AT&T wireless cancelling service, removing me off bill pay, on phone for 3.75 hours, Internet

This was suppose to be simple.

 called last month.. 32 days ago to have AT&T change my bill date from the 20th to the 4th. I am on automated bill pay. I spent 1.45 hours talking to the representative where they said it was completed. Yesterday, their bill collector calls me to tell me I was not paying my bill. Amidst the confusion, she either hung up on me or we were disconnected (ironic as it is that I was on an AT&T phone.)

I called back yesterday and was on the phone with them for 1.63 hours where I learned that I was removed off of bill pay that month prior 'voluntarily' although I did not request to be removed. I requested that I be returned to bill pay and they said I had to pay the balance. I paid the balance of 104 and change... the normal amount that was due each month and was sent to the next operator to change the bill date. Upon arriving there, I was told I owed 254.34 and that they could not do anything until it was paid. Now, if they said the 104... I would know that the computer systems were not melding yet. I have never been late prior to this and I have always paid my phone bill with auto bill pay.

The final conversation that day was that I had to pay 258.34 on my bill (after already paying the balance due of 104 and change). I was told that my phone would be canceled if I did not pay... yet I did not owe it and really just ignored him.

Today, I was on the phone for 43 minutes where he verified that I have a 3 dollar credit... showing that the 258.34 was an imaginary number... he also said that he moved the bill date... that is yet to be seen... he also stated that the process of moving the bill date is something that any of the phone support could do...

Is it a ripoff? Is 2.51 hours of your time worth anything?
How about being lied to by an AT&T customer service rep? How about being required to pay imaginary amounts that do not pertain to any real recorded numbers?
How about being threatened?
Where does the fact that the customer service took it upon their self to cancel services that I requested without my permission?

I see this as a ripoff. I was forced to 'play their game' with my time and money.

Customer service is not possible without customers and can not be done without serving the needs of the customers... our life is not some random play toy for the bored phone support... stop ripping us off and get some training. While we are talking to you, we are not working and making money...


inflating something in interest of padding the time clock is unethical.