly rate and 7 or 10 cents a minute if you did ever use it. when new cheaper plans come on the market the old ones get a price increase for you to call in and wonder why you got charged the charge so you can switch over to the newer ones. This is also applicable to local packages as well. ( So if you have a plan that has caller id and call waiting and the local line it was problary $32.00 in 1999 for example but now it is $35.00 since SBC came out with a plan that has all of the above but now some other feature that is cheaper for like $25.95) You call in wondering why it is $3.00 and the representative can change your plan over to the cheaper one.) This is what happens to anyone that has an older plans. On the back of your phone bill there's a section called news you can use. SBC prints any future price increases on any of your plans on this section. It will generally state you have ____plan as of 07/31/04 there will be a $1.95 charge to keep this plan. please call and make any changes. This way SBC covers itself agaisnt people who complain that they were never told. Plenty of people read the news you can use and change accordingly. Also on the same page there should be a local toll and long distance provider info this will tell you who have for your local toll and long distance provider. SBC lets you know if you have been slammed this way. I'm sorry if Tina didnt explain this properly...I've been there plenty of years and can see both the SBC side and the customers side. The only advice is to read all of your phone bill and make sure any info displayed about price increases is applicable to your plan and change accordingly.

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