gerta
03-14-07, 03:14 PM
Okay, so I'm a lousy consumer. Or perhaps a great one, from AT&T's perspective. I realized today I've been paying $35 a month for my DSL. That's either somewhat overpriced or very overpriced, depending on your service. In my case, it's ridiculously overpriced, as my service has max speed of 384 Kbps. The cheapest option now available has 384-768 Kbps for $15/mo.
So how does this happen? It seems that I should either have been receiving the premium service (3-6 Mbps at $35/mo, and even then, it would be nice if they informed me about such a change); or else they should have reduced my rate. I haven't been on an annual contract since 2003, so I wasn't locked in. But AT&T says it's not their job to make such changes, and that I have to call. I was "grandfathered in" on the old rate, and they made it sound like it's reasonable for them to continue offering this rate and slow connection in case people desire it, even though new subscribers can't select this option. Imagine that.
As I spoke with the AT&T rep, I became more enraged. It seems simple enough for AT&T to adjust the rate, but the rep explained that "we can't possibly be expected to sort through 8 million accounts." Imagine the technological hurdles in adjusting rates automatically as they change! It's almost as ludicrous as expecting AT&T to keep track of every phone call people make and then send a bill with the amount at the end of the month! He also insisted that AT&T kept me informed of the new rates by mail and via inserts in my phone bill, but I opted out of mailings and my bill comes online. Still, I don't see the logic there. If I were missing out on a special offer, fine. But here they simply charged me for more than they were providing.
If all that weren't enough, AT&T won't tell me how badly they screwed me. I asked for the DSL rate history in my area, and the rep said they don't keep that information more than 6 months back. Riiiight.
[/rant] I wanted to (a) warn anyone else that may be in the same boat, and (b) see if anyone has sought/found any recourse. I certainly need to pay better attention to my bill, but quite frankly, it's not at the top of my priority list and I like to believe I'm at least getting something like what I pay for (unrealistic, I know).
So how does this happen? It seems that I should either have been receiving the premium service (3-6 Mbps at $35/mo, and even then, it would be nice if they informed me about such a change); or else they should have reduced my rate. I haven't been on an annual contract since 2003, so I wasn't locked in. But AT&T says it's not their job to make such changes, and that I have to call. I was "grandfathered in" on the old rate, and they made it sound like it's reasonable for them to continue offering this rate and slow connection in case people desire it, even though new subscribers can't select this option. Imagine that.
As I spoke with the AT&T rep, I became more enraged. It seems simple enough for AT&T to adjust the rate, but the rep explained that "we can't possibly be expected to sort through 8 million accounts." Imagine the technological hurdles in adjusting rates automatically as they change! It's almost as ludicrous as expecting AT&T to keep track of every phone call people make and then send a bill with the amount at the end of the month! He also insisted that AT&T kept me informed of the new rates by mail and via inserts in my phone bill, but I opted out of mailings and my bill comes online. Still, I don't see the logic there. If I were missing out on a special offer, fine. But here they simply charged me for more than they were providing.
If all that weren't enough, AT&T won't tell me how badly they screwed me. I asked for the DSL rate history in my area, and the rep said they don't keep that information more than 6 months back. Riiiight.
[/rant] I wanted to (a) warn anyone else that may be in the same boat, and (b) see if anyone has sought/found any recourse. I certainly need to pay better attention to my bill, but quite frankly, it's not at the top of my priority list and I like to believe I'm at least getting something like what I pay for (unrealistic, I know).