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BellSouth DSL Savings May Be Just a Line | 19 comments (19 topical) | Post A Comment
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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Great Article, i agreee with you[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#19)
by Anonymous User on Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 12:05:59 AM PDT

dis j'ai jamais vu de poisson sans ouies........et avec une forme pareille.......Internet Marketing 迷你倉 護膚 .

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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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BellSouth DSL Savings May Be Just a Line | 19 comments (19 topical) | Post A Comment
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