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Author Topic: How I love AT&T....NOTTTTTTT!  (Read 6029 times)

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Harley Hexxe

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How I love AT&T....NOTTTTTTT!
« on: Time Format »

Hey Gang,

     Yeah I made it back finally, no thanks to my former ISP.
     As of January 2nd, I found myself no longer connected to the internet because of past due charges to the tune of $169.00! Well, of course I called AT&T to find out why all this was so out of control, only to find out that my rates for my U-verse internet had gone past the promotional rate and I was now being charged their standard rate which is around $80/mo. It seems a bit steep to me just to stay connected, but needless to say I was miffed about it because I was only one month behind on it. They wanted the past due amount and a $55.00 reconnection fee to put me back on ??? Well that still didn't add up to the amount shown on my email notification.
    After going through several Indonesian reps who only knew enough English to be able to accept my payment I hung up on them until I got my bills sorted out then called them back on January 30th to get them squared away. Now I was informed that my total amount due was $215.00 plus a $55.00 reconnection fee! Now, I asked them how did the amount jump to that figure? The answer I got was that my service was only SUSPENDED, not disconnected! I said, "What's the difference? I've been unable to get online because I've had no service, but you are going to bill me for service anyway??? You're billing me for something you did not give me!"
    I got no where with the bimbo I was talking to and finally got fed up and told her to cancel my account I would just get service with a different provider. I paid them the initial $169.00 and told them to eat the rest of it.
    I called another provider and set up an appointment to get connected again. I thought I was finished with AT&T at that point, but a week later I get a letter from them, stating that they wanted their modem back! This was the same modem they made me buy at the beginning of my service, and billed me an additional $33.00/mo along with my service charges! When I called them back then about the extra charges, they told me in no uncertain terms, I was paying for the modem they installed. I asked them what that meant exactly, and I was told I was buying the modem!  That made me a bit angry, and I fold them I didn't want to buy anything like that, but I was told it was the company policy, so I didn't have any choice. Now, they want that back or they are going to bill me $150.00! Of course, I got on the phone with them and reminded them that they made me buy that piece of junk at the beginning of my service. Well the rep I had on the phone went back through my payment history and found the charges and tried to tell me it was an installation fee. I told him what the other reps had told me about purchasing the equipment, and nothing was ever said about installation fees!
   We went round and round for about 20 minutes and I wasn't getting anywhere with this Indonesian guy I was talking to until I told him I was through with this conversation and I was going to call the FCC, and FBI and ask them to look into this shady deal. That was when this character changed his tune and told me he would refund  the full amount to me for the equipment I was billed for, but it would take 4-5 billing cycles for me to receive the check for the amount! I said" 4-5 billing cycles? that means 4-5 months is that correct?" He says 'Yes, that's correct.' And then he started talking about returning the modem again and I stopped him cold. I told him if they were going to take that long to refund the money I paid for the equipment, then I will hold the equipment until I have their check in my hands, and the same day I get that, they will have their equipment back as I will gladly drop it off at an AT&T store. He began to argue that they will bill me for it but I told him I'm not paying them another dime.
    What's fair for them is fair for me too!

   AT&T :poop:

   Okay, now I got that bullshit off my chest, it's time to get back to the good things in life :headbanger:


     Harley 8) (I'm cool)
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Kim

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Re: How I love AT&T....NOTTTTTTT!
« Reply #1 on: Time Format »

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the internet service in UK provided to everyone for free?

I tell you, there's a Think Tank team of people right now trying to figure out how to charge "customers" for sunlight.
F**kers.   >:(
« Last Edit: Time Format by Kim »
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Harley Hexxe

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Re: How I love AT&T....NOTTTTTTT!
« Reply #2 on: Time Format »

You think the air is free? Remember that the next time you open a bag of potato chips.
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Dante

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Re: How I love AT&T....NOTTTTTTT!
« Reply #3 on: Time Format »

Harley, you are preachin' to the choir brother. I had them for phone service.

I called one day to tell them to pound sand. They said they were sorry to see me go, but gave me an amount of the charges so far, and I authorized the charge on the phone that minute. They assured me that would be the end of it, last bill.

Guess what I got a couple weeks later? A bill for $13 and change, which I refused to pay. They turned me in to a collection agency that hounded me for months. I called AT&T and told them how disgusted I was & they said 'we show you owing nothing' but what happened was, they turned me in to the collection agency and just considered the bill 'taken care of' not paid, but done.

So, I got that going for me, a bill never paid that seems to stick to my credit report like molasses.

F**K AT&T

I'm cool too, that was years ago, I simply don't use them

Harley Hexxe

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Re: How I love AT&T....NOTTTTTTT!
« Reply #4 on: Time Format »

Well Dante,

    I thought it would be prudent to explain my unexpected absence from the Depot all of a sudden, especially when there was so many interesting topics happening all at once. Now I have to catch up on everything I missed thanks to that. Of course, I'll have to wait and see what happens next year with Spectrum Cable after the promotional rate expires here. I'll probably be looking for another ISP then :lol:

   My credit is  :poop: anyway, so I don't give a rat's ass. When I want something, I work for the money and pay for it! Credit is what has the whole damned country in trouble!

