06-28-2012 07:38:05 PM
Here is one for this community to digest. Just the other day i called at&t to set up a payment arrangement. The agent was VERY helpfull. We made an agreement to pay the bill on the 1st of July. No problems i thought. Two days later i get a notice from my bank that my account was overdrawn by $434.00. When i researched what was the payment i found out AT&T was the cause. I called them immediatly to let them no there was an unatuhorized withdrawl from my bank account that has started to cause me problems with my account. I called customer service and was told it would take 72 hours to 10 DAYS to refund the money. The downside of this .....all of my money was out of my account. No food no money for gas nothing. When i contacted customer service/superviser i was told..." i feel for you but there is nothing we can do. Sorry for this problem but it has to go through our system". LOOOOONG story short. AT&T's error has cost me $695.00 for an error of one of their doing and alot of sorry's. I had over 250.00 in Overdraft charges. Wheras they have "credited my account for the overdraft charges', i still had the embarasment of having to borrow money to cover this error and the shame of going into a store and asking the owners to wait a few days until this error was taken care of. I did not eat anything for 2 days so that my wife and child could have food. I was weak and almost unable to work until i finally went to a food bank and had to beg for food.
Now the crazy part is I have been a customer off AT&T since 1992 and have had the same number since then. I went to the local store to ask for assistance in speed up the reversal and the manager of the store did not even attmept to pick up a phone. He simply stated that " it would be the same as if i was calling in myself and would not help me.". I was told sorry....nothing i can do.
Eventually the money was returned to my account, but not before causing serious problems and shame. I have tried to contact the office of the President but have gotten nothing but dead ends. I am at the point of a complaint with the BBB and turning this over to my local law enfourcment for legal charges. Anyone that has an email address of anyone who can help me with this please send to me or forward this post to them. I have edited this for lenth and content. It was way nastier than how i stated it. I am truley thinking of ending my 20 year loