AT&T Socks It To the Little People...Took My Money and Ran...

I am so frustrated right now!

My daughter has had an AT&T prepaid cell phone for three years now.  She pays for three months at a time most of the time, $25 bucks a hit.

She never used that much air time, it was an emergency phone, but to keep it alive you have to pay whether you use it or not.

This summer, in June, she received the notice that it was time to refill the phone.  She waited until July to pay, and paid at the end of the month, thinking she was within the 60-day period in which the phone would not be canceled on her.  She tried for a WEEK to make a payment, and the system gave her trouble, finally on July 30th she was able to get a payment into the system.

Well, they had killed her SIM card on July 29th according to one of the service reps.   Yet, the system took her payment, and a text response to the phone said it was applied to her account.

What the heck is THAT all about?

So...

I called customer service and went through their automated system a couple of times, it couldn't find the wireless number and after advising me to "dial" 611 from the phone (can't...it's dead, you dolts!) the service hung up on me.

We went to a wireless store, they couldn't help either.  But, they graciously allowed us to use their phone to call customer service AGAIN.  Talked to a real person who couldn't help, said she'd connect me with someone who COULD.  I told her fine, just don't put me in the automated system because it always hangs up.

I waited 20 minutes on hold, then got dumped into the automated system AGAIN.

I went home, and called customer service again.  The person who answered could not help, could barely speak English, so I asked for a supervisor, preferably one with English as their first language.  PUT ON HOLD AGAIN!

Finally, sympathetic person who spoke good English came on, asked me for all the information, then put me on hold AGAIN.  Many minutes later, she comes back and says I need to talk to the payment center in order to get a refund.

I waited on hold AGAIN.  Finally a pleasant young woman spoke with me for a bit, went and tried to process a refund.  After a few MORE minutes on hold, she came back and told me she was very sorry, but AT&T has a "no-refund" policy and she couldn't process it through.  The "system" wouldn't let her.

So.  I was not asking for a "refund".  I was asking for money that they took, and didn't give me service for.  In fact, they took the money after I was, by their action, NO LONGER A CUSTOMER.

And they won't give it back.

Well, a lot of AT&T higher ups are going to hear from me.  And, I will NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER again be an AT&T customer.