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AT&T Bills Non-Customers

March 11, 2004
Consumers in New York and Massachusetts are complaining that AT&T sent them bogus bills, then tried to sell them AT&T service when they called to complain.

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The Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy says it has received more than 30 complaints since January from Bay State residents who said they got bills from AT&T although they have never had AT&T service or had canceled it months or years earlier.

There've been similar complaints from consumers in upstate New York.

AT&T denies the phony bills were sent intentionally and blames it on "a billing error caused by some system issues." Critics suggested AT&T was trying to get around the Do-Not-Call rule by forcing customers to call them. The tactic also avoids penalties for "slamming," since the customer's service is not actually switched to AT&T.

Verizon, an AT&T competitor, reported that it has hsa been receiving calls from customers trying to straighten out the billing issue. The number of calls to Verizon would indicate that thousands of consumers in the Northeast have been affected.

Massachusetts regulators say they're concerned because many consumers appear to be paying the bills, which are typically from $4 to $7. A frequently-seen amount is $6.01.

"We need to find out exactly how many customers have been affected by this," said April Mulqueen, assistant director of the Department of Telecommunications and Energy's consumer division.

Teresa A. Santiago, chairwoman of the New York State Consumer Protection Board, said there's no indication the erroneous bills were sent on purpose. But she said it was "a poor decision" for AT&T to try to sell its service to customers who called to complain.

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