AT&T charged me $870 by mistake and they won’t let Sage, Judiel or Maurice give it back

In July I threw my iPhone in the toilet and it didn’t work any more.

I went to the AT&T store here on Mission street in San Francisco for help. The person who looked after me told me I wasn’t due for a new phone until January. The service was amazing by the way. Much better than I was expecting. I asked them to activate an old Nexus I could use in the interim. It needed a different size SIM, so the agent in the store gave me one and activated it. I put it in the phone, and it worked.

The next day, the Nexus wasn’t consistently connecting to mobile data, so I called AT&T via 611, and the agent I spoke with sorted things out.

She also suggested I could avoid the two or three $20 over-plan data charges she saw on my bill by switching to some other plan called Family Whale Minutes and Whale Data Plus or something like that. That sounded like great proactive customer service too, so I agreed.

Then I received my bill a few weeks later. I see an $870 data overage charge and feel the blood draining out of my fingers. No problem, clearly AT&T glitched and they’ll sort it out before the auto-debit goes through once I call them. No one went to Europe, neither kid tethered a bitcoin mining server to their mobile, it must have had to do with the plan change. So I call and the agent says they’ll fix it.

And then a few days later, the charge goes through anyway. My total bill is $1,233 for me and my two kids. I was trying to get it under $300 a month.

I call maybe three times, three weeks apart, the calls are about 40 minutes each, where every time, I am assured I will receive an answer, “within two weeks,” and two weeks go by. Finally, this week (It is late September now) I receive a text letting me know that “Your issue has been resolved.” Great! I go look at my bill online and there’s no evidence anything has changed.

So this afternoon, I fired up the little chat window on ATT.com powered by TouchCommerce, and have the following conversation that took at least two hours. Note the agents, Sage, Judiel, and Maurice do really seem to want to help, but it feels like they’re up against a brick wall that reads:

Don’t give the money back no matter what.

Like the policies enforced by Insuricare, the Insurance agency that employs Bob Parr in Pixar’s The Incredibles. Here’s what transpired. My bold text:

I start by chatting with Sage from AT&T Chat services

AT&T — Sage : Thank you for using AT&T Chat Services. May I please have your name and reason for your chat?

Me : Hi — I was overcharged by $900 in July. I received a text this week saying the matter was resolved, but I see no credit applied to my account. Me : Can you apply the credit now and update my account to reflect the change please?

AT&T : I am showing we did go ahead and ask for an adjustment for overages on the account, I do apologize because we did go over on the data these would be charges for usage which we would be unable to waive. We did place a case on this to have these charges reversed. This case was declined as these are valid charges. If you would like to discuss this with our Billing department I can definitely get you to them, however these would be valid charges in which we are unable to adjust.

Me : How are they valid charges?
Me : Yes for sure.
Me : That is appalling.

AT&T : This would be because you went over on your data.
AT&T : Let me transfer you to someone who can better assist you with your issue. I will update them on our conversation so you will not have to repeat yourself. Please hold for 1–2 minutes.
time passes

Me : You added a plan to my account to prevent that from happening just prior. Look at my 7/22 bill.

Sage adds Judiel-E from billing to the chat

AT&T-Judiel : Hello there. I am glad that Sage coordinated with me to resolve your needs for today. Let’s continue the chat session! Let me review your previous chat so you won’t have to repeat yourself.
time passes

Me : Thanks

AT&T : I am sorry to know about the overcharge. I understand that there is supposed to be a credit applied on your account. Don’t worry, I am here to help you verify this and I will discuss what we can do to have it applied on your bill afterwards.

Me : I’ve heard that before.
Me : Your colleague just wrote that the charges were valid, and I actually owe the money.
Me : Can you confirm you will be able to credit my account now?

AT&T : That’s what I am doing now. Give 1–2 minutes to review your account here. Please stay on the chat with me and I will get back with the information and resolution needed.

Me : Thanks.

AT&T : One moment please.
time passes

AT&T : I am still reviewing your account. Please bear with me.
time passes

Me : OK
time passes

AT&T : Thank you for waiting.
AT&T : I am sorry for the delay.

Me : What did you find out?

AT&T : Upon reviewing your account here, it shows that cases was already made for the charge of the data overages but it was being declined due to high amount of credit. I was able talk to my supervisor about this, and don’t worry,as a valued customer what we can do right now is apply $400 credit balance because that’s the highest amount that a supervisor and a manager can apply.

Me : Thank you for that. When will you apply the rest?

AT&T : The reason why my supervisor offered the $400 credit is because the case that was created on your account for the $870 credit was declined. So the $400 is the only amount that we can credit on your account and we are now working on it.

Me : You are working on the remaining $470?
Me : Just to be clear. I will close my account unless you refund me the total amount.

AT&T : What I mean is, we are now applying the $400 credit on your account. But that’s the only amount that we can apply on your account since the request to waive the full $870 was declined.
AT&T : I totally understand that you want to remove the total amount and I am sorry if you are considering to cancel your service.

Me : Ok. Please apply it and then close the account.

