Phone Bill Woes...Need Some Advice

[Henro]

Hi,

Need some help/advice...I hope no one minds me posting this question here... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

I am trying to help a friend who is new to this county. The only reason I am involved in this is because his native language is not English.

It’s a long story, but I’ll give a brief summary. He signed up with Verizon for phone service last September after arriving in the States. He did not get an international calling plan. Perhaps he did not understand at the time that there were such calling plans.

Anyway, after getting an initial bill or two, and being charged about $3.00 per minute for international calls, he stopped using the phone. He paid those expensive first Verizon bills in full. He called AT&T and switched to their international calling plan.

He received a letter welcoming him as an AT&T customer. He called AT&T and spoke with someone [a customer service person in his native language] and was told that it was OK to call international now, that he was activated on the AT&T international plan. That was in late October. He started using the phone again.

He gets his bill for November and there are $1,366 in international phone charges on it from Verizon! He stops using the phone again after seeing the November bill. And due to the overlap of billing cycles and arrival time of the bill, he also has $721 of international billing charges on his December bill.

Since January 21, I have literally spent about 12 hours on the phone with Verizon/AT&T and/or writing letters on my friend’s behalf. It looks like AT&T either did not actually make the switch happen, or it happened and then a few days later he was cancelled as an AT&T customer.

He would have no motivation to cancel and go back to paying $3 per minute. It would be totally illogical for him to do this. So I believe someone at AT&T messed up, somehow, someway.

Verizon is unwilling to change the charges, or to negotiate them downwards. They do not even have a number for the long distance billing department that a consumer can call. The have no mediator/arbitrator to make a decision. At least that is what they tell me.

AT&T claims they have no responsibility in the matter and that the service was cancelled at his request, which is not the case. But apparently that is what the AT&T computer says. They are unwilling to provide anything in writing to document how this happened.

So my friend is in the position of being a pebble between two large rock mountains.

As a foreigner and not real strong in the English language he is hesitant to do something like go to small claims court, if this would even be possible in this situation. Getting an attorney involved looks like it would quickly eat up the $2,000 in question.

It may be possible to file a complaint with the FCC, but I am not sure if that will help or not.

Ideally, it would be nice if the facts could be put in front of an arbiter/mediator, but I don’t have a clue how this would be done, if it were even possible. Verizon acted like I was nuts for even suggesting that such a thing might make sense. I have not yet called AT&T to ask if they have any kind of arbitration/mediation. I’m sick of being on the phone, got to take a break first.

Verizon says: It’s not our problem if AT&T did not switch you. Pay the $3 per minute. $2,000+ total.

AT&T says: You cancelled your International Calling Plan with us [not true]. It’s not our problem, you were a Verizon customer.

It seems to me that it is most likely that AT&T somehow messed up. It would be nice to put the facts in front of an independent third party and get a decision, and abide by it. I guess that is what the courts are for. But there should be an easier way!

I want to help this guy but I am lost at this point.

Ideas anyone??? Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated!

I want to put a /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif here, but the way I really feel at the moment is /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[BillG_in_TX]

It sounds to me like someone at Verizon could have switched him back without his knowledge or permission (aka "slamming"). /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

If there is a recording of the cancellation conversation, maybe he has a chance at contesting it. But AT&T doesn't have anything at stake here, and Verizon doesn't appear to have a downside - except for bad publicity in forums like this. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[Bird]

Bill, first thing is that I believe he should have gotten a confirmation number when he contacted AT&T to change to their service, but I'll bet he didn't write that down. Second thing is that there's been a lot of publicity about "slamming" so I wouldn't think that anyone at Verizon would do that (of course I'm not sure who changed it back to Verizon from AT&T). And since we're in different states, I don't know whether you have a Public Utilities Commission like we have in Texas. I had a problem once with Verizon, when it was still GTE, Southwest, and got nowhere trying to deal with them. So I called the Public Utilities Commission at the state capitol, and had GTE calling me that same day to get the problem corrected.

After I posted this, I looked and found your Public Utilities Commission here.

 

[Golfgar4]

Bill,

I may be way off base here. Heck, I can't even remember my cell phone number, let alone figure how the billings are supposed to work! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Anyway, was your friends switch made under the new regualtions that let a customer switch from one service to a different service and still keep the first phone number?

If it was, it seems to me that I recall reading that there is some kind of site or number a person can call when they have problems with a switch. It might be worthwhile to do a little surfing to see if you could find out about that.

Of course, if you just wait a little while, someone on TBN will provide the information right here!

Good luck. It's great that you're trying to help your friend out this way! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Hakim]

You or he will get NO WHERE trying to get one phone company or the other to accept that there was a "mistake" made.

Your only shot is to make a formal complaint of "slamming." The FCC administers these regulations.

TELEPHONE SERVICE • Slamming

!Protect Yourself: Slamming

“Slamming” is the illegal act of switching your long distance, local toll or local telephone company without your permission.
You may not know until you find a different company name on your bill, or your phone charges are much higher than normal. If you’ve been slammed:

• ask your local phone company to switch you back to your original company at no charge;

• tell the original company you’re switching back, and ask to be enrolled in your previous calling plan; and

• contact the company that slammed you, whose name and number is on the bill, to exercise your rights not to pay those charges.