    Harley 8)
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MarshallJMP

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Re: How I love AT&T....NOTTTTTTT!
« Reply #5 on: Time Format »

I'm curious on how much ISP choice you have in the US or anywhere else? Here we only have 2 choices.Also interested in what others pay for their internet and what you get for it?

For me I pay 120 euro/month for my telecom stuff. It's an all in one package with 5 cell phones (unlimited calls and texting and 1Gb data), digital television, telephone (also unlimited calling) and internet (200Mb download 20Mb upload unlimited data).
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Harley Hexxe

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Re: How I love AT&T....NOTTTTTTT!
« Reply #6 on: Time Format »

Hey MJMP,

     It depends on your geographical location here. There are a lot of ISP's but some have a limited service area, while others can cover a wider range. So the physical location of your house determines who can provide service for you. Here, where I am, I think I can choose from 4 ISPs.
     The bigger companies offer bundles, and want you to get those, or they charge a higher rate for individual services. As in my case, Spectrum was offering a bundle for Internet, Phone, and Television. Since I haven't used a land-line phone in over 8 years, I didn't see the need for that, and I don't care for TV, (it turns your brain into mush), so I didn't get it.
   Other companies offer the same things but may also include cell phone service, and other options. So it's all about what you want and how much you are willing to pay for it.

     Harley 8)
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MarshallJMP

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Re: How I love AT&T....NOTTTTTTT!
« Reply #7 on: Time Format »

Here we have 2 one that uses the landlines and ADSL and an other that uses the coax cable.Since I live on the "outback" ADSL was way too slow for me so for some speed I went for the company with the cable.
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Dante

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Re: How I love AT&T....NOTTTTTTT!
« Reply #8 on: Time Format »

I have two choices, both of which offer high speed cable (and internet/tv/phone bundles). I pay $90 US per month just for internet. I pay $30 per month for phone, from a separate company. My ex an I split the TV bill and I simply stream TV online from that account.

I've been with the TV provider (DISH) and the ISP (Comcast) for so long, it's in my best interest to stay with them, nobody else can beat the price for the features.

rnolan

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Re: How I love AT&T....NOTTTTTTT!
« Reply #9 on: Time Format »

In Australia we have quite a few ISPs with various plans.  They generally piggy back on the big guys and connectivity here depends very much where you are.  The small ISPs and mobile (cell) phone providers generally target highly populated city areas, so good luck if you live in the country/bush.  Because of Australia's geography, some use satellite to get a service.
The land line network was mostly owned by Telstra (which used to be government owned, now 1/2 gov owned I think) anyway, they own all the copper to everyone's house and these days the majority of people have ADSL2 over twisted pair, so good if you are close to the exchange (up to 24 Mbps if you are very close), not good if you are further away  :dunno: .
Many years ago a Canberra company (TransACT) rolled out fiber to the node to some suburbs, I have this were I rent (VDSL costs ~$90 p/month, 50GB data, 25 Mbps down/5 Mbps up (though I seem to get about 60 Mbps when I test it and I can pay more to get 100 Mbps)).  They do a bundle which has some TV, internet and VoIP.  I never use the VoIP as I have my mobile with Telstra (as they have the best cell coverage). Mobile cost me $98 p/month, 2 phones, $1000 calls (domestic), 5GB data (which my daughter uses), the only time I connect my phone to the internet is to tether my laptop through it when I travel. Depending where you are you get 3G or 4G or nothing  :facepalm:

The government is rolling out a National Broadband Network (NBN), it was supposed to be fiber to every house but has now been watered down to fiber to the node.  Some suburbs have NBN (eg where Mike lives), then on top of that you pick a "participating" ISP.

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Kim

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Re: How I love AT&T....NOTTTTTTT!
« Reply #10 on: Time Format »

I live in a very small town of about 2,000 people.  I have two choices for internet services: the one I have which requires a router thingie in my house and comes in from the phone line, or some satellite dish thing that gets it from ah I dunno.....space?  lol  The dish thing advertises a low price but needs to be "bundled" with a phone and television service.

I'm not interested in bundling services I already have, so the hard line in to my router is what I have.  I have no problem with whatever speed it already has as I'm not a gamer, but what really pisses me off is how random the service really is.  A rainy day will causes dropouts and slowdown of service.  I don't need super high speed, but the service can't be a shit one!  I pay for this!

The next town over about 8 miles away has a bigger population of about 11,000 and of course has much better internet.  Measly 8 miles away....

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Harley Hexxe

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Re: How I love AT&T....NOTTTTTTT!
« Reply #11 on: Time Format »

Kim,

   Isn't it amazing how a slight geography here in the US affects how we connect to the internet?
    If I live on the north side of town, I could get Comcast which services mostly in the Cleveland area, but I live 9 miles to the south so... I had to settle for Spectrum. (Formerly Time Warner)
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MarshallJMP

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Re: How I love AT&T....NOTTTTTTT!
« Reply #12 on: Time Format »

Well I thought telecom was expensive and slow here in Belgium but if I compare it it seems not to be so bad at all.
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rnolan

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Re: How I love AT&T....NOTTTTTTT!
« Reply #13 on: Time Format »

And apart from rain etc,  then there's network congestion as they are all very oversubscribed.  This really hurt Vodaphone in Australia, they had great plans but very little infrastructure so endless dropouts.
The rise of Netflix is also crucifying bandwidth here, it really slows down when everyone is streaming  :facepalm: (a pipe is a pipe).
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