WARNING if you use AT&T long distance

[Towncrier]

Starting this month, AT&T charges a monthly minimum long distance charge for many residential phone bill plans. I saw something on TV that alerted me to the reason that my home phone bill jumped $7. We never make long distance phone calls from our land line, so I was amazed to see a $5 monthly minimum charge added to this month's bill.

I immediately called my local phone carrier and switched to a long distance carrier that has no fee. I am on hold with AT&T right now to ensure that they stop billing me for calls that I don't make IMMEDIATELY.

CHECK YOUR PHONE BILL CLOSELY THIS MONTH!!!!

 

[nativetxn]

Thanks for the heads up, John. We already switched from ATT&T but I will have to watch SBC carefully to make sure they don't do the same thing.

 

[OhMari]

Verizon added a $7.00 fee too for having long distance. I hardly ever make long distance calls and if I do I use my cell. I dropped it off our Verizon Bill $85 a year savings. And if I really need to make one, I just use a long distance carrier.

 

[lsyorke]

Watch your bills closely from At&T after you have changed. I got a bill 2 months after changing and AT&T was trying to charge me for long distance calls that were way after I had changed services. Verizon told me it happens all the time.

 

[Sleepy]

AT&T started that charge about 3 years ago in my area. It started when they separated the regular Verizon bill from an AT&T bill. If you do not use long distance on your phone, the bill will come every 3 months and will be $15 ($5 for each month). If you use at least $5 a month, you will not be charged a fee. I was not notified of this charge. Was sent an AT&T bill for $15 after the fact and by then it was too late. I closed the acct. Since I have a cell phone, I have no need for long distance on my house phone, so I closed the account. A few months later I got a postcard in the mail from AT&T thanking me for becoming a customer. I called and asked why this acct was reopened and they said they did not know. i informed them that this acct was closed and if they had not sent the mailing, I would not have known of the reopened acct and 3 months would have rolled before I had known about it and by that time it would have been too late. I would have been charged $15. I told them to close the acct again and make a note that NOBODY is to reopen this acct...not even US! It is to be permenantly closed! Well, a few months later, I got a letter from AT&T thanking me for becoming a customer! I called and asked them why this acct keeps geting reopened when there is notation stating never to reopen it. They said it was my local carrier opening the acct, since I have an agreement to use AT&T as a long distance carrier. I told them I did not care who said what, I personally closed the acct with AT&T and it is to remain closed. My bill from AT&T is seperate from my local carrier therefore, my actions to close accts is seperate too. They said to avoid this happening I would have to call the local carrier and take them off my service. So, I call Verizon and they tell me I have to pay $5 to remove AT&T as carrier. I told them no way! I called AT&T back and told them to make yet another notation on my acct that this acct is to NEVER be reopened and this was my 3rd time doing so and if it happens again I was calling my lawyer because it was harrassement. They never reopened the acct again! JUst be careful!

 

[Towncrier]

After being on hold for 15 minutes, I finally got to talk to someone about removing AT&T as my long distance carrier. I was told that a postcard was sent out a month ago explaining the rate increase. Bull. I never got that postcard. I haven't placed a long distance phone call on our land line in over two years.

I'll keep an eye on my bill to make sure that AT&T doesn't try to bill me next month for more calls that I didn't make.

Make sure to tell all your friends about this ripoff.

 

[TammyNC]

Thanks for the information. We rarely have long distance calls either. I may have to start doing some checking into another carrier.

 

[zulaya]

Ask your land line company to just not have a long distance carrier on your land line. We did that when we got cell phones because we didn't want to pay the fees that they insert just for having long distance service on your land line.

 

[Sleepy]

Originally posted by zulaya
Ask your land line company to just not have a long distance carrier on your land line.

In the case of Verizon, they wanted to charge me to remove a long distance carrier. Sure it was only $5, but it is the principle of the idea. I bypassed them and closed the AT&T acct! Problem permenantly solved after threatening to sue them. Explaination above. I later dropped Verizon too. They don't need my business if they insist on treating me that way!

 

[Towncrier]

My local phone company is Alltel. I asked them about removing the long distance carrier from my land line. They offered to set me up with Alltel as my LD carrier. They explained that there is no charge if I don't use long distance. On the rare occasion when my wife needs to make a long distance call, I decided to go ahead and setup Alltel as my all around local/long distance service.