If you’re unable to resolve your complaint, contact the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB)
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th St., SW
Washington, DC 20554
Toll free: 1-888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322)
Toll free: 1-888-TELL-FCC (1-888-835-5322)
e-mail: fccinfo@fcc.gov
www.fcc.gov

Public inquiries, informal complaints,
cable, radio, satellite,
telephone, television and wireless.

FCC Slamming Complaint Form

There are also State links that allow for complaints ot be filed within the State as well. Go to your state home page and look for consumer complaint pages. Or just do a search on "slamming."

It may take some time, but I believe in the end these charges can be reversed. It is unlikely that the second company will assume payment for them.

Hope this helps. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[PineRidge]

Hakim had a good answer contact the FCC but go one step further and also fire a complaint letter off to your State Attorney General as well. You would be surprised at just how much weight a letter like that can have. Especially if the FCC or Attorney General has any previous complaints against this Company that you may not be aware of. Good luck to you Henro I applaud you for your efforts in this matter.

 

[Hakim]

Henro,

If this was a "wireless" phone, there are additional avenues for complaint. Apparently there have been many thousands of problems, errors and complaint since the "portability" rules went into effect at the end of November. You need to tuie this to either "slamming" or "portability", because those are two "flashpoint" words that the FCC will accept that the companies were probably at fault.

You can file an electronic complaint, but you would need electronic versions of all the relevant paperwork. You most likely will have to file a hard copy.

Here is the FCC advice:

What We Need From You If You Are NOT Filing Electronically:

We need the following information when you file a slamming complaint with the FCC:

your name, address and phone number

phone number(s) that was allegedly slammed

your e-mail address, if applicable

name of the phone company that allegedly slammed you

name of your authorized local phone company

name of your authorized long distance company

a brief statement of the facts

COPIES of your phone bill showing the name of the alleged unauthorized carrier and the disputed charges. (Important: if you file by e-mail or electronically, your bill must be attached, electronically, to your complaint. Otherwise, you can file by letter or fax and attach paper copies of your bill)

whether or not you have paid any of the disputed charges

Hope this helps...

 

[kevincook]

If he cancelled his AT&T service wouldn't he have NO service. Somebody must have told AT&T he was switching to Verizon.

I recently switched from MCI to Verizon and had to wait on the phone for a third party to confirm I was switching to them. The call was recorded. I would file complaints with the Attorney General, FCC and your public service commission and not pay the bill. Let them take your friend to court and produce the audio tapes confirming he actually told Verizon to switch him back.

Good Luck,
Kevin

 

[aloha]

Did he cancel the Verizon service? Or did he think that calling AT&T was sufficient, and then continued to use the Verizon account? If he did not follow the Verizon procedures to cancel, possibly including paying an early termination fee, then it may be his problem.

It does not sound likely that AT&T is the problem in this case (unlikely they would dump a paying customer), but it certainly may be possible that if he did do everything right Verizon might have slammed or crammed him.

What are the consequences if he tells Verizon to pound sand? Is he planning to stay in this country? Does he need credit?

 

[Henro]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the input so far. My head is kind of numb from this thing, so I am going to let things settle a bit before I review a pile of papers and notes I have on this matter...

Couple things I may not have been clear on. It was a land line, not a wireless phone. I thought when one changed from one long distance provider to another, the the one you were going to handle the switch, if you agreed to switch. I will have to ask my friend if he did the third party verification thing. He would have have had to do it right the first (and only, according to my friend) time I would assume since he got a welcome letter from AT&T. Why things were changed away from AT&T is anybodys guess. I should contact AT&T and verify this switch back.

I am pretty sure that he had service wiht AT&T for a period of time, like a week or so. The letter he received from AT&T welcoming him as a new customer was dated after the date they say his service was terminated at his request.

Before he actually used the phone again, he called AT&T to verify that he was indeed all set up as their customer. I wonder if something happened as the result of that call? He did speak with someone in his own language, so he is certain there was no miscommunication on his part. The other person was not a native speaker of his language, but did speak quite well.

There is a chance I am missing something, but I think I am telling it right. I'll say one thing for sure: It sure is harder to be sure of the all the details when the details concern something that is not your own personal business!

I think the complaint to the FCC and Attorney general is the way to go. Also perhaps the PUC, but they may be more concerned with local calling rather than international...

My friend wants to do the right thing in this matter. I don't think he is the kind to attempt to pay nothing. He might even give up and pay the whole thing in the end, and this would be unfortunate! He is being hit by a crazy bill and neither verizon or AT&T have any interest to see the situation for what it is. There is something pretty wrong with this picture...it is on the verge of dishonest the way both these huge companies deal with the little guy.

It's scary really. With a calling plan you can call abroad for under 10 cents per minute just about anywhere in the world. Yet, without a plan they can charge a person more than 30 times the plan rate, and they don't even have to advise you that you are unknowingly running up a $1,000++ bill. While the costs of service at the supplier end is the same. Putting this into perspective, an hour of talking that with a plan would cost less than $6, costs $180+ without a plan... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Then there is the unknown related to the language barrier...which should have been minimized when talking to AT&T because they have customer service reps that speak a number of foreign tongues...

Guess my words here are proving my mind is indeed numb! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif