Making Sense of My First Bill

Kim106 · ‎06-25-2012

Today I received in the mail a lot of mail from AT&T, one of them were papers one of which said "My Bill Estimate"

I was wondering if anyone can help me make sense of the charges on My Bill Estimate

Account Level

Other Charges and Credits

One-Time Charges and Credits

Internet Gateway $100.00

Subcharges and Other Fees $8.07

Government Fees and Taxes $10.50

Total Other Charges & Credits $118.57

Total Account Level Charges $118.57

U-verse High Speed Internet

Other Charges and Credits

One-Time Charges and Credits

Service Activation Fee $49.00

Surcharges and Other Fees $6.39

Government Fees and Taxes $9.15

Total Additional Charges $64.53

Total High Speed Internet $92.81

Total Bundle Charges $211.38

What I want to know is that these Surcharges and Other Fees and Government Fees and Taxes are they usually at this rate or is this a one time thing, cause I was told that by a customer representative that the fees/taxes weren't suppose to amount more than $1.

Can anyone help explain my bill to me?

dhascall · ‎04-21-2008

Kim106 wrote:
Today I received in the mail a lot of mail from AT&T, one of them were papers one of which said "My Bill Estimate"

I was wondering if anyone can help me make sense of the charges on My Bill Estimate

Account Level

Other Charges and Credits
One-Time Charges and Credits
Internet Gateway $100.00
Subcharges and Other Fees $8.07
Government Fees and Taxes $10.50
Total Other Charges & Credits $118.57
Total Account Level Charges $118.57

U-verse High Speed Internet

Other Charges and Credits

One-Time Charges and Credits
Service Activation Fee $49.00
Surcharges and Other Fees $6.39
Government Fees and Taxes $9.15
Total Additional Charges $64.53
Total High Speed Internet $92.81

Total Bundle Charges $211.38

What I want to know is that these Surcharges and Other Fees and Government Fees and Taxes are they usually at this rate or is this a one time thing, cause I was told that by a customer representative that the fees/taxes weren't suppose(d) to amount more than $1.

Can anyone help explain my bill to me?

Is this an April Fools joke? Taxes and Fees "no more than a $1?" Yeah, right. Please contact Alex, one of the AT&T Community Managers for further assistance. His team should help you understand your bill. BTW - each locality sets their own franchise fees and they differ from area to area but they will most certainly be over a buck. Way over. It's not just AT&T. It is the same for any telecom company.

Kim106 · ‎06-25-2012

Well I told you this is my first bill and thanks for the advice.

SomeJoe7777 · ‎01-30-2008

Unfortunately, the customer representative that spoke to you was misinformed. In fact, the customer service representatives at AT&T generally cannot even look up the exact value of these charges because they are different in every state and municipality.

The "Government Fees and Taxes" are taxes levied on video services, telephone/VOIP services, or internet service, usually by the state and/or city where you live. Typically I've seen these taxes anywhere in the $6 - $12 range.

The "Surcharges and Other Fees" are fees that are not mandated by any government body, but are added to your bill by AT&T themselves, usually because AT&T lobbied your state government to allow them to collect these "fees". AT&T (and virtually all other providers) place certain fees here in order to keep them out of the base service fee. This allows them to essentially charge you more than what the service was advertised at. These fees add another $4 - $8.

Because this is your first bill that has one-time charges in it (e.g. the gateway and the activation charge), these charges are probably higher on this bill than they will be on subsequent bills.

Kim106 · ‎06-25-2012

So Joe from what I am understanding you're saying that I could have a total estimate of $20 from Government Fees,Taxes,Surcharges,and Other Fees which when combined with my $24.95 for my Internet comes roughly to $45, which would be the total on my monthly bill, is that right?

fearlessuser · ‎05-26-2012

http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB412557&cv=803#fbid=9QfgXpGocJE

AT&T also has a video explaination of the first bill, says its available for the first 30 days after your bill is generated. That link gives you steps on how to access it

SomeJoe7777 · ‎01-30-2008

My estimates of the taxes and surcharges are for someone who has triple-play (IPTV + VOIP + Internet). If you only have Internet, those taxes & surcharges should be correspondingly less.

dhascall · ‎04-21-2008

SomeJoe7777 wrote:
My estimates of the taxes and surcharges are for someone who has triple-play (IPTV + VOIP + Internet). If you only have Internet, those taxes & surcharges should be correspondingly less.

I always used to think that a CSR could never possibly know how much the bill would;d be down to the penny and I still believe that but they should be able to tell a customer that.

AT&T can sure send out a bill with taxes and fees computed on it, so why not use that same system to tell customers what to expect? Even if it had accuracy of only +/- $5, it would still be better than quoting base pricing only.

I suggest giving CSR's access to the same computer database / calculator. It should not be too hard.

Recall that airlines, travel companies (Orbitz) and the like got dinged for only quoting base rates in ads. Now they have to (in most cases) include all fees / taxes (and each airports have unique fees).

Transparency.