AT&T's outrageous billing practices

[ron ll]

I planned a vacation in Canada for two weeks in August so I added an international plan to my service to get a reduced rate on roaming charges. I've now returned, no longer in Canada, so I've cancelled the extra plan. Now AT&T informs me that I should keep the extra plan for another month because all of the charges from Canada may not have been processed yet and if charges come in next month, they would be charged at a much higher roaming charge even tho the calls were made last month.

So in other words, because THEIR accounting procedures may take another month, I'm expected to pay for another month of service even tho I no longer need the service except to cover THEIR slow accounting!!! And of course there is nothing I can do about it. It is their policy. I simply WILL be charged at the higher rate.

If I told my clients I had a billing policy that charged them extra because I may be late sending out their invoices, I would be laughed out of business. Yet that is what AT&T expects us to believe is a fair policy on their part.

[macgirl]

This is irritating, but I understand that this is not solely AT&T's fault - the carriers on which you roam need to send your usage to AT&T, and *this* is the part that can take time. So, if you were roaming on Rogers or Fido in Canada, AT&T has to wait to hear from them on the calls you made and the data they used before they can bill you since they don't have direct access to determine this themselves. And those carriers can take their sweet time doing this. I've heard this spiel from AT&T before I traveled to Canada and the Caribbean as well, and I just wait until I see all the calls/data on my bill from AT&T before canceling the international roaming plan, since paying for the plan for another month may still be cheaper than paying the full roaming rates...

[ron ll]

Still outrageous. There is absolutely no reason that they can't note the dates the charges were incurred and bill accordingly. A call made in August should be billed at August's rates, not September's.

[macgirl]

Still outrageous. There is absolutely no reason that they can't note the dates the charges were incurred and bill accordingly. A call made in August should be billed at August's rates, not September's.

I agree - they could and should, but they don't because they get more money from you this way. :angry: