Warning about your phone bill (UPDATE AT post #11)

[disneyandme]

I called the phone company- something I do about once a year to see if I can rebundle it at a lowere price. I discovered that they had been charging us for a protection plan that we did not sign up for. We signed up for wiring protection and they charged us for wiring protection plus a travel plan with roadside assistance. Why would we sign up for roadside assistance when we have had AAA for over 20 years. They would not budge that we must have agreed to it and they had no record of our initial sign up. We set up this phone in June 2005 and the price difference between the 2 plans over that time is over $180. I have contacted the FCC and the BBB but wanted to warn people to check their bills carefully and question each item.
*****UPDATE AT POST #11***********

 

[disneyandme]

bump!

 

[S. C.]

Bump

 

[Stacieb]

Was it Verizon?? the have messed up my bill since I switched over in November, then added features I didn't ask for, then the price is going up $15-$20 in May. When I have a contract for 1yr for 1 price.. I'm ready to switch..

 

[my3sons77]

I worked for a phone company for 3 years. Formerly Alltel but is now Windstream. Did you have a package bundle, or did you add your features seperately? Sometimes protection plans like the one you mentioned are automatically included in with the package bundle. But honestly having a package with the protection plan with travel insurance is odd.

Could be that the original rep that set up your service wanted the commission from adding that feature. I have AT&T and when I set my service up they added International calling to my line, I don't even know anybody overseas. So I caught it and got it removed, that was an extra $5.00/mo saved.

How long has this been on your account? You may or may not get your money back. Their excuse will be that they send the paper billing every month and it is up to you to check over it and make sure everything is correct. If you talk to management and threaten to cancel phone service they may give you back the money but sometimes they can be really stubborn about it.

Good Luck

And make sure to always check over that phone bill when it comes in.

 

[ilovebassets]

a somewhat similar thing happened to us with our local phone company. we were signed up for a do-not call or do not list our number type of thing that we were being charged 2 or 3 bucks a month for without our knowledge. phone company very unresponsive to our complaints. as soon as we contacted the fcc (very easy to file a complaint online), the phone company became very responsive and helpful and credited all the money back

 

[disneyandme]

Yes, it's Windstream. The supervisor I spoke to was very difficult saying it was my job to check the bill each month for errors. I asked how I could notice an error when we did sign up for what we now know is called a protection plan and they had us paying for a protection package. Are we really supposed to check every bill against the specific wording they have for each type of service? I have filed with the FCC and th BBB and hopefully they will be more responsive. This has been going on since June 2005 and I just discovered it on Fri. I call about once a year and review our bill for possible pakages or lower pricing. I wonder how no one ever call this a wiring plus travel plan in all that time.

 

[my3sons77]

I kinda figured this was a Windstream situation. They really stress out the reps on selling selling selling. You actually get repremanded for not selling enough and actually doing your job which SHOULD be helping the customer. I never sold a thing and eventually moved to an area where I only had to deal with outside technicians.

I would defintely call back and speak with another supervisor, there are several. If you don't get anywhere with that supervisor, ask to speak with the manager. A normal rep that you speak to on the floor wouldn't be able to refund or credit your account for that amount, they need the ok from a supervisor or manager anyways.

I'm sorry you got a difficult supervisor, some of them really have a superiority complex and can be downright rude and nasty. I remember them all too well.

 

[my3sons77]

I kinda figured this was a Windstream situation. They really stress out the reps on selling selling selling. You actually get repremanded for not selling enough and actually doing your job which SHOULD be helping the customer. I never sold a thing and eventually moved to an area where I only had to deal with outside technicians.

I would defintely call back and speak with another supervisor, there are several. If you don't get anywhere with that supervisor, ask to speak with the manager. A normal rep that you speak to on the floor wouldn't be able to refund or credit your account for that amount, they need the ok from a supervisor or manager anyways.

I'm sorry you got a difficult supervisor, some of them really have a superiority complex and can be downright rude and nasty. I remember them all too well.

This has been going on since June 2005 and I just discovered it on Fri. I call about once a year and review our bill for possible pakages or lower pricing. I wonder how no one ever call this a wiring plus travel plan in all that time.

I would definetly keep bringing this point up. If you call once a year to try and lower your phone bill, the protection plan with travel should have been mentioned and you should have been informed that you can get a cheaper wiring plan. If I still worked there I'd help you out

 

[disneyandme]

Thanks for all of the input. I was so angry on Fri, but I have calmed down a bit- though not enough to let this go. We were definately cheated out of this money and I am going to keep trying to get it back. I wonder how many others are out there who don't even know they are paying more than they should be.

 

[disneyandme]

JUst wanted to update- almost 6 weeks later and I finally got someone to credit me back the money. YEAH!!I had to go 3 layers up the chain and deal with some rude people, but the last one was polite and did credit me account.

 

[my3sons77]

That's great! Do you remember who you talked to?

 

[emh1129]

JUst wanted to update- almost 6 weeks later and I finally got someone to credit me back the money. YEAH!!I had to go 3 layers up the chain and deal with some rude people, but the last one was polite and did credit me account.

Glad to see this update!