
Teacher
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8 Messages
Data Overcharging / Customer service promises investigations, then say there was no investigation.
I have subscribed to AT&T internet for nearly a year. I have a Data Allowance of 1024GB/month. I typically run close to that or exceed it. I receive email notifications when i am close to my limit. Then, when i exceed it, i'm sent a notice that i'm being charged $10 for an additional 50GB package. That's where the problem begins.
On two occasions, i have contacted Chat so that i can monitor my precise usage within the Additional Data Pack. I determined on one occasion that i had downloaded 3.6GB of material from Midnight until 11am that same day. But, ATT says i consumed 32GB of data!!!! Nearly 10x my actual usage. Which is impossible.
From Midnight to 11am, My usage consisted only of downloads to my desktop computer, through a download app. My television, PS3, and Xbox devices were all OFF. My iPad and phone were OFF. While i was downloading files, i was also 'surfing' the web. It is not possible that my web surfing consumed the MYSTERY 28GB of data in an 11 hour period, of which i was only online for 3 of those hours.
This has been a repeating theme. I am charged for 1 or 2 or 3 'additional data packs' just about every month, even though i change my internet/download habits when i'm advised i'm near my limits. And each time, even though i'm certain i'm using less than 10GB of data, i'm charged as if i have used 50GB.
I've been over the various permutations with various customer service reps in chats. I've spent ten hours in chats, being transferred to agent after agent, having to re-explain each time, and then given nonsensical, unhelpful, runaround responses by each agent. Each agent also always says something to the effect that, "you will not face this problem again." And yet i do.
What is possibly most offensive at this point is that in both September and October, by multiple agents, i was told ATT would INVESTIGATE the reasons for the overcharges. I wait and wait for the results of the investigations and for the Credits to my account these agents promise. And now, today, four months after the last time i was told an investigation was underway, i'm told there WAS NO INVESTIGATION. And further, the person i just chatted with said HE would initiate an investigation, but gave no means of investigating. I asked specifically for a time period to monitor, so that there would be a way to compare my records of usage versus AT&T's. But, he only repeated a few ambiguous statements, none of which could possibly result in a resolution or determination.
This seems like a scam, pure and simple. The massive company tells you you're using an invisible product. They say you used more of that invisible product than you can see being used. Then they tell you it's being used by you even when the devices that use it are switched OFF. Even though those devices are consuming NO ENERGY/battery power to use all of that invisible product..... And because it's unlikely that anyone would bother to try to monitor that usage in a predetermined time period with a stringent set of rules, the company relies on the consumer TRUSTING the company's technology that measures such things.
What else is offensive? In September when the issue was raised with one agent, that agent credited my account $30 for the overcharging, even before initiating the investigation (the investigation that the current agent says did not exist). But, now, the current agent—a supervisor!— says he can only offer $10 when i was overcharged $20. There was NO FOUNDATION or rationale for why he could only offer $10 when the previous agent was able to credit $30. Then, minutes later, this supervisor says he can make it $15! These agents are randomly making up 'the rules' — more lies. When asked how he was able to change it to $15 when previously he said he could only offer $10, he says he asked his manager. When i then asked to be put in contact with this "manager," he said the manager was "not around." When i asked how to contact the manager, to send written documentation of my claims and complaints, he gave me a name "Stanley." I asked for full name and mailing address, and i was told "Stanley Anderson." When i mentioned that this name sounded "made-up" and asked if either the supervisor or Stanley Anderson were in the United States, after asking three times, the supervisor confessed they were in India. "Stanley Anderson." Sure. So, more deception and lies. I really do not care where a 'call center' is located. But, it's deceitful for agents you're in contact with to make up names, and then put you off and give the runaround when asked how to contact a manager or the corporate office.
This is ALL shady. The strategies EVERY agent uses in the chats to appease the customer without ever resolving an issue — they're all the same. Deceit in the form of placation. Which casts a bad light on the OVERCHARGING matter at the core of it all. If you can't trust a customer service rep, how can you trust the billing practices that force the necessity of the rep?
I have transcript PDFs of all of these chats. And in them are lies and mistakes by agents after agents. Offers made, that are not honored by the next agent i'm transferred to. A consistency in the misdirection and deceit.
Oh! I almost forgot.... Another 'insult.'
When i've explained for the umpteenth time that i was just overcharged $20 for data i didn't use, the agent tries to up-sell me! This actually happened two or three times:
Me: You've overcharged me $20 for data i could not possibly have used.
Agent: I have a solution. I can offer you an Unlimited Data Package!
Me: Okay. What's the cost?
Agent: $30 more than what you are currently paying per month.
Me: So.... to correct a $20 problem, you want to charge me $30.
Agent: I completely understand. Let me check on that!.....
Am *I* the m0ron here?
I get it — customer service agents work from scripts, and routines with regard to responses. But, my god, does it take a genius to recognize how stupid this is before it comes off of your keyboard? It's not even like it's an autonomic verbal response. The person is TYPING this to me, and so there's 20-30 seconds of it going through his/her head while they're doing it.....
seefishn
Tutor
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4 Messages
5 years ago
Thank you so much for your reply. Yes, it is cellular data.
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