One mistake after another and now they charge me with cancellation fee?

We have been a customer of AT&T for well over 20 years. Our cell service is with them (over $300/mo) and our home phone, internet and tv has been with them for well over a decade. We have been good customers - paying our bills and hardly ever complaining about anything. Back in Sept 2016, we were persuaded by an agent while shopping for a new iphone at an ATT store, to change from our home uverse programming to get Direct TV instead  and that way we could bundle a package deal and cut our bills substantially. We were offered $69.99/triple pay bundle - so it included unlimited home phone, internet (adjusted to  remain at same speed we were already receiving as a condition). The transition did not go smoothly in that they never seemed to correctly process the quoted price of package with their billing dept and so each month - the customer service peeps and I would have the same conversation about the mistake and they'd apologize nicely and re-adjust the bill with a credit to meet the quoted beginning price and to retain me as a  "happy" customer. I am sure that over time and having to go through same darn conversation - I was frustrated and inpatient about all this, as I am sure they were too.. So much time spent either on phone  - which was not my preference because I could not have that documentation afterwards but the good folks at the "retention centers" of ATT are not available via ATT chat so alot of times, I didn't unfortunately have the opportunity to communicate by way of written exchange and so word of mouth - me against them was all I was left with. In Spring of 2017 - I  had enough and dreaded phoning in each time - because truth be told - the supervisors and some of the reps I spoke to were now getting rude and flippant! I asked to speak to supervisors and had a couple of very bad experiences with that even and so I was ready to just leave ATT. If it hadn't been for some of the kind and  excellent service from other agents that sparked my hope for resolution - I would have been gone long ago - it just depended on what day you called and who you got. Many told me that the notes detailed on my acct clearly showed clear a well documented history of what was told to me and how it reflected the changes by way of credit to reflect that promise of price - so they felt it would be fairly easy to resolve but would have to "escalate" the matter in order to get it fixed and approved. I waited for over a month to give them ample time and as to not be too pushy. I even paid my bill in full (the overage of what I was being charged to avoid disconnection while waiting for response) and after about 6 weeks - I phoned back into ATT retention team once again. There was no response to this situation but I was credited once again and they re-submitted the issue again to whoever "they" are that deals with these issues. No response again in over 2 months and so I started to complain louder and more frequently. I was always respectful to the those on the other end of the phone, however, not the same could be said about some very rude people that I spoke to during this time. One day when I was at my wits end and after speaking to yet another agent (you can never connect again with the same person) - she did her best to help me but truthfully told me that her hands were tied. She was able to credit me again to make the bill "right" in my eyes but the best she could do for a monthly triple play deal was 80/month and all though it was closer to the actual price quote given initially, it was now a matter of principle and fairness now. I asked to speak to her supervisor who was not as nice and she was clear to me that I would not be offered the same price as of last Fall because that was NOT the current special going on and there was NO way they could come close to that in order to appease me. She went on to stating she had been there for some time and had NEVER seen that kind of an offer before (so in other words - accused me of lying) - I assured her that it was offered and that I could send her a fax immediately with the deal printed on it and the paperwork that I rec'd that day it was put into action at that very price. She wasn't interested and instead determined to be demeaning and rude. I hung up on her that afternoon and when I called later after  taking some deep breaths and going for a walk. I called back ATT retention team and unfortunately got someone even more rude who refused to even look at initial conflicting price and when asked about the $80/month price quoted offered earlier that day from the nice rep ... she wasn't even willing to put that back on the table. She told me that it may have been offered earlier that day but that I would have had to accept it then and there. I was so angry and frustrated that I began to cry and told her that obviously she didn't care one bit about retention or what I had to share, so I had no reason to continue that conversation. Later that night - I called and got a gentleman who read over the notes and understood my situation but again stated there was nothing he or anyone could do - so I told him that if they couldn't keep their side of the 2 year contract as written and accepted - that I wanted out. He was understanding of why and told me that if I ever wanted to come back - they would be happy to hear from me but he felt there was nothing more he could do or offer and knew that I was unsatisfied. I confirmed with him that I would NOT get any penalties and he said that he would waive any early contract fees based on early termination as it was an unfortunate situation that should have been dealt with differently and he apologized again that it did. He scheduled disconnect for June 4 (Sunday) - which was the day after Comcast was scheduled to come out. After breaking the news to my adult autistic son that some of his favorite song channels were changing w/ comcast transition, he was so sad and my heart broke.  