AT&T Broadband: King of Greed and Sleaze

AT&T Broadband: King of Greed and Sleaze

Ironically, the very day that I sent my last letter (see below) to AT&T, threatening a lawsuit and an antitrust crusade, I received the money back from AT&T that they had owed me for over 5 months. I sent the last letter certified, and strangely I never received a receipt. I have not yet asked the Post Office why this is, but my old man assured me that there could not possibly be collusion between AT&T and the U.S. Postal Service. He's probably right, but I am not entirely convinced.

What happened was that my AT&T Broadband cable bill was being automatically debited from my checking account. After I terminated my account with AT&T Broadband, they continued to debit money from my checking account for the next three months. At the time, I was trying to close that checking account and was unable to because AT&T kept drawing from the account. I ended up absorbing 4 months of unnecessary service charges from my bank. I spent many long hours on the phone with AT&T trying to get these bastards to stop debiting money from my checking account. Many more hours were spent trying to get them to remit the money they had taken against my strenuous objections. It was a fucking nightmare. They had driven me crazy.

AT&T did send a response to my last letter to them. Unlike AT&T, I have respect for the law and so cannot legally publish written responses sent to me via the U.S. mail. This means I cannot share their response with you. In their response, they completely ignored my request to publish their response. (Why is that not a surprise?) The letter came on 2/8/02. It was written by Jim Collins who worked in the Executive Customer Care & Communications office at AT&T Broadband. Interestingly, he didn't sign the letter. Jim Collins is the same person who called me a few days earlier to confirm that I'd received my refund check. (This was several weeks after I'd sent the last letter to AT&T, which was certified).

Jim Collins' written response completely ignored the issues I addressed in my letter. He stated in the letter that AT&T hadn't been contacted by any state agency pertaining my issue. He did admit over the phone that the "DTE" had called AT&T. Hum? I contacted the Consumer Division of the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy Commission to complain about AT&T. Could it be that this is the "DTE" Collins was referring to in his phone conversation with me? Could Collins be a fucking liar? He certainly couldn't provide any substantiation for his assertion to me over the phone that AT&T had tried to contact me on many occasions when I challenged him over the fact that there was no caller ID record nor did they leave a voice mail. It's possible that they called with a blocked caller ID, but if that's so, why didn't Collins say this? The real question is, is this guy a moron, a liar, or both? But let's not get hung up on Collins. The real criminal here is William Schleyer. He's the guy who runs this corrupt outfit.

Collins said to me over the phone, "Is there anything else I can do for you." I told him that there was something you could do for me. You could pay me back the finance charges the bank charged me for the 4 months I had to keep my checking account open until you stopped drawing money out of it against my objections. Also, you could pay me back the money for the postage costs of the certified letter and the other letters. Collins couldn't do that, but he did offer me a whole free month of AT&T Broadband. Oh, just what I needed. That, and a bottle of arsenic. Pigs.

Why won't you go on the record Schleyer? Why won't you let me publish your response? Could it be you're trying to hide something?

First letter to AT&T Broadband:

Edward Phillips
[ADDRESS OMITTED]
[PHONE NUMBER OMITTED]

October 21, 2001

Attn: Customer Service Department
AT&T Broadband
Box 6505
Chelmsford, MA 01824

Dears Sirs or Madam,

My account number is: [OMITTED]. I recently received a "Statement of Service" from you indicating that you will withdraw funds from my checking account on 11/02/01.

I am writing to inform you, as I have over the phone four times, that I terminated my account on 8/21/01.

Please do the following:

· Terminate my account.
· Send me a written statement confirming that my account was terminated.
· Remit to me the money you have charged my account after it was terminated.

Sincerely,

Edward Phillips

Second letter to AT&T Broadband:

Edward Phillips
[ADDRESS OMITTED]
[PHONE NUMBER OMITTED]

December 13, 2001

Attn: Gail Pratt
Executive Customer Care & Communications
Office of the Vice President
AT&T Broadband
Box 6505
Chelmsford, MA 01824

Dear Ms. Pratt,

My account number is: [OMITTED]. You sent me a letter dated 11/12/01 stating that I would be receiving a refund check of $30.38 within 30 days. This has not happened.

It has been nearly 3 months since I terminated my account with you. This is my second letter to AT&T. I have called AT&T many times.

I am going to have to demand that AT&T pays me the money it owes me by the end of the year. If I do not receive this money by the end of the year, I will report AT&T's misconduct to the proper authorities. At this point, I am not ruling out taking legal action against AT&T.

I appreciate your taking the time to write me, Ms. Pratt, but the fact remains, AT&T has not refunded the money it owes me.

Sincerely,

Edward Phillips

Third letter to AT&T Broadband:

Edward Phillips
[ADDRESS OMITTED]
[PHONE NUMBER OMITTED]

January 22, 2002

AT&T Broadband
William Schleyer
P.O. Box 5630
Denver, CO 80217

Dear Mr. Schleyer,

On August 21, 2001, I cancelled my account, [OMITTED] with AT&T, yet you continued to debit money from my checking account, against my authorization and against my protests. Attached is a copy of the cable box return receipt and a letter to me from Gail Pratt, admitting that money is owed to me. This money was however not paid to me. A follow-up letter demanding my money was ignored.

I warned Gail Pratt that if my demands were not met that I would file complaints against your company to the proper authorities. She didn't listen. I have already filed complaints to The Department of Telecommunications and Energy Commission and my Attorney General. My demand for the money you owe me still stands, yet now I am issuing you another warning: If you do not remit my money within 30 days of the date of this letter, I will sue you. Excuses, apologies, and promises, are no longer acceptable. You have owed me money for five months now, and it's time to pay up.

This is very important, so you must read this very carefully: If you dare succeed in having me go to court to sue you, it will not end with the judge's decision -- in fact, the judge's decision will mark the beginning of my campaign. I will make it my mission to see to it that AT&T's monopolist trade abuses which make it possible for you to mug the public are exposed.

I am also asking for your consent to publish and/or distribute to others to publish any response you send to me.

Sincerely,

Edward Phillips

2/18/2002

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