Is this happening to anyone else?

[swaymonae]

I've been fighting cell phone and cable companies for the last year or so. It seems like they're all out there purposely trying to mess up so they can use the excuse "oops" and we have to pay for it.

I had the most awful experiences with Dish Network, so when I moved and they couldn't service me, I was ecstatic-- the rep tells me even if they can't service me I'm still liable for the 2-year contract, that just started over because I chose to add a new box so we could have 4 tvs? (Always make sure changes to your service doesn't result in your contract starting over!!!) Sometimes they'll 'forget' to tell you that. It took a while, but I stayed on top of it & eventually they let me out of my contract to get me out of their hair.

Soo.. I sign up for DirectV and I picked out this really great plan, was all excited.. until the guy comes to install. The guy had no idea what he was doing and asked me a lot of questions as if I knew how to do his job. He also had the wrong equipment and there was a several hundred dollar discrepency in pricing, so I ended up not getting what I was told I was going to get. Then when the bill came it got worse by another couple hundred dollars. Do you know it took me 2 months and atleast 15 different representatives to get maybe a quarter of what was promised to me? It's so stressful to spend that much time fighting for what you deserve. One of their reps even said that the person who signed me up wasn't a DirectV employee, he was outsourced through another company so DTV is not liable for what he says. Oh my goodness!

Now AT&T - About 2 months ago I filed a BBB complaint because they had been charging me a fee for over a year for something I didn't use nor asked for. Finally got that resolved, but I had to file another complaint today, here it is:

I have two lines on my account with AT&T and we started using more txt messages than we were paying for causing our bill to go up. I called to increase my plan and the representative and I came up with a $15 plan that was to be SHARED between both lines. She proceeded to cancel my old txt plans, which were $4 for 400 txt msgs on each line. When I get my bill, I notice that the txt msgs are NOT being shared. I call back AT&T and they confirm that this is not a shared plan. I said fine, I want my old plan back. I received a call this morning from AT&T, and it was a lady who said we could not get our old plan back. I called and spoke to a rep this morning and explained the situation to her. I encouraged her to listen to the call, if it was recorded, so that she could hear their representative telling me that these txt message would infact be SHARED between both lines. She denied me and repeated her new plans to me several times. I asked for her boss, and re-explained that I was misinformed about the plan, and simply wanted my old plan back. Once again denied, I asked that I speak with her boss. She denied me this, stating there was only a retention team above her who could cancel my account and if I want to cancel, she can transfer me there. I told her I knew that she could have a manager call me back and she denied that twice more before agreeing to have someone call me. I let her know I was filing a complaint with the BBB. She said fine, someone will call me in 7-10 days. Thanks ATT.

Is anybody else experiencing this? It's like they're lying on purpose so that they can say 'oops, well that really great plan is no longer available, so here, pay 3 times that & get less!'

If you are experiencing it, please detail & how are you handling it?

[MonkeyMama]

Don't even get me started on Dish!!!!!! I have a complaint list a mile long. At least the bills are right (knock on wood) because nothing else is. So, yeah, no advice. Just had to commiserate.

I really do try to do as little business as possible with giant corporations for this very reason. When you have a problem, it's hard to find someone who cares. We had a local cable company until Comcast bought them out recently. They were so awesome and we heard so many horror stories about all the cable companies - we went with Dish. So much for that.

Overall, call them a million times and send them a million letters. Seems to work if you keep on their case.

[jIM_Ohio]

I find its important to avoid contracts. We have a similar contract issue with our home security system. 2 more years!

[swaymonae]

That's true.. you really can't trust anyone to be honest anymore... Even if you make perfect sense and have proof they don't give a damn about helping you.. I guess they're just trying to keep their job, but it's really sad what they can get away with..

[swaymonae]

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Update to yesterdays BBB complaint on AT&T:


Another "manager" and once again told me that I couldn't have my old plan back, and once again I was told I could get the $30 plan (I was paying $4 on each line = $8) I said NO! She said she could give me three months free? roflz.. Oooh. yay, then I get to pay $270 for the rest of the year as oppose to $96!!!
These people are crazy. I told her I wasn't going to drop it and to have her boss call me. A guy called me 1 minute later saying they're trying to get it put back to how it was right now and it should be resolved soon. I hope so... I am so tired of this..

It's crazy how much lying they get away with!

PS: What in the hell is "QUALITY ASSURANCE"? Everytime I tell a company to go listen to the recorded phone call, they always tell me it's for "quality assurance" - It's not quality! Listen to it!

[EEinNJ]

For me it's been Comcast, it took over 4 months to accomplish downgrading my cable service and adjust the bill. Along the way my Internet service started getting flaky. Finally got it all straightened out, but it was a lot of runaround. It all started when they swallowed up the local cable company.

I've had troubles with Verizon, too, but they seem to be doing better lately. The competition must be getting to them.

These are very large, inept corporations who aren't out to please any one customer. You are literally just a number among thousands to them. If they can get away with even a 10 cent rip-off every month, multiply that across all their customers, every month. The government has no incentive to fix it- take a look at you phone bill and see how much of it is taxes!

[kork13]

PS: What in the hell is "QUALITY ASSURANCE"? Everytime I tell a company to go listen to the recorded phone call, they always tell me it's for "quality assurance" - It's not quality! Listen to it!

Just start taping them, then. Most answering machines can function that way--set it up, then at the beginning of your call, you're legally required to inform them that you are recording the conversation. At that point, it's totally legit and you can use the recording for whatever purpose you choose. ....Only problem is that alot of times, when you tell them that they are being recorded, they'll cut off the phone call, saying they're not allowed to be taped. I've seen it happen--very entertaining.


As to your originial problem with the texting plans, I think I can shed at least some light... Their computer system relies on 6-letter (I think) codes which correllate to a specific feature that's added to your service plan. Normally, CSR's can just click a feature's name and the code is input behind the scenes. However, if you know the right codes, you can also input those directly, and it will allocate the correct feature and price to your plan. What probably happened is that your previous texting plan is no longer used, so CSR's can't just click it. To get you back to how you were, they need to figure out the right code for your previous plan. The problem is just finding the right one again (up to 151,000 possibilities) so they can trick their system into doing what they want it to. .....I learned all this the other day when they went through a similar mess with AT&T when I took the data plan off my phone. Texting was tied to the data plan, so when they took off the data, they also took off my texting. So they had to find the right code to get my texting back. It was a common one, however, so it only took them a couple minutes. Best of luck with everything....

[tulsa_sr5]

Last Directv install hosed me with extra charges too, was a real pain to fight with them and get it sorted out. I agree completely with jIM_Ohio, no more contracts on services for me. Getting out of the directv and sprint contracts last fall both cost me money, and I am ashamed to say I gave up on fighting with them & chalked it up as stupid tax.