My husband (who hadn't dealt with these issues yet cause I handle the bills) asked that I go back and see what is the closest they (ATT) would be willing to do to keep us on and felt perhaps it was worth it to consider doing so rather than go through the inconvenience of another installation. I swallowed my pride and chatted (written exchange on Chat via ATT website) on Friday afternoon with cust service at ATT website. I told him that I wanted to cancel my termination of services atleast to that point in time that I could reach someone in retention dept again (they were closed on Friday at 3:30p) and I knew they were closed and unavailable until Monday (6/5)  My representative misunderstood my intentions and got it wrong a few times but after over a hour of my time - he understood and was able to reiterate back to me what I had asked for and reassured me that it was no problem and that all my services and account were to remain on and active until I spoke to the retention peeps and could later re-scheduled the disconnect day if need be. Saturday (6/2 around midnight) - both my internet and my home phone stop working and I find out they have been disconnected. I still have TV going and so I assume that maybe he stopped the tv portion but had neglected to cancel the disconnect on the home phone and internet. Sometime on 6/ - - my television no longer works!  I called on Monday (6/5) to inform them of their mistake. I have copy of chat available where he reassures me that this exact thing would NOT happen but after being bounced from one person to the next - I finally end up with someone who is there to be the answer to ALL my problems. He listens to my story and reads through what I am sure is like a novel at ATT side notes to my account and tells me that unfortunately there was no way to restore old services  - that perhaps someone tried but it was not successful (that much was clear) .... "but the GOOD News is that he could get my service back on by way of signing us up again and that we could get an even BETTER deal for us! I did not jump on this right away - afterall, that is almost word for word what they had told me back in Sept of 2016 and had become somewhat jaded through this bad experience. Against all my fears -  I excitedly signed up for the good deal then but with back up help by way of  our cell phones recording our entire conversation I was having on speaker phone - I felt that maybe we could shore it up with more evidence and followed his lead, then there was no way they could not honor it. Ironically - it was pretty much the same deal as I had asked for all along and if they had done right by offering it to me at that point - it would have never turned into all these complicated problems.  He said he could even get us more money off our cell service which we had been trying to do for months. He had to link the accounts together so that the $25 dollar discount towards wireless that was going to be taken off our bill could reflect that we enrolled in the unlimited wireless plan (with his promise that it would decrease our bills - we shall see).This is why he said he would have to assign this "new account" to my husbands name and all our equipment would have to be switched out - including our phone number (altho' I will give him credit in that he was able to get my same phone number back somehow and it mysteriously started working out of the blue on 6/5 (tech couldn't understand how it was even working still - anyways!) ... and even though we had wireless receivers in two bedrooms now - the deal stated clearly that only wired dvr receivers would benefit - so we had to go through the issue of all that. (side note: maybe not a big deal for some - but we have an autistic son who has a hard time with such things and strangers coming over that make our dogs bark and belongings moved and things switched around for access to wire  ....well, lets say it was a difficult day for him - actually a few days for him as he nervously anticipates it and takes time afterwards to relive it and work it out of his system! Anyways - we followed our representatives lead - waiting over an hour to complete the intake information and to have credit check done and all that - and hung up with some hope of a better situation - atleast well covered with conf #'s and his ATT ID number and a recording of full conversation. The very earliest he could get us installed would be  6/9 (Thurs) - which was NOT good news and was exactly what we were trying to avoid. He told me to call back and see if any cancellations were made and I could maybe get it early. ON Tues 6/6 - I did call and was able to speak to a rep who was able to move us up a day but that made all the difference in the world to us as Friday (6/9) was going to be a hectic day. I asked for the confirmation number and she said it was the same as the original install conf number - just a change in the scheduling part of it all. We took off work on Thurs and waited and waited and waited. No show! I called cust service about 4pm and was told that nothing reflected any changes to the installation date and that it was still on the calendar for them to do my internet set up on Friday 6/10, not on Thurs 6/9. I just cried at this point - no anger ... just utter disbelief and frustration and disappointment. She goes on to tell me that after calling the scheduling dept (or whoever they talk to out here for appt times) - that there was NO set up for Direct TV at all .... nothing - nada!  