When an Oceanside resident tried to lower her monthly phone, TV and internet bills with the advice of her AT&T carrier in a process called unbundling, her bills actually increased. NBC 7 Responds quickly investigated the case.
An Oceanside resident was trying to lower her monthly phone, TV and internet bills but after taking the advice of her carrier, her bills increased.
Cynthia Harmer was trying to lower her monthly AT&T bill when she called AT&T representatives.
“It just seems like the people that you reach [on the phone] have been given a script to just make you go away,” Harmer said.
Harmer paid $153.90 for her phone, internet and DirecTV services, all bundled together.
She said the AT&T representatives suggested a plan to save her money that would include unbundling all of her services.
That’s when Harmer said she ran into trouble.
“So when I paid the final bill, they did not pay DirecTV,” she said.
Up until then, Harmer said her AT&T bill included $112 for her DirecTV service but after unbundling her accounts, the satellite company hadn’t received Harmer’s payment. Harmer said AT&T told her they could no longer pay her satellite bill since she had unbundled all of her accounts.
Harmer had already paid AT&T the DirecTV payment. On top of that, she said AT&T told her they could not reimburse just the DirecTV payment, they would have to refund the entire amount she had paid for all of the services.
After receiving the full refund, Harmer received another bill in the mail.
“Now they’re saying I owe that whole bill because they reversed it,” Harmer said.
Instead of billing Harmer for the $41 she owed them, the phone company wanted over $300.
She tried calling AT&T to straighten the matter out but she said her efforts did not work. That is when she turned to NBC 7 Responds for help.
AT&T told NBC 7 Responds they would investigate and within a week, Harmer’s bill was adjusted. In addition to the AT&T bill being fixed, Harmer said she also received a call from DirecTV and a representative offered her hundreds-of-dollars in service credits for being a “loyal customer."
In an email, a representative from AT&T told NBC 7 Responds, “We worked with the customer to resolve the dispute and provide an adjustment.”
