AT&T Wireless Reviews

Hours on the phone was the most upsetting. I now know what they mean about going "postal" I threw my phone across my yard after being on hold for one hour and finally getting someone, telling them my problem and then I lost the signal. The feeling that I had no control over the situation that I was just waiting for them to tell me how much I owed them. I was able to get out of my contract without paying a penalty.

This practice causes my airtime for the next period to exceed my limit of 550 minutes, resulting in additional fees and taxes over and above the pre-paid charge. This practice also leaves the consumer completely in the dark regarding how many minutes to expect on their monthly bill ... my cellular telephone only tracks calls in real-time, when they are actually made, not when they might show up on my Cingular bill.

It seems to me that Cingular should be going back and retroactively applying roamer minutes to any unused time from the month in which the calls were ACTUALLY PLACED, rather than billing them against a period in which they did not occur, and do not pertain to. I have complained about this practice to Cingular's customer service department with no satisfaction (I was treated rudely and laughed at by their representative, Ms. Kara Hannah, for making the suggestion).

It has been pointed out to me that this was disclosed in the agreement that I signed when I entered into the contract with Cingular, and as such, it is legal for them to perpetrate this billing practice on their customers. However, in my opinion, even though it may be legal, that doesn't make it ethical or right. Is there any logical reason why a reasonable consumer should have to accept this type of billing practice?

My cell phone bills for the last two months, and on one other, prior occasion, have been between $100-140, when they should have been about $75.

Two months later after trying to switch the plans the way we'd been told we could do, we were advised against this action because of the fees that would accrue for roaming charges if the cycle had not been completed. I tried to inquire regarding the matter to see if another plan may fit our needs but to no avail. I explained that we wished to cancel the service as the terms of the contract had been totally misrepresented and falsified. Cingular Wireless agreed to cancel the contract but insists on us paying the $150.00 fee, which we feel is completely unfair.

We refuse to pay the fee as the Sales Associate who sold us the contract was new on the job (only a few days with the company) which I was told by the Manager early on after an earlier discrepancy with the phone. We have had the service for two months and have had nothing but problems from PacBell.

AT&T added a page of long distance charges to my fathers Sprint bill totaling $170.27. My father mailed the bill to me because he got so upset he thought he would have a stroke over it. I told him Id call and take care of it. After three weeks, seven Customer Service Reps, two Supervisors, seven solid hours, and a dozen excuses, I'm no closer to resolving this.

I will try to give you a concise version of events: 3/13/01 7:30pm Called AT&T at 1800-222-0300. Spoke to Tony. Told him these calls were not my fathers and he transferred me to Ms Brown. Ms Brown told me I had to order a wire check with Sprint or call 1800-222-3000 to order a wire check from AT&T. She wasn't sure though, if the customer would have to pay for that.

I called Sprint and spoke to Jennifer in the Repair Dept. She told me that Ms Brown was incorrect. I should call during business hours and get Customer Service to order a CMI to investigate the charges.

• 3/14/01 3:35pm Called Sprint at 1800-339-1811 and told them the story (for the fourth time). They transferred me to an AT&T dept. Back to them, I was told that both the wire check and CMI excuses were not correct. They said I should call AT&T Customer Service again.
• 3:50pm Spoke to Monique at AT&T Customer Service. She told me shed have to call me back because their computers are being updated. She promised it would only be 45 minutes.
• 5:00pm Called and demanded to speak to a Supervisor. Was given to Craig Gentry. He surmised that the problem could be with the recent change in area codes. He suggested I call Bell South in Florida at 1-904-780-2355.

I explained that Ive wasted enough time trying to get AT&T to fix their own error. I shouldn't have to make all these calls to different companies and investigate where AT&T made the mistake. He agreed and had a conference call with BellSouth in Florida. Well, BellSouth wouldn't even talk to me because they told Craig that it is an AT&T snafu. AT&T tried numerous times to push their mistake onto every other phone company. I refused to let Craig off the line now. He transferred me to Kevin Morgan, supposedly a Supervisor in Hollywood CA. We went over everything for an hour and a half. He thought that when the area codes were changed in Florida, my fathers was the same number as a Sprint Wireless phone. My father was being charged for those cell phone charges belonging to a different customer.

He said Id have to now call Sprint Wireless.

