U-Verse Internet Billing & Support

tessinsf · ‎06-01-2012

I want to like AT&T - I really do - but I don't right now. After two previous attempts last week to get the credit that's on my home phone line, credited to my U-Verse Internet account, I thought that today after speaking with 2 different people, that the issue would be resolved. Well, it's not. After being on hold today for 15 minutes (total time on hold and speaking to 2 people = 40 minutes) I spoke with Barbarita with U-Verse who tried her best to get my credit from my home phone (landline) credited to my U-Verse account. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to perform magic (the system wouldn't let her complete this very simple task), and she transferred me to Trina in Accounts Receivable. Trina assured me that she could work magic and get the credit applied to my U-Verse account. She actually said "oh that's easy." Well her magic didn't work either and as of right this very minute, the credit still sits on my landline account, my U-Verse internet has been suspended, and I can't talk to a real person. It should not be this hard, and my accounts should be linked so this is a connundrum that needs to be addressed by AT&T. I want credit for a bill I paid in good faith - even though it was credited to an account where the bills have never been in triple digits. Trina assured me that by the time I got home this evening, my landline credit would be applied to my U-Verse account - it hasn't been. And I'm sitting here writing this hoping that someone with good sense at AT&T will do their job.

[edited for privacy]

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

tessinsf wrote:

I want to like AT&T - I really do - but I don't right now. After two previous attempts last week to get the credit that's on my home phone line, credited to my U-Verse Internet account, I thought that today after speaking with 2 different people, that the issue would be resolved. Well, it's not. After being on hold today for 15 minutes (total time on hold and speaking to 2 people = 40 minutes) I spoke with Barbarita with U-Verse (Badge #B03745) who tried her best to get my credit from my home phone (landline) credited to my U-Verse account. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to perform magic (the system wouldn't let her complete this very simple task), and she transferred me to Trina Roberts in Accounts Receivable. Trina assured me that she could work magic and get the credit applied to my U-Verse account. She actually said "oh that's easy." Well her magic didn't work either and as of right this very minute, the credit still sits on my landline account, my U-Verse internet has been suspended, and I can't talk to a real person. It should not be this hard, and my accounts should be linked so this is a connundrum that needs to be addressed by AT&T. I want credit for a bill I paid in good faith - even though it was credited to an account where the bills have never been in triple digits. Trina assured me that by the time I got home this evening, my landline credit would be applied to my U-Verse account - it hasn't been. And I'm sitting here writing this hoping that someone with good sense at AT&T will do their job.

Since landline billings and U-verse billings are two different billing systems, transferring a credit from a landline account to a U-verse account is not a simple task. There is a reason why a landline bill cannot be combined with your U-verse bill.

Send a PM to Alex who is an AT&T Community Manager on this forum.

Also, check the settings on your account to make sure that you will receive email notification when a PM is received on this forum.

By the way, why is there a credit on your landline bill?

Computer-Joe · ‎09-19-2008

texasguy37 wrote:
tessinsf wrote:

I want to like AT&T - I really do - but I don't right now. After two previous attempts last week to get the credit that's on my home phone line, credited to my U-Verse Internet account, I thought that today after speaking with 2 different people, that the issue would be resolved. Well, it's not. After being on hold today for 15 minutes (total time on hold and speaking to 2 people = 40 minutes) I spoke with Barbarita with U-Verse (Badge #B03745) who tried her best to get my credit from my home phone (landline) credited to my U-Verse account. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to perform magic (the system wouldn't let her complete this very simple task), and she transferred me to Trina Roberts in Accounts Receivable. Trina assured me that she could work magic and get the credit applied to my U-Verse account. She actually said "oh that's easy." Well her magic didn't work either and as of right this very minute, the credit still sits on my landline account, my U-Verse internet has been suspended, and I can't talk to a real person. It should not be this hard, and my accounts should be linked so this is a connundrum that needs to be addressed by AT&T. I want credit for a bill I paid in good faith - even though it was credited to an account where the bills have never been in triple digits. Trina assured me that by the time I got home this evening, my landline credit would be applied to my U-Verse account - it hasn't been. And I'm sitting here writing this hoping that someone with good sense at AT&T will do their job.
Since landline billings and U-verse billings are two different billing systems, transferring a credit from a landline account to a U-verse account is not a simple task. There is a reason why a landline bill cannot be combined with your U-verse bill.

Send a PM to Alex who is an AT&T Community Manager on this forum.

Also, check the settings on your account to make sure that you will receive email notification when a PM is received on this forum.

By the way, why is there a credit on your landline bill?

That's easy, they charge in advance for service, but charge in arears for usage. When I get my bill, The line charge is for next month but the actual calling charges are for last month. So, if the OP's billing cycle went from the 1st to the 1st and cancelled the POTS on the 2nd there should be a credit due.

__________________________________________________________
How can you be in two places at once, when your not anywhere at all?
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I really want to become a procrastinator, but I keep putting it off.
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There are three kinds of people, those that can count, and those that can't.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature has made them." :Bertrand Russell

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

Computer-Joe wrote:

That's easy, they charge in advance for service, but charge in arears for usage. When I get my bill, The line charge is for next month but the actual calling charges are for last month. So, if the OP's billing cycle went from the 1st to the 1st and cancelled the POTS on the 2nd there should be a credit due.

