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Our-verse
Last week, Stop the Cap! reported AT&T customers in Connecticut were being told to dump their long-standing DSL service in favor of a forced upgrade to AT&T U-verse. Now some Texans are in the same boat, only that “free upgrade” AT&T offered ended up costing one angry customer $337.
The Star-Telegram found Judith Hedges, who reports she was bullied and intimidated by AT&T’s increasingly threatening letters warning if she did not upgrade her Internet connection to AT&T U-verse, her DSL service will be summarily disconnected.
AT&T pulled the plug last week, leaving Hedges without Internet service.
Consumer reporter Dave Lieber writes, “AT&T has found a new way to lure customers to its supposedly faster U-verse service: Force them to take it.”
As AT&T installs U-verse fiber to the neighborhood service, the company has decided to stop investing in its older DSL technology, and when conditions are right, the company sends letters to their existing DSL customers imposing an “upgrade” to U-verse.
Hedges suspected the threatening letters were part of a high-pressure sales pitch to add TV and phone service, services she did not want, so she tossed the letter away. Big mistake.
AT&T is giving out different answers as to when and why they are forcing DSL customers to switch to U-verse. One told Lieber the company is now introducing forced upgrades wherever U-verse becomes established, another told the reporter the choice remains with the customer as long as the company does not decommission its DSL service in a particular exchange.
AT&T told the newspaper “the large majority of existing customers we’re reaching out to can upgrade to the same-speed package on U-verse without an increase to their broadband bill.”
But that does not always turn out to be true. Hedges signed up for the “free upgrade” to get her service back and promptly found it was more expensive than what she had. In fact, the company loaded her first bill with add-on equipment fees, installation charges, surcharges, taxes, and fees:
- AT&T U-verse temporary promotional rate: $29.95
- Internet Gateway fee: $100
- Installation: $149
- Taxes, fees, and surcharges
The total price for Hedges “free upgrade?” $337. AT&T will reserves the right to bill her a late fee if her check is not forthcoming.
“Apparently, this is the world we live in,” Hedges says. “And AT&T reigns supreme.”
Other stories of interest:
- AT&T Forcing Some DSL Customers to Upgrade to U-verse or Face Service Suspension
- Exclusive: Frontier Communications Has Plans for AT&T U-verse for Landline Customers
- AT&T Notifying Customers About The ‘Tremendous Value’ of U-verse, So They Raise Rates
- AT&T U-verse Introduced in Central Illinois & Corpus Christi, Texas
- AT&T Adds New Jobs in St. Louis to Handle U-verse Service Calls
Ours is a heartbreaking example of AT&T win-at-all- costs. A week doesn’t go by when there isn’t an article documenting AT&T’s over-zealous or too abusive treatment of a large segment of their customers including the elderly.
Please read this as you should be informed of the treatment AT&T inflicts upon an elderly couple suffering with Congestive heart disease. The documented facts are indisputable:
In any other country, this elder abuse would be illegal. It’s not that difficult to figure out. The question is will we have the intestinal fortitude to act on behalf of these people or sit by and watch.
Notwithstanding aforesaid reprehensible treatment, the mindset of AT&T and their employees is lackadaisical and dangerous. There was absolutely no reason for trained technicians to not find a Bridge Tap earlier than three months while customer paid for 3.0 Mbps during that time.
AT&T agreement for one year of DSL $14.95 3.0 Mbps
Customer pays for 3.0 Mbps but only gets 1.5 Mbps, and that’s after the three months it took the trained technicians to find the Bridge Tap
On or about the ninth month, customer discovers a substantial rate hike of $49 on their bill not specified in the contract. AT&T alleged one calendar year elapsed notwithstanding the three months customer paid for services AT&T failed to rendered.
AT&T failed to reimburse customer the modem purchase price pursuant to contract notwithstanding the customers written and verbal requests and assurances from an AT&T supervisor.
AT&T is dropping the elderly customers speed daily, sometimes multiple times a day. The speed never goes up ONLY DOWN!
What started as speeds of 1.5 Mbps is now ONLY .74 Mbps (point seventy four).
Again, Current speed is under POINT SEVENTY FOUR .74 Mbps and DROPPING
The Ill Elderly customer has a Life Threatening Congestive Heart Disease. Notwithstanding ongoing issues with internet, numerous calls to report trouble on the phone line have also gone unanswered and or unresolved.