• 3/15/01 3:50pm Called 1800-339-1811 and spoke to Patricia. She transferred me to the Business Office. I spoke to Coritha there. She suggested changing my fathers phone number altogether since AT&T cant seem to fix this. My father would have to call though, to authorize this. In the meantime, shell get AT&T to take off the charges.
• 4:30pm Kevin at AT&T said the charges of $170.27 will be removed. He gave me Confirmation #NC******. It will be about a week before Sprint gets the order and takes off charges. Also, he will note the problem on the computer so that my father will no longer get these erroneous charges. I thanked him profusely and thought all was well.
• 3/18/01 AT&T sends my father a letter (dated Sunday, the 18th) stating that they have reviewed the charges and they are correct as is! The name on this letter is incorrect and the phone number they are referencing is also incorrect:
• 3/29/01 My father receives a letter from Sprint stating that they will be turning off his phone service if they do not receive the past due balance by 4/8/01. In a panic, he calls me.
• 7:30pm Chris with Customer Service says I should call 1800-222-0300. Ive explained that MAYBE AT&T has the information mixed up. MAYBE these charges belong to the area code they have on my fathers letter? I did AT&Ts; job so that this might finally be resolved. I, myself, called that phone number on their letter and, SURE ENOUGH, the gentleman there said he uses his phone for business calls.
• 7:40pm Spoke to Pauline Chadwick at AT&Ts; Long Distance Billing for Business Dept. She gave me Confirmation #NB*****. She said there's no promise that they will take off charges though. She said shed call me back in a few days, after she gets an answer from someone else.

I asked her for her direct line or extension since Ive gone through this over a dozen times now. Not to hold her accountable (God forbid!), but just to allow me to reach someone who knows the story so I don't have to repeat whole complicated mess again. She told me, No, you cant get me again. Just dial the 800 number. I then asked for a supervisor and she refused, saying, No, there's no one else you can talk to here.

As of this date, I don't know what to do or who to turn to. I feel that AT&T has no interest in taking care of this. If I cant investigate and tell them whom to charge, they will not bother. I tried everything. I cant spend any more time or aggravation on this. Also, I made the long distance call to the number on my fathers letter. Ill have to pay for that; I don't understand why AT&T didn't call it and find out for themselves. They do not cooperate at all though. I feel this is a form of extortion. They can tack any amount or any calls on someones bill, then refuse to look into it and correct their own error. What is a consumer to do now? I feel they expect me to pay the $170.27 just to be sure my fathers phone isnt shut off. After all, he IS elderly and in poor health. I find it hard to believe that they can do this to people.

However, each and every month since purchasing this phone we have either had to call the Cingular office or go to the retail store to straighten out billing problems. We have been and continue to be billed roaming and toll charges even though we were ASSURED usage in the areas described WOULD NOT result in these charges. Granted, each month the charges have been removed and the customer service rep has promised the problem has been fixed (after I spent hours on the phone), but we continue to have problems.

When I have to spend TWO HOURS on the phone trying to fix a problem that has been ongoing since July 2000, something is seriously wrong. I called the customer service office at 4 pm CST on Jan. 25, 2001, and spoke with Frank. After he checked things over and over again for over 45 minutes, I grew tired of waiting and finally asked to speak with a supervisor. Frank flatly refused to allow me speak with a supervisor! I was forced to hang up and call back immediately. I then finally spoke with a supervisor named Gary who saw the problem and promised to fix it and call me back with the correct billing amount. I waited over an hour to hear from him (after he promised to call back in 5 or 10 minutes) and finally had to leave for a meeting that I was already late for. He finally called an hour and a half later and left a message on my answering machine that he would call the next day (1/26) but he never called back.

To say that I find this type of treatment unacceptable would be an understatement! The time and effort I have been forced to put into trying to correct something I'm not even at fault for is ridiculous! I have contacted Cingular through their website (email) at least six times and called their office several times, only to be put on hold. Nothing I have done has helped! They WILL NOT contact me regarding this billing dispute!

Another AT&T; rep. kept forwarding me back to the menu system that connected me to her, where I would have to enter my phone number, and personal information all over again, go through numerous prompts, and menus, only to be reconected back to the same person, repeatedly! I never did get my problem solved, and my phone is still totally useless when roaming. I have spent a total of 6 hours playing phone-tag with AT&T; trying to get it fixed, but to no avail. I have found AT&T;'s customer support to positively horrible, and their product is totally sub-standard!

I went to the mall and talked to other AT&T people and was told I couldn't call the places they said for free. Only one small area. Also to cancel the contract would cost $200 per phone after 30 days instead of $10 per phone per month of the 12 month contract. I was suppose to have 500 more minutes and a big calling area.

I would not have ordered these phones if I had been given the correct information. Now I just want my money back but instead of just taking the phones back to where they came from, I must wait for a certain mailing label from the company and they estimate the time for my refund of $207 at about 30 days. I was misled and even though they had me pay for Fed Ex, they are only paying for regular mail and holding my money up. I wanted to go in person to make sure they don't say there was damage etc. I end up paying about $30 for four days of cell phone use.

