Porting a wireless number results in hidden fees for unapproved & unclaimed services?

Question

I recently 'ported' my business number to my new employer, and to do this AT&T required me to convert the number to a personal account first, citing some arbitrary time frame to 'claim' the number. Once I had the number converted to a 'personal' account, I then turned around and had the number converted back to a business account at my new employer. I have been able to get this done after about a month, but then AT&T started sending me bills for $75 a month, without my ever having been informed of these fees and without any of the services (calling plan, etc.), being received. I am disputing the charges because I never agreed to them, nor did I receive any services whatsoever, all I had been asking to do was 'port' my number.

Does anyone else have any experience with this? Why does 'porting' a number result in hidden fees for no service? How can AT&T require its customers to continue paying for services that aren't ever discussed or even delivered? Thanks

Swindled15 · Answer

Hi millerrik –

Sorry to hear of your situation, and I am doubly sorry to report that I do have a similar experience with unauthorized billing. Welcome to the new ATT, I guess?

I have been a loyal customer for a long time (nearly 20 years) and have never experienced anything like what happened with my cell phone upgrade and new 2 year contract agreement last week.

I thought my experience was probably just an outlier and that the problem would be remedied by customer service, but their responses have been nothing short of outrageous. And judging from the number of similar complaints I’m seeing online, this is not uncommon. These problems seem to be more of a SYSTEMIC issue than a mere epidemic of isolated incidents.

Last week, I was notified via text message – the day AFTER I upgraded and activated service on two new iPhones (with a new 2 year contract on each) – that my monthly bill would increase by $30 per month. That amounts to an additional $720 over what I agreed to pay for the contract period!

When I objected to the rate increase, ATT and its representatives insisted that I have experienced a “loss of discount” rather than a “rate increase.” Seriously? When I objected that I wasn’t notified of the increase until the day after I activated service, they refer me to the fine print. The fine print?

Again, we’re talking about $720 here.

Sad to say, but I guess this IS the new ATT. I likely will be switching to Verizon for Wireless service. I don’t know if Verizon is any better – but it’s hard to imagine how they could be any worse! I have at least been very happy with Verizon Fios for phone, internet, and TV.

I’d love to hear about any experience you’ve had with Verizon Wireless if that’s where you ported from.

Unfortunately, ATT tells me that I either have to 1) wait two years until my contract expires, or – get this – 2) PAY a $70 restocking fee now for two iPhones that I would then turn around and immediately repurchase – and then start the “new phone process” all over again! Unbelievable.

I hope you will have better luck resolving your problem than I have. Good luck!

formerlyknownas · Answer

@millerikYou might have had one or two bills as an individual customer. Carriers do not prorate, so if it took 32 days to complete the port process, you would still be billed for 2 months service as a personal line.If the port is complete, you should have no more bills after the billing period in which the port was completed.Please call customer service to verify the port has been successfully completed into your new employers account. If you are being billed repeatedly, I suspect the port was not done.I guess to be accurate, it isn't a port, so much as a transfer of billing responsibility.