AT&T : I would love to remove it all for you. If I’m just the owner of this company, I will do it without hesitation. Here’s what I can do, we can coordinate with our Customer Relations Team to see what we can do to remove the total amount.
AT&T : I will go ahead and connect you over to them and I will let them know about this so you won’t have to repeat yourself.
AT&T : Please stay on the chat within 5 minutes as I put you on the queue. I will make sure that a representative will be with you. One moment please.
time passes

Judiel adds Maurice-L from Customer Relations

AT&T : Hi, my name is Maurice-L. I’m glad you were connected with me. Allow me just a few moments to review your previous conversation, and I’ll be ready to help resolve your concerns.
time passes

Me : Thanks Maurice-L

AT&T : Checking in on a case, correct?

Me : I’m not sure how to answer that.
Me : I’m requesting for the fourth or fifth time that you refund me the $870 you charged me in error in May.

AT&T : One moment please.

Me : In July Your agent suggested I change plans to avoid the $20 charges for data overages, so I agreed, and then received an $870 higher bill instead of a lower charge.

AT&T : I’m looking that up.
AT&T : I’m reviewing the case.
time passes

Me : Thank you Maurice.

AT&T : No problem.
time passes
AT&T : Which was done due to plan change.
time passes

Me : Are you asking me a question?

AT&T : No, just looking into what happen here. Truly sorry about this.
time passes

Me : Ok thanks.

AT&T : And you move to the new plan Mobile Share plan.

Me : I’m not sure what you mean. I took the advice of the AT&T person who suggested I change plans.
time passes

AT&T : And you wanted the plan change cause you wanted unlimited Talk and text, correct?

Me : I don’t care about talk and text. We don’t use either very much. I called AT&T because the Android phone I went into the AT&T store to activate the sim for the day prior wasn’t connecting to the network properly. Your agent suggested on the same call that I could save some money on data charges by adding a plan that offered more data for the three family members.

AT&T : Ah.
AT&T : Let me see what I can do about the refund.

Me : Please do.
time passes

AT&T : Now, what I can do is I can go ahead and move you from teh 20gb for $150 to the 20gb for $100 thus saving you money on yourm onthly bill.

Me : In other words, you’re offering to repay me the $870 over 17 months? Me : Here’s what’s going to happen if you don’t immediately credit me with the $870 you over-charged me:
Me : I’m going to close my account. Or in other words, you will close it for me.

AT&T : I’m truly sorry to hear that. I can go ahead and set up your line to cancel at the end of your bill cycle if you’re not looking to port.

Me : I will port.
[ personal info deleted]
Me : This is basically theft.
Me : I know it isn’t your problem, but I took the advice of your agent and it cost me $870?
Me : Don’t you see that is a terrible way to treat a customer who spends many thousands of dollars a year on your services, and has for years?
[personal info deleted]

AT&T : Truly sorry [personal info deleted] but with this planchange I can credit your account $25. As you would have the same plan at a lower cost.

Me : Your numbers are not close to the right range. Are you telling me you cannot refund the $870 which is clearly an AT&T error? The last agent said they could refund me $400. Is that now not on the table?

AT&T : Which they did then submitted the case for that. And you’ll be updated on the resolution of the case.

Me : Also — Tmobile offers 20Gb for $100, and 30gb for $120. I know you can’t see the links, but I’ll paste it here for people who read this online when they’re trying to decide which carrier to use.
Me : http://www.t-mobile.com/offer/10gigs-for-all-family-plan.html?icid&eq;WMD_TM_Q315FMLYPL_QRSMO0FWJ742854
Me : I’ve been waiting, “to be updated” on the case for over a month as I recall.
Me : Is there another level you can escalate to?

AT&T : What I can do is I can set up to have someone call you back.

Me : Ok one more question — can you tell me why I was charged $870 for 435mb of data?

AT&T : No problem, do you have the bill infront of you?

Me : I do
Me : It says pay-per-use.
Me : Is that the plan you signed me up for?
Me : Ok actually another question. When will someone call me back?
Me : and who will that person be?

AT&T : Correct, Pay-Per-Use. You are able to see your online plan, data usage and charges anytime online on your myatt.com
AT&T : As you are in full control of your account you are able to change your plan online.

Me : But why did you, AT&T all-of-a-sudden charge me $870?

AT&T : For pay-per-use data.

Me : WHat is that?
Me : and why would I want it?

AT&T : On our older plan, there is that options. Some customer prefer to have it other prefer not too.

Me : So you signed me up for an older, very expensive plan? Why?
Me : Actually, I need to go. I’m very frustrated. So as I understand your offer, AT&T is offering to refund me $400 now, and a 20GB data plan for $100 a month. Finally someone will call me at some point in the future. Do I have that right?

AT&T : That is incorrect. We are unable to change your plan without your approval (or at least alerting you head) but this plan you been on since a little bit after you started service.
AT&T : The plan being that Family Talk plans.

Me : OK so I approve the plan change. But I don’t see that as recompense for the issue. The ticket should remain open.
Me : When can I expect to see the $400 credit on my bill Judiel-E approved?

AT&T : Normally our cases can take up to 2 weeks.

Me : Is this a normal case?

AT&T : It’s still be created due to big the charge is but it will be high priority.
AT&T : So, it shouldn’t take the full 2 weeks.

Me : Anyway Maurice, I would appreciate it if you can help me out any way you can. $870 is a huge amount of money I can’t afford to lose. And it is clearly AT&T’s error.

Me : Have a good day.

AT&T : I do want to thank you for chatting in and you enjoy the rest of your night. :]

Me : I will try.

Has anyone else had an experience with AT&T like this? Let me know.