AT&T Advertising Pay Per Call AT&T, AT&T Yellow Pages, AT&T Advertising Start-up Business, Beware! AT&T offers NO support, and charges you for hang-up calls! Flint, Michigan

As a start-up business, I was approached by AT&T "Pay Per Call". On the surface, it looks like a great deal....until...the salesperson dumped me, and literally vanished on me right after I signed on the bottom line. My ad was NOT approved by myself, and is a misleading joke that looks like it was created by a two-year old. Then, I discovered that I was being charged for hang-up calls. I tried to contact "my" rep, but he was "unavailable", so I spoke with someone else, who tried to help me. What I got in return was a rude and inappropriate call from his "supervisor", chastising me for "speaking to anyone other than "your" rep." I then tried to straighten out the mess AT&T had put me in (I've gotten a whopping $50 in business from the ad, BTW). I called a total of 15 times, each call lasting around an hour, and each call ending in, "someone will call you back".

Finally, someone did call me back. I then spent an excruciating two hours going over the details of every charged call to my phone over a four-month period. Comments were made such as, "Why don't you ever answer your phone? Why don't you call back on those hang-up calls and see if you can talk them into your services? Why are you unhappy with this service? Why are you unhappy with your ad? You gave up the right to approve your ad when you signed the contract. "

Anytime I question the ethics of the AT&T sales department, I am referred back to the contract. I recieved no support or input on how to be successful with this program, and the rep vansihed into thin air after making the sale. I have requested some sort of discipline, and a letter to the rep's file, and I am not backing down.

When I strongly resisted paying for hang-up calls, I was told that my phone was set to five rings, my message was too long, and I had 12 seconds for the rings and the message before AT&T started charging me, whether it was a hang up call or not. So. My phone is now set to two rings, and my "professional" message says "Please leave a message". So far, noone has.

If you're a new business looking for good advertising, and ethical treatment, DO NOT go with AT&T!