AT&T Misrepresentation and fraud to make sale of new service San Antonio And San Francisco Texas and California

I have a small business and my phone service has been with Pacific Bell (now AT&T) since 1992. Pacific Bell was bought by SBC and later SBC bought AT&T. Through it all I was a loyal customer as I had good service at what I thought was a fair price. When the phone company became the "New AT&T", us pre-existing customers were grandfathered in, meaning we kept our existing service at the existing price - mine was about $49 per month.

In December 2007, I was called by a lady who swore she was with AT&T. As she had access to my billing information, I believed her. She said they had a new service that would save me money and give me more services on my phone then at a lower cost then I currently had. I asked her three times (it is recorded) if this were really true and why would the phone company be wanting to get less money from me. It sounded too good to be true, so I was very skeptical. She assured me she was with AT&T and said because I was such a loyal customer. I said ok, if it would cost me less money only.

It did not cost me less money - my phone bill would increase about $22.00 a month. I have now talked with customer service, the business services, marketing, billing disputes; and sent letters to their legal folks. The best result is that I do not have a year contract with a penalty if I stop service. They all have wasted a lot of my time, given me great frustration, and done nothing to give me back the service I had at a fair price.

Even though they all have listened to the tape of my conversation with their representative that solicitated me, and agreed with me saying they were very sorry, they say there is nothing they can do.

I have paid all my bills on time since becoming a customer in 1992. You think they would care about a loyal customer, but obviously not. This is an irresponsible company now. I have a choice as I could change my phone service and I would if I can retain my phone number -- very tricky.

Tina
Lake Forest, California
U.S.A.