I don't think that is what happened. The OP never said that their POTS line has been canceled. Also, the OP made this comment: " I want credit for a bill I paid in good faith - even though it was credited to an account where the bills have never been in triple digits. "

It appears that a payment was applied to their POTS account in error. My guess is that their payment for U-verse was credited to their POTS account. As a result, the POTS account has a credit balance and the U-verse account is in arrears. Thus, their U-verse service has been suspended. My question is: How did the U-verse payment get credited to the POTS account?

Computer-Joe · ‎09-19-2008

texasguy37 wrote:
Computer-Joe wrote:

That's easy, they charge in advance for service, but charge in arears for usage. When I get my bill, The line charge is for next month but the actual calling charges are for last month. So, if the OP's billing cycle went from the 1st to the 1st and cancelled the POTS on the 2nd there should be a credit due.
I don't think that is what happened. The OP never said that their POTS line has been canceled. Also, the OP made this comment: " I want credit for a bill I paid in good faith - even though it was credited to an account where the bills have never been in triple digits. "

It appears that a payment was applied to their POTS account in error. My guess is that their payment for U-verse was credited to their POTS account. As a result, the POTS account has a credit balance and the U-verse account is in arrears. Thus, their U-verse service has been suspended. My question is: How did the U-verse payment get credited to the POTS account?

Ah, somehow that didn't register the first time through.

By the way what is that reason. If they can put DSL internet on your POTS bill why can't they do the same with Uverse Internet. One customer, one provider, one wire, what's the difficulty.

It would seem, if the two are such an oil and water situation, then the only possibilities would be the OP either used the wrong account number, if paying over phone or by check, or they logged into the wrong site to pay the bill.

__________________________________________________________
How can you be in two places at once, when your not anywhere at all?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I really want to become a procrastinator, but I keep putting it off.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are three kinds of people, those that can count, and those that can't.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature has made them." :Bertrand Russell

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

Computer-Joe wrote:

By the way what is that reason. If they can put DSL internet on your POTS bill why can't they do the same with Uverse Internet. One customer, one provider, one wire, what's the difficulty.

Different billing systems.

Computer-Joe · ‎09-19-2008

texasguy37 wrote:

Different billing systems.

Makes sense, why have only one department full of SNAFUs when you can have two.

That's an excuse, not a reason.

__________________________________________________________
How can you be in two places at once, when your not anywhere at all?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I really want to become a procrastinator, but I keep putting it off.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are three kinds of people, those that can count, and those that can't.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature has made them." :Bertrand Russell

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

U-verse billing started in 2006 and came into existence after the "new AT&T" was created (i.e SBC's acquisition of the old AT&T). Billing for POTS and DSL has been around since the beginning of time and includes customers from both SBC and the old AT&T.

Transferring payments and combining bills for these systems may not be as simple as seems. It would be less costly for AT&T to generate and mail a single bill for a customer who has POTS and U-verse instead of generating and mailing 2 separate bills. If it were a simple process to have a single bill, I would think that it would already have been done.

Computer-Joe · ‎09-19-2008

texasguy37 wrote:
U-verse billing started in 2006 and came into existence after the "new AT&T" was created (i.e SBC's acquisition of the old AT&T). Billing for POTS and DSL has been around since the beginning of time and includes customers from both SBC and the old AT&T.

Transferring payments and combining bills for these systems may not be as simple as seems. It would be less costly for AT&T to generate and mail a single bill for a customer who has POTS and U-verse instead of generating and mailing 2 separate bills. If it were a simple process to have a single bill, I would think that it would already have been done.

Precisely, all the old companies and their services were absorbed/brought under one roof and one bill, POTS, then dial-up, then long distance, then DSL. One bill, one company, one customer, one wire. Seemed pretty fool-proof. So, let's add one more service, but this time make a whole seperate billing department with a firewall between the two. Ok, so maybe they got some bad advice on that one, but as you mentioned, they've had six whole years to integrate them. So the continued seperation at this point must be profit driven, i.e. different divisions allows them to dodge more taxes and/or regulations.

__________________________________________________________
How can you be in two places at once, when your not anywhere at all?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I really want to become a procrastinator, but I keep putting it off.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are three kinds of people, those that can count, and those that can't.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature has made them." :Bertrand Russell

tessinsf · ‎06-01-2012

When I paid my AT&T bill through my bank it was not applied to my U-Verse account (the correct number is in my online bank account) - it was applied to my landline account.

Computer-Joe · ‎09-19-2008

tessinsf wrote:
When I paid my AT&T bill through my bank it was not applied to my U-Verse account (the correct number is in my online bank account) - it was applied to my landline account.

If your bank has proof that it was applied to the wrong account maybe you can request some advocacy from them.

__________________________________________________________
How can you be in two places at once, when your not anywhere at all?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I really want to become a procrastinator, but I keep putting it off.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are three kinds of people, those that can count, and those that can't.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature has made them." :Bertrand Russell

spd2demun · ‎07-28-2007

They claim it's because of govt. fees (taxes) as the reason Landline can't be combined with UV bill. But my DSL and Landline were combined for years. Cell was separate when it was Cingular; after it was ATT, it was combined as DSL, Landline, Cell. Now UV is combined with HSI, and Wireless and Landline are combined. Wireless can be combined with UV, but Landline cannot be combined with UV. Something doesn't add up, IMO.

Maybe the shock of seeing what you pay for 3 or 4 ATT services on ONE bill might be a wake-up call for the customer?

Anything is possible in Accounting, it's just moving numbers around...but they like to make it sound impossible (Rethink Possible!). I had an instance where I once paid an ATT CC to an ATT service by accident with online billing. It took about 10 min. to get them to apply the credit (move) where it belonged.