Installation charges

[pilgrimshadow]

Anyone know who I can talk to about installation charges? Customer service has been no help at all.

The problem is that I moved my TV from one wall to another wall that did not have an active port. The cable was there, it just was not active. I called and was told that there would be no charge as long as the techncian did not have to run cable. The next billing cycle I get a $110 intsallation fee. I was told that this is broken into two seperate $55 fees.

Fee #1 was because the technician clipped the connection on my old cable line and put a new one on. I have no idea why he did this, other than it "looked old".

Fee #2 was because the technician disconnected one line on a splitter and connected another.

According to custmer service these both somehow qualify as running cable. If both of these are running cable then how exactly do they acitivate a cable line without running cable? To me it seems that no matter what they do then they will always charge a service fee. If they had told me upfront that these would be the fees, I would have been fine with it, but to do it in this deceitful way has infuriated me so much that I am about to dump their service all together.

I would like to give it one try to elevate this and talk to someone with a brain, but if this is how they want to do business then I will tke mine elsewhere. I will also happily tell all of my friends and family about their practices.

[jfw ACE - Professor]

Try contacting the Billing Dept. and see if you can get the charges removed.

[erazoner]

I had the same work performed last September, but it was installation of an additional STB. The technician replaced an old splitter and wall jack and re-terminated. I was charged $55.

Perhaps they charged more because your service was a relocation of an existing STB rather than installation of a new one. I don't see why you'd expect them to send a tech to perform a move for free, regardless of what was stated by CS. In any case, you have nothing to lose by elevating for partial credit.

[pilgrimshadow]

Thanks, I will try the billing department. I would have been happy to pay charges, if they told me upfront that there will be charges. My problem is that I called and was told there would only be a fee if they had to run new cable lines. I would not classify unplugging one cable from a splitter and plugging another one in as "running new cable". AT&T did not run 1 inch of cable line. I also think it to be excessive to charge me $55 to unplug one cable and screw in another one to a splitter and another $55 to clip of one connector at the end of a cable and attaching a new one.

I think AT&T should be a little more honest about the charges before they perform the service. At no time did the technician tell me there would be any additional charges for any of the work. So it was shocking to open my bill and see another $110 tacked on to the bill out of nowhere.

[spd2demun ACE - Expert]

If Billing can't fix you up, call Sales (they seem to have more power).

[Uniblurb3 ACE - Master · Accepted solution]

Typically it's $55 for a "truck roll charge" and when you set up the appointment the rep should have quoted this price.

The explanation of the work/charges for #1 & #2 work sounds lame and believe they just double billed you. As others have said call them again and at least you may be able to have one of the charges removed, but probably not both. You could request some type of freebie (free HBO for 3 months, temp upgrade, etc.) to make up for the amount you are charged since the original rep said there would be no charge.

On every contact you make in the future be sure and write down the reps first name (w/spelling), their ID# (required to offer when asked), date, time and exactly what was said. This will hold the rep somewhat accountable to what they said/offered and will add a lot of credibility to your next call.

Good luck.

[RCSMG ACE - Expert]

Unfortunately you got a csr who gave you bad information which sounded good to you.  Stating that there would not be a charge for the service call was wrong.  As already stated, there is a $55 truck roll charge.  Why you were charged $110 you would have to find out from cs.