I called AT&T to complain and expected to have them gladly remove the excess charges. After a personality conflict with one supervisor "Monica", no one else was permitted to override her decision to help me. I e-mailed the company only to receive another "I'm sorry" response. I am willing to fight the big boys if that's what it takes to prevent excessive consumer charges and the lack of record keeping these companies have in these situations.

Billing 2/28 to 3/28--my bill was credited for a "MISDIRECTED CALL" for $104.13, they were still asking me to pay $93.03.

This is a scam. I will not pay. Another letter went out to AT&T. They were also advised I would be contacting Consumer Affairs. There should be some type of law to protect the innocent consumer.

Unfortunately, AT&T has been refusing to back off these charges to Chad, which are the result of a scam supposedly aimed at adult site visitors.

AT&T then said they were regular 900 calls, but they would cut the price in half. We refuse to pay anything, we did not do this. Every time we called back AT&T they changed the story. First they say they are internet related calls, then when we tell them we can prove they weren't they change the story. Finally they said it was going to investigations.

I called back myself and talked to a woman named Ida in the Massachusetts office. She said we were cleared of the charges and a credit would be made to our account, it would take up to two billing cycles to hit our account. She even gave me a confirmation number. I asked her if a lot of people were having trouble with these calls to Chad Africa, and she told me no because AT&T had an account with this company, and other companies like psychic hotlines.

Just two days ago we get a phone call from Vincent in investigations with AT&T saying they are reinstating the charges. When my husband told him we already had a confirmation number clearing us of the charges, he said that was only a credit while under investigation. Now he says that we do owe the money. He told my husband I misunderstood Ida, and that there was no way that she told me that AT&T even has accounts with companies like these (adult porn).

This is a pure lie to cover-up their poor service. This was ongoing from October 1999 when I got the service until now. I called, wrote a letter, sent various emails and the response I got was incredibly blunt. I was told "the service is not guaranteed to be reliable" and one person even referred me to the terms and conditions of the agreement stating that they were not liable.","This is my only phone.

I am currently seeking a post-MBA job and have been unemployed since September 1999. In spite of the fact that my family and friends have a difficult if not impossible ability to reach me on my cell phone using a few tricks I told them (hitting redial multiple times), I do not know what prospective employers did.

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?

Upon conversations with a couple of Customer Service Reps., and a message from a Manager, they have no record in their file of my request for the One Rate Plan and will not adjust my account. The last Customer Service Rep. I spoke with, Terry, said she feels that my complaint is extremely legitimate and she agreed with me when I told her I was not planning to pay my bill until I receive an adjustment. She was going to specifically speak to her Manager about my situation and have her Manager call me back. Her Manager left a message that she would try back, but left me no way to contact her directly.

Last night and again this morning I tried to get some sort of acceptable response through their online customer service, but received the same results. A customer service rep. wrote back that they reviewed the notes in my file and cannot make an adjustment. I specifically requested direct contact information for someone above the Manager level with whom I could discuss my situation. I am awaiting a response.

I called to have the situation resolved and was told that Fredericksburg was not covered, and I would have to FAX documentation to them showing them why I thought Fredericksburg should be. (It didn't matter that I have had service for 8 mos or so at that time and my previous bills had calls in that area that were not billed at roaming rates, or the fact that it was on their web site.)

I talked to 3 alleged supervisors that would resolve the situation, but in fact did nothing. I placed appx 50 calls to customer service trying to resolve the problem. Finally I was able to get AT&T to credit the account for the overcharges, at which time I was told that I would probably get billed incorectly again because Cincinatti Bell did the billing for them. I don't know if the threat of class action lawsuit meant anything, but at least this month I was not billed for roaming in my Home Rate area.

Unfortunately the poor service did not end there. Starting July 3rd, AT&T voice mail system has been unreliable. I called to complain and was read a prepared statement that "We are working on it" It is now July 27 and they are "still working on it". All I want to do at this point is cancel this service and be done with it. At this point I have spent over 2 hrs trying to accomplish this task. It appears that once they have you, they make it IMPOSSIBLE to get rid of them,

I have spent at least 20 hrs on the phone trying to resolve these matters. I have been stressed out from dealing with the representatives of AT&T that are totally clueless of the services that they offer. I work for a large Net company and I am on 24 hr call by phone, the phone service has proven to be unreliable (Often the phone would not even ring and with the voice mail problems I would not know that I had been called) all of this causing co-workers to be agitated when they finally reached me through other means.

Every time the voice mail indicator goes off erroneously I worry that I missed a call and that it was escalated beyond me. I was told today by a representative that regardless of all of the features that they offer, that I should not be basing business on this phone.

We suggested to Mike that if he really wanted action, he should sue AT&T in Small Claims Court. His response was:

What it really sounds like is AT&T has you in their back pocket. Obviously you condone overcharging, and incredibly poor customer service. Thanks for the lip service.

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.