Debra of Bethlehem, NH, writes:
From May 17 through 28, 2000, I was involved with a family medical emergency that took me out of my home state of New Hampshire. I needed to stay in touch with family members. The only way to do that was to use my AT&T credit card.
I very seldom use this card. The last time I recall using it, I was in England and needed to call my daughter's doctor as she has a very serious medical condition which requires constant medical supervision. The card was abruptly canceled after my second call to the US. I was unable to keep in contact with my daughter's doctor because of this.
Upon our return, I called AT&T. Their reason for canceling was "unusual use." I was furious that AT&T indiscriminately discontinued the use of my card and potentially put my daughter at risk because of it!
I also had another phone card from my local carrier, Bell Atlantic, which I now use and a card from my employer that I do use somewhat frequently. During my most recent medical emergency this past May, I used my Bell Atlantic phone credit card. I knew there was a surcharge for using a phone credit card and the rates were a little higher, although I had no idea what the rates were. These rates are not published and not easily accessible to the average consumer.
I get a special rate from AT&T of ten cents per minute 24 hrs a day, 7 days per week. I assumed the card rate would be somewhere in that vicinity. Boy, was I wrong. My phone bill amounted to $444.00 for that one month.
I was completely dumbfounded and overwhelmed at this charge and immediately called AT&T because I thought it was a mistake. I learned (after the fact), that because I used another phone company credit card I was charged at much higher rates. I argued that if I go into a Sears store and choose not to use their credit card, I would not be charged (penalized) a higher amount for my merchandise.
I also explained my horrible situation in England when AT&T indiscriminately canceled my card for 'unusual use' and that is why I am very reluctant to use the AT&T card. I protested that rates for credit cards are not advertised and if I had known about the excessively high rate, I would have found another method (perhaps purchasing an AT&T phone card).
The AT&T representative did offer to credit my bill $100.00, but that would need special approval(I'm not sure if I have that credit yet). I still think the bill is way too high and I asked to speak with a supervisor. The AT&T representative refused to let me speak with a supervisor, stating that is all that could be done.
I beg of you to intervene on my behalf. My daughter's hospital stay/surguries are over $100,000 and she has another surgery scheduled in July. Because this was of an emergency type medical issue and was done at an "out-of-network provider", the insurance company is not wanting to pay for it. Her medical supplies cost me over $100.00 a week and nursing visits at $90.00 per visit are 2X week. My salery is only $34,000.00 gross per year. Because my daughter is 18 (she still lives at home), her father is no longer financially or legally responsible to help with her care. I am financially devastated, plus she wants to go to college in the Fall. I really need help in reducing this phone bill.
I am angry the pnone companies to not adequately inform customers about a) high rates using a phone creidt card; b) can indiscriminately cancel your card at their discretion for virtually no reason and w/out checking with the customer. My vacation was ruined because I could not stay in touch with my daughter's doctor. I was humiliated in front of my family and friends because I was told my AT&T card was no longer active.
Sue writes from Moscow:
I got a note in my AT&T direct bill calling card statement this month
telling me that my "... account may have been impacted during a major system
upgrade."
No kidding. My card is currently blocked because AT&T has not credited two
payments made by check in April and two payments made by credit card just
last week on the phone with their customer service people. When I spoke to
them again Wednesday, they admitted there was a glitch in their system.
However, rather than credit the four payments I had already made, they asked
me to make a fifth payment by credit card and said the account would be
unblocked by sometime today. I'm not holding my breath.
Needless to say, I am not going to use this calling card again and will
cancel it as soon as I get all my payments credited and the overpayments
refunded. The rates on the card were outrageous to begin with -- more than
70 cents per minute for a daytime call within the U.S. -- but those of us
living overseas without home telephone service have few choices, as far as I
can tell.
So what do I do in the meantime? When I needed to make an urgent business
call this morning, I discovered that 1-800-COLLECT takes credit cards for
direct calls. I have no idea what that's going to cost me.
I did discover http://www.decide.com, but then read the fine print and
learned that they make a commission off every sale, which makes me wary.
They only deal with prepaid cards anyway. I want a bill-as-you-go card. I'll
let you know what I find. What do you think of decide.com as a way of
comparing mobile and long distance services?
We don't like it one bit and we don't recommend it.
We're moving back to Arlington in August, and I am very anxious about the
hassles of choosing a long-distance service, local Internet provider,
satellite provider (we're addicted to EuroNews and BBC), probably a mobile
service, etc. For example, decide.com showed me 36 different long distance
calling plans for my location in Arlington. How is anybody supposed to make
an intelligent decision -- especially without any information on the quality
of the provider's lines and the competence of their billing department?
Do you know of anyone other than CompuServe who has worldwide Internet
dialup capability?
Unfortunately, no.
Pamela of Plymouth, MA:
While in Florida recently I used my calling card to call home. When the bill came it totaled $131 for 11 calls, some averaging over $3.00 per minute! I called AT&T and got no satisfaction. Their attitude was, "Those are our charges". Come to find out, if you do not have AT&T as your home long distance provider, they charge a fee of $4.95 for connection per call, plus very high per minute charges.
I called my local phone company, Bell Atlantic, and they said they would remove it from my bill and return it to AT&T. So, now my fight is with AT&T. I have used this same calling card for about 15 years and never have I incurred these outrageous charges. I was NEVER notified by either my local phone company or AT&T that if I did not have AT&T as my home long distance carrier would I be subject to these outrageous charges. Can they do this?
They should be required to notify the consumer of these rip-off rates. I use Excel Communications as my long distance carrier and have been very happy with them. After talking with them I found that if I had their calling card the charges for those same calls would have amounted to $38.00. Is there anything that can be done with AT&T where they never notified me of these automatic charges and outrageous rates?
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