The New AT&T

Has anyone had trouble with the New AT&T? They have been adding charges to my bill that I didn't authorize. About the time they merged, they began hounding me to upgrade my DSL Lite, calling sometimes multiple times per day, evening threatening that I couldn't keep the Lite. I'm a small business, not a gamer, and really don't need any upgrades. One day the upgraded charge (from $30 to about $85) appeared on my bill. They did promptly credit me and downgrade my service.

Then they did call and offer to add on free long distance and even reduce my bill. Suspicious, I questioned them at length, asking several times if it was a promotion or if it would affect my contract in any way. They assured me that it wasn't a promotion but a regular fee, that my bill would even be less, that other companies were killing them, so it was not a promotion and wouldn't affect my contract in any way. So, reluctantly, I agreed.

Well, a $20 charge started appearing on my bill. I called and they wouldn't credit me previous months but they would take it of my bill.

This month, I received my bill with a questionable $20.00 fee. I called and as he was talking to his supervisor, I was abruptly disconnected and could not call back because it was now after hours. During the call, he said he was working with his supervisor and was indicating that since I agreed to the service, I couldn't get a refund. I replied that although I had agreed to the service, I had agreed to it without any additional fees.

In addition, I have lost some of my features in Complete Choice - ring control and pager notification. Each time I call them, they say it is fixed, but it never seems to work.

My contract with BellSouth is up November 5th and I am contemplating switching to Cavalier. I use them at home and notice no difference except the DSL is full speed for less. With their lowest business plan, I would get 100 hours monthly of long distance, much more than I need plus DSL, all for about $55.00 plus all the junk fees. With AT&T, I am currently paying $73 plus junk fees, $93 with the unauthorized long distance charges, $142 without a contract. Cavalier has no contracts.

Ideally, I would like to port to my mobile, but haven't found a reasonably priced DSL-only fee for my small business. Even at $50.00, it's about the same as having a phone line and the DSL with Cavalier. The only thing that they do not offer, at least with my home service, that I use is Remote Call Forwarding, Ring Control and Page Notification, but I think I will be able to live without that. Does anyone know of a better small business offering?

Perhaps one lesson is to record all business-related phone calls. The call center also recommended that I write them confirming the conversation and keep a copy.