Dear fellow U-verse customers or potential customers - BEWARE OF U-VERSE. They are thieves!!
I am encountering my second massive billing issue with Uverse in 2 years. The first issue occurred when I moved to Canada temporarily- I had cancelled my AT&T Uverse internet and TV, but kept my AT&T phone. They had been on combined billing. When the U-verse account was closed, I lost access to the online viewing of my account. Previously I received email bill notices from U-verse, but those are cancelled when the account is closed also.
Over the year while I was in Canada, I often had to call AT&T to adjust my cell phone bill for my international call package plans -upgrading and downgrading minutes and data packages as I used them. I was pleasantly surprised by how affordable it appeared to be to keep my U.S. cell in Canada - oh how wrong I was! Turns out AT&T U-verse continued to pay my AT&T cell phone bill (which to me appeared as credits which I assumed were the result of the international adjustments), all the while sending me huge bills- by mail - to my old home address in the States. Not until I received a $2000 collection call did the issue even come to light. Initially I was told the $2000 bill was because U-verse had not received my receivers back, so I forwarded the confirmation from UPS for the receivers. Then, when collections kept calling, I found out the fees were really for phone bills that U-verse had paid to AT&T due to my old combined billing. I had to spend HOURS on long international calls with AT&T and Uverse, trying to get the two Executive offices (AT&T cell and AT&T U-verse) and billing departments to reconcile my bills properly (because U-verse paid some of the bills before the international adjustments were made, it made trying to fix the billing a HUGE pain in the butt). Even though I felt strongly that I should not have to pay the $2000 bill that was due to U-verse's errors in de-combining the bills, I did so, to avoid damage to my credit.
(Notes regarding each of these calls is available should you need them).
Fast forward to now. I added a U-verse wireless receiver - and that is where the fun began. Numerous issues with the receiver. Uneducated customer support reps told me to return my DVR box so I lost an entire year of recordings. Multiple trips to UPS to return wrong wireless boxes, non-working wireless boxes, and a half day off work to wait for an installer to bring a working wireless box and I thought we were finally done. Then came the credits for all the mistakes - I had to keep calling to get a credit applied, but then for some reason my account kept being suspended and I would have to call back AGAIN to get the suspend fees credited. I didn't understand how this could keep happening and why I was paying so MUCH for my cable.
On 11/7/2012 I was suspended again. I called, angry, and talked to customer retention. He told me that they could not fix my bill until I PAID them the money to "reinstate" which was $220. THEN they could try to "adjust" my bill. I paid the money, but was super angry about it. I get my next bill - and it shows my monthly bill is $227!! I call again. While $60 of this is AGAIN reinstatement fees that needed to be credited, it turns out that U-verse had been overbilling me $40 per month for the last 9 months. I had been promised a promotional rate of $106 until 12/2012 - but somehow U-verse decided to start billing me $146 from Feb 2012 to November 2012. While they would credit me back the $442 that they have overcharged me, the rep said she could NOT return my MONEY! I have bills to pay! As a result of U-verses mistakes, I have incurred damage to my credit (they were incorrectly reporting me late because I was paying what I thought I owed initially, not the extra $40 per month), spent hours on the phone, and have been spoken to rudely by their customer service reps who told me they COULD NOT return MY MONEY which they incorrectly billed me.
On 11/7 I was suspended again. I called, angry, and talked to customer retention. He told me that they could not fix my bill until I paid them the money to "reinstate" which was $220. THEN they could try to "adjust" my bill. I paid the money, but was super angry about it. I get my next bill - and it shows my monthly bill is $227!! I call again. While $60 of this is AGAIN reinstatement fees that need to be credited, it turns out that U-verse had been overbilling me $40 per month for the last 9 months. I had been placed on a promotional plan on 12/5/2011 for the next twelve months at $106 per month, and U-verse decided to arbitrarily bill me $145/month from February 2012 to November 2012. While the rep was able to CREDIT me the money (which amounts to you holding $440 dollars of my money – INTEREST FREE – for the next four months in additional to the nine months you have already held my money INTEREST FREE due to your billing errors), the rep said she could NOT return my MONEY! have bills to pay! As a result of U-verses mistakes, I have incurred multiple damages to my credit, spent hours on the phone, and have been spoken to rudely by your customer service reps who told me they COULD NOT return MY MONEY which they incorrectly billed me.
I have sent an email to U-verse complaints at complaints. appeals @ att. net and I am waiting for a reply. I also sent a PM to Alex but have not heard a reply. On the bright side, for each violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act that they made, they will owe me $1000 - so perhaps the joke will be on them if they don't address my refund issue?
My advice to others - keep detailed records of EVERY conversation with U-verse. They will lie, cheat and steal to get your money. They will run you in circles when you call and try to get a resolution. Basically, assume you will have to take them to court to get resolution, because likely you WILL - unless you want to pay them undeserved fees like I did the first time.
I have learned my lesson. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me, right U-verse? We'll see who ends up paying this time though...
[Edited to comply with Guidelines]
