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BellSouth DSL Savings May Be Just a Line | 18 comments (18 topical) | Post A Comment
Business as usual at BellScam[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#1)
by Anonymous User on Thu Oct 05, 2006 at 01:36:44 PM PDT

"Did I mention that BellSouth also tried to make us pay for the first service call to the house when they switched the lines, and for the second service call to come straighten out the mess they made the first time?"

This sounds like it is the standard operating procedure, for BellSouth to try to rip-off customers with promises of one price, then rob them blind once they are bound under contract.

I saw advertisements for DSL Light for 24.95 per month. I called to sign up, and they would tell me that I could get the service only if I paid more than $100.00 per month. They instead wanted to sell me a bundle including their long distance, local and cellular service. I nieither needed nor wanted any of these services.

The rep offered me the DSL light (256K down) for $35.00 per month without the bundle. I went with it because it was still less than the offerings from the cable company.

I got my first bill for $49.00 per month, plus another several dollars for taxes. Plus $25.00 per month for modem rental. When I called to explain that I never heard about or agreed to any of these charges when I placed the order, the rep told me that if I didn't pay, I would loose my Internet service, be billed for late fees and early termination charges, and then get my credit report defaced.

Then three months later I got a letter in the mail from BellSouth explaining how the cost for the service would be going up AGAIN! This time, it was not a tax or government fee, they just wanted more money. The letter included a phone number that I could call to discuss the new charges, but only during a limited time in the middle of the day when I was at work and would not be able to call. But they still expect me to honor the rest of the agreement for a year of service.

Then They started billing me for long distance service that I never asked for...

I don't expect the service from the phone company to be perfect. Everyone makes mistakes, and sometimes it just takes a few minutes on the phone to correct an honest mistake. But BellSouth is using the annual contracts needed for DSL service to trap the customers into pay rates MORE THAN TWICE AS MUCH as I was paying the cable company for faster service.

I can't believe a lawyer hasn't hit them with a class action lawsuit for these billing scams.

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I got the same letter!!![ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#2)
by Anonymous User on Thu Oct 05, 2006 at 01:43:59 PM PDT

I got the same letter!!! I got high-speed online frmo Bellsouth when they said it would be 24.94 monthly. Then after three months they sent a letter saying the price is going up. It sounds like they do this to everybody. Lock them into a contract, then raise the prices!!

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Price hikes[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#3)
by Anonymous User on Thu Oct 05, 2006 at 11:23:16 PM PDT

Wait a tick, I thought being locked into a contract also locked in the price for the duration of the contract?

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Depends[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#4)
by Anonymous User on Fri Oct 06, 2006 at 05:04:28 AM PDT

>I thought being locked into a contract also
>locked in the price for the duration of the
>contract?

It depends on how the contract is written.

A common practice for cable and DSL access is to offer an introductory price that is good for three months, until the end of the year, whatever, and then the price goes to the normal rate. It sounds like this may be what happened here, even if the customers didn't realize that was what they were doing.


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According to the ads[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#5)
by Anonymous User on Fri Oct 06, 2006 at 08:26:29 AM PDT

In the ads they've be running on my local tv in Nashville, TN, they make a point to mention that the rate is not an introductory rate. Whether they ran those ads in this area during that time I cannot say of course, but they are makning a point of mentioning that now. That said, I've called them Bell$loth for years. Slow and expensive. :)

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Won't get fooled again[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#6)
by Anonymous User on Fri Oct 06, 2006 at 09:06:14 AM PDT

I saved the letter from BellSouth, and looked for it again when I read this story. Mine says,

"This letter is to inform you that beginning in April BellSouth will charge a regulatory cost recovery fee of $2.97 per month for FastAccess DSL service. This regulatory cost recovery fee is not a tax of charge imposed by a government entity.

The fee will help to offset the increased cost BellSouth incurs in providing FastAccess DSL service."

I cut out the non-relevant parts, but the rest of the language tries to confuse the reader into thinking this is the USF tax from the government, and is going to be used to provide phone service to rural areas and schools. But it's all double-speak. When read carefully, the letter simply says the rates are going up because BellSouth wants the money, and the consumer has to pay for the duration of the contract.

By the way, when I signed up for the service with BellSouth originally, I did ask what the market price was for the servcice, which was 49.95 per month at the time. This was not an introductory period that was expiring.

Interestingly, for the year after I got the letter, i still saw billboards and TV ads telling people that the DSL service was 49.95. But this is simply false advertising, as it is actually over 50.00, but there is no way to find out until the customer is already obligated under contract.

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Surcharges - coming and going.[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#8)
by Anonymous User on Tue Oct 10, 2006 at 01:36:01 PM PDT

I am a Verizon DSL customer and got the same letter. There was a bit of an uproar, tho, and they sent out a subsequent letter announcing that they would not be implementing the charge, after all. A good case of large amount of customer complaints effecting an actual change in the business. Very nice.

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Fraud[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#13)
by Anonymous User on Sat Oct 14, 2006 at 11:08:50 PM PDT

If the customers "didn't realize" (many/most, rather than a handful, anyway) then ipso facto they have been deceptively advertising.

All these BellShite shenanigans seem like ripe fodder for submitting to cross your State AG's desk. Falsely advertised prices are certainly worthy of their attention, and sneaky contract terms deserve small claims lawsuit and/or AG attention too.

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Read the contract-[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#15)
by Anonymous User on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 10:47:18 AM PDT

Most of them say the company can modify any part of it at will and there's nothing the customer can do about it.

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Ick[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#16)
by Anonymous User on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 09:59:34 PM PDT

If I ran the judiciary, the first decree I'd make is that all such "changeable at any time" terms are henceforth unenforceable as against public policy. The contract enforceable is the last one the customer actually signed, or the plain language reading of the prominent labeling if they never signed anything. (Which means "LIFETIME WARRANTY*!!! *lifetime means lifetime of the unit; when it stops working the warranty expires" would be enforced as a genuine lifetime warranty. SMC take note.)

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Bell South[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#17)
by pearlieN on Wed Oct 25, 2006 at 08:54:43 AM PDT

It might be that I am paranoid but since Bell South has gone into the DSL business, I can't seem to keep my son's computer connected. I have done every tweak available but it still drops the line after about 15 minutes. He has had Bell South Dial Up for over 10 years and never had this problem till they started trying to sell him DSL service. Strange??

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AG time[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#18)
by Anonymous User on Wed Oct 25, 2006 at 12:41:12 PM PDT

Not very strange. An obvious explanation comes immediately to my mind, at any rate. The sort of explanation that your state attorney general might find interesting, as a matter of fact.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]


BellSouth DSL Savings May Be Just a Line | 18 comments (18 topical) | Post A Comment
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