I gave her the confirmation numbers and all the info that I had written down when ordered and she was adamant that it didn't exsist. Sooooo we answered her questions again - ran another credit check and made sure that the billing price was as we had been told before in prior conversation when all 3 in one service order was placed. I made sure she knew that this was not even funny anymore and when she told me that the first avail date for the tv wouldn't be until 6/13 (Tues) .... I told her that I needed to speak to her boss or whoever runs things as this was so stupid! She urged me to finish up this order first so that we could secure spot and then when finished, I asked about who was going to change that date to Friday as originally ordered and she said she would tell her boss and "yes, yes .... everything was going to be fine) To my utter disbelief - both tv and internet came out on Friday and we finally got everything installed to whatever it is that we think ATT expects in order to not risk a change to the billing. The guys couldn't be nicer however, it I shook my head after they left as we discovered all these little cuts of wires that had been trimmed and lay there on the ground, the cable outlet plate not put back in the wall so all the lines were just laying beside it - in full access to our puppy who fortunately did not discover it before me. We cleaned up after them (booties left on tv and tools left on floor) and took a big sigh of relief that maybe its going to get better - couldn't get worse, or could it? Tuesday morning at 0800 am - (early for us as our son has sleep issues and sometimes we don't go to bed until 5 or 6 am) - a very nice man is at our door - ready to install Direct TV! Had to show him everything done and now the household is up and crazy. Even though it was a disturbance we could have done without -  my husband just looked at me and laughed. I can assure you however, that he was no longer laughing when I got my final bill in the mail for Direct TV. that afternoon. I had paid above what I had agreed while waiting for the escalation process and so my acct stood at $100.00 to my credit. I wanted to transfer that to the new account but haven't crossed what I am sure will be an issue with that. However, today the bill did not show a credit - instead, it read that I owe $190.00 immediately! This was due to an early contract release of $300.00 - - - I read through it carefully because I was sure there would be an adjustment to this as the rep and I had spoken at length about this very thing not happening! Had I been told this was a possibility - I surely would have NOT terminated service until I had been guaranteed no penalty. To make it even more crazy - I had in fact put a stop to ending my contract agreement on the Friday phone call on 5/2 (chat log) until I could speak to retention people so my original cancellation should  not have ever gone effective. Also - in the craziness of it all - regardless of ALL that .... and there is ALOT - ultimately - I have agreed to stay with ATT due to the deal they offered (again) and so I am in contract with them - in my husbands name (due to the cust service peoples decision - I just told them that I needed it to be lowered) but we have the same phone number and services at the same address as before. The nice lady today (after 3 re-directs) Melanie tried to explain to me that ... the rep that had scheduled it for cancellation on my direction - ha! had made notation about having the fees dropped but "they" (not sure who they are - but I am taking it that "they" are the powers that be in the main office) didn't approve it when they looked into it and heard the conversations and all that. I asked repeatedly (respectfully) HOW to get ahold of "them" - but all she could offer is to resubmit my request to have this taken care of and leave it up to them to decide yes or no. I made it clear to her that the rep that did the initial request for waiving the 300 early contract leaving fee never said anything to me about the fact that he had to wait for approval of such or that it was something that would/could be later disputed and overruled by another source - - he told me that they would NOT be charging any fee for early cancellation - period!!!  She did also state that I requested a call back from "them" and gave me the ID # and confirmation number for a way to pull it up when I follow up IF I haven't heard anything. I am not expecting to ... why should now be any different?!  Sooooooooooo - to whoever has stuck with me and listened to this long story ( I would shorten it but that takes even  more thought and time than I have right now - and I wrote what I felt was important to state) ... any suggestions? Aye Carmaba!  I'd change out of this mess in an instant now - even tho' Comcast Infinity could only get me to 120/mo for package deal but its not worth the hassle of ATT  charging me an extra 300 bucks for this acct in my husbands name too. You go to a store and it has maybe an error in the pricing of an item - they have to stand behind that (and change it quickly from there on out) but its like ATT has no responsibility or accountability to the words of its representatives and dealings ... as if they are above it all and then they give their customers no recourse in trying to deal with issues when they do happen. I have read many many stories similar to mine. I hear that in the tiny print of the contract - there is something about not being able to "sue" them - - apparently you can go through a mediator but I think the cost involved with that is more than we have and probably more than we would ever be able to win back - so that prolly prevents most from even going there. I'm open for suggestions - was thinking of channel 7 on your side and looking into better business bureau. Thanks for letting me vent. ARGH!  Thanks,

 Bonnie