No Win
Over 90 minutes of work time today plus 75 minutes of same yesterday were consumed by arguing with the Orwellian fiends at AT&T over European data charges. They're claiming I racked up data charges of $253.89 from using my AT&T Air Card while in France and Spain. Except (a) I never once used it and (b) even if I had used it wouldn't have functioned because you can't get an AT&T signal over there with a U.S. Air Card. They're also saying I used 49 megabytes in iPhone data charges on top of a pre-purchased 200 meg usage allotment for a total of $345.00. All through my time there I carefully monitored the iPhone usage tracker on the iPhone and stopped using AT&T air when I hit 198 megs. All in all they tried to hit me for $1285. They took off $300 but you can't win with these guys. One way or another they'll stick it to you. Intentionally.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 1, 2009 at 10:42 AM
comment #1
Uncle Larry
says ...
Technocrat fiends!!!!
Posted by Uncle Larry
at July 1, 2009 11:09 AM
comment #2
Food&Pants
says ...
Why exactly do you think we care about this?
(sorry, that was mean).
Posted by Food&Pants
at July 1, 2009 11:13 AM
comment #3
Film Misery Alex
says ...
My experience with Sprint is that you call them and say you're not paying and they say "ok" and that settles things. No iPhone with Sprint, though.
Posted by Film Misery Alex
at July 1, 2009 11:20 AM
comment #4
p.Vice
says ...
I think it was worth a thousand clams just for the excuse to call them "Orwellian Fiends".
Maybe European usage is tallied using the metric system and you got Royale With Cheesed on the conversion.
Posted by p.Vice
at July 1, 2009 11:23 AM
comment #5
Deathtongue_Groupie
says ...
Speaking of fraudulent business chutzpah, check out the print addition of today's LA Times for the jaw-dropping center spread in the business section for TRANSFORMERS claiming "Biggest Opening Weekend of All Time"
You have find the asterisk to see the qualifier of "a film opening on a Wednesday.
William Castle would be envious of promotion that brazen...
Posted by Deathtongue_Groupie
at July 1, 2009 11:24 AM
comment #6
lazespud
says ...
Why didn't you dispute this with your credit card company? If you did not use your air card at all, and you definitely stopped using your iphone at 198 megs, then you absolutely shoud not be charged and I would hope your credit card company would agree.
Here's a round up of stories of being charged ridiculously high data fees, including the guy who was charged 62k for dowloading WALL-E from itunes in Mexico.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/story?id=7460220
But in your case, you did it all correctly, at least as you've described, and it sounds like you are being completely ripped off.
It's funny that you actually went to the trouble to get the europe data plan for the iphone, which is one of the biggest ripoffs on the planet, and STILL got scammed by them. Literally you can used up their 200 dollars worth of data in a day if you were using google maps for gps and other things. And that's doing it the correct way, without using roaming, where the charges might top 100k or whatever. All this for something that, pro-rated, costs about one dollar a day in the united states.
Complete fuckin scam.
Posted by lazespud
at July 1, 2009 11:41 AM
comment #7
ZacharyTF
says ...
Dispute the bill in writing and ask them to send you a printout of exactly when you allegedly used the apparently non-compatible AT&T Air Card and the extra data
Since land line phone companies can document exactly when you make a long distance call, there is no reason that AT&T can't do the same with iPhone usage on the 3G network.
Posted by ZacharyTF
at July 1, 2009 11:42 AM
comment #8
mrmystery
says ...
No wonder you've been more cranky than usual lately.
Posted by mrmystery
at July 1, 2009 11:55 AM
comment #9
EricGilde
says ...
Lisa Kron is working on a new piece that's thusfar been titled "The Verizon Play" or something along those lines. Once it gets to the production phase, you should check it out for some catharsis.
Think the Trial, but with cell phone bureaucracy as the backdrop, and a little bit of the It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World caperish zaniness. Pretty fun stuff!
Posted by EricGilde
at July 1, 2009 7:07 PM
comment #10
Stringer Bell
says ...
Fight The Power, Jeff.
Posted by Stringer Bell
at July 1, 2009 7:22 PM
comment #11
mizerock
says ...
Mythbuster Tweets His Way Out of $11k Phone Bill
Adam Savage Recruits Twitter Followers to Fight $11,000 AT&T Bill for Web Surfing in Canada
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/story?id=7460220&page=1
Posted by mizerock
at July 2, 2009 7:28 AM
comment #12
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at April 18, 2011 5:33 PM
comment #13
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Posted by gafi
at May 23, 2011 7:01 AM
comment #14
credit card guide
says ...
There was a case in Russia recently where a pair of just married went to vacation and they were charged more than 100 000 $ for roaming. After long debates the cell company toock they charge back.
Posted by credit card guide
at July 29, 2011 10:11 AM