| Author |
Message |
del7
Posts: 1 |
 
Fri Feb 23, 2007 12:59 pm |
Hi,
The owner of a company I do web work for has very little tech knowledge. He was going to Mexico for 10 days in January 2007. He was told cingular (of which he's been a customer for 7 years) offered international web service. He explained to them, repeatedly, his situation, i.e. "I need to access my EMAIL for 10 days". They changed his computer over the phone/internet, i.e. they went into his wireless modemn and changed the settings. He signed nothing.
They asked him, "Do you want the $.02 per kilobyte offer, or the $110/Year mandatory deal?" He chose the former, explaining to them again that he'd only be there for 10 days, and ONLY needed to check his email.
At his home, where he works, he has DSL in, and a wireless router so that he can use his OWN network.
He got the first bill for $1200 and, not knowing how he could have racked up those charges, paid it. He finally called me yesterday after getting another bill for $4400. In total, $6600. The billing continued until YESTERDAY, when he physically unconnected his laptop, as they CHANGED his modemn so that it calls Cingular rather than his local network.
He's spoken to around 10 people at Cingular, a few before speaking to me. At first I thought someone inside cingular must have given out his account number, but it now appears more likely they've been billing him at international rates the entire time.
He never signed anything. He explained his situation - "10 DAYS IN MEXICO", and they changed his computer. He's an average guy, and they (of course) did not explain, "Now, when you get back, you'll be getting charged international rates". He assumed the service would ONLY WORK in mexico.
In his last talk, they told him he would have to pay around $10,000 total (due to the continued billing up until yesterday).
Is there anyway to combat this insanity? They literally changed a regular, non-technical person's computer, after he specifically told them he only needed the service for 10 days, and it continued to bill even when he was home and in range of his home network.
Any advice is appreciated. Currently his only plan is to not pay them and go to court. I'm hopeful someone can post some info that may allow it to be settled sooner than that.
Finally, I can assure you, his traffic in Mexico was EMAIL ONLY. There is no "hidden" part of this story. Nearly ALL of the charges are based on his extensive use of the web (he conducts business via computer via the site I set up for him) ONCE HOME and in range of his HOME network. I cannot believe this story, its one of those "there MUST be something else to it", but I can assure you, there is not.
thanks for any help. And if there are any questions I need to answer, I'll gladly do so.
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Malibu21
Posts: 1002
Phone Model:
V3xx Lightly Modded, V6 Maxx Tweaked nicely.
Service Provider:
The New AT&T |
Tue Feb 27, 2007 9:37 pm |
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I don't understand how he could call cingular through the computer w/o a wireless laptop card. His home network uses wifi right? so how could it call Cingular's network?
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mariokarter
Posts: 10 |
Thu Mar 01, 2007 4:07 am |
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don't pay, switch service providers
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TextWhore
Posts: 78
Phone Model:
LG-VX8600, Blackberry Curve
Service Provider:
Verizon Wireless, Cingular |
Thu Mar 01, 2007 9:54 am |
Im with Malibu in saying this doesnt make sense to me. Ive read it about 5 times. Maybe im still missing something. All i can say is keep trying with their customer service. I know you are upset but be as polite as you can.
| mariokarter wrote: | | don't pay, switch service providers |
Yea great idea. If he switches providers it doesnt just go away! It goes to collections, ruines your credit and cingular will probably sue him. Good thinking buddy 
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neek
Posts: 117
Phone Model:
LG VX-8300
Service Provider:
Verizon |
Sat Mar 03, 2007 5:45 pm |
Especially for an amount like 10 grand.
I would recommend, rather than talking to customer service, to mail in a written request to have this looked at. The people at the correspondence location are generally more in-depth on the look of a situation.
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slater@cing
Posts: 4 |
Mon Mar 05, 2007 6:52 pm |
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if the account was'nt noted well , not explaining exactly what he was offered.i would fight it , its obvious he wouldnt have used it that much if he knew what he would have been charged
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Jadall
Posts: 389
Phone Model:
Nokia 3300,Nokia n-gage, SEt290a
Service Provider:
Cingular |
Mon Mar 12, 2007 4:48 pm |
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looks like possibly he was using the service on the laptop the internet service which doesn't make sense pay per use i guess? and didn't realize disconnect it when he was at home using it? this does not make sense more info from you or from him to give cingular.
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BigRUSS
Posts: 2124
Phone Model:
two cans ( del monte) and some string,
Service Provider:
RussCo |
Mon Mar 19, 2007 1:17 pm |
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well he wouldnt be getting charged intl charges while in the us, and he wouldnt be able to connect to his wifi while in mexico , if he was doing a pay per use then yea it is possible to rack up those kinds of charges,
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