AT&T Wireless Is For Suckers

Suckers like me!  We bought two new phones over a year and a half ago, with a plan that included 700 rollover minutes.  A few months ago we added a phone for Mom & Dad on our plan, so they could have an emergency phone with them at all times.

Every month, the bill keeps creeping up.  Last month it hit $118!  The bill was chock-full of text messaging charges (we don't have the foggiest idea how to text) and a download charge for gawd-knows-what.  I called them and complained until the bill was down to $75, and they agreed to block all texts and internet (so we, or the folks, couldn't have an "oopsie" and inadvertently hit a wrong button).  Okay.

This month we get the bill, and it's $116.  WTF?  So I get on the phone, go through all the "press 1 if you speak English, have a question about your bill, and wish to speak an operator" nonsense until I once again connect with a real live person.  After a 15 minute dance, she explains that the download charge that was credited to my bill last month for December also included the download charge for January so the download charge for January was actually the charge for December and actually I owed them the $19.99 because it was double credited and that is why my bill is $116 for using only 72 minutes all month and oops sorry about charging you for text messaging again when we promised to cancel that service....

After untangling my brain, I took a deep breath and made a noble attempt to explain my position to the nice young woman at the other end of the line.  I told her what we used the phones for, that our normal usage was less than 100 minutes per month, and that I thought $116 was a bit much for their service.  She hem-hawed until I put it easier math terms:  I'm paying over a dollar a minute for these stupid phones!

Okay, says she.  Let's put you on the 550 minute plan instead of the 700 minute plan.  I said FINE, do it!  She then explained that I would lose all my thousands of rollover minutes.  Huh?  I explained to her that those minutes WERE ALREADY PAID FOR on our 700 minute plan, and she couldn't just "disappear" them.  Then she said that our next bill would have a "one month in advance" billing for the new plan.  I asked her WTH happened to the "one month in advance" we'd already paid for with the old plan?  She got flustered, and I was at the end of my rope.  I finally told her to forget about changing the plan; it wasn't worth the ten bucks in "savings".

Now I feel like cranking up my nifty Israeli soda machine, adding a couple of fingers of Kentucky's finest, and drinking until the world becomes a saner place.

My contract with AT&T is up in June.  You can bet I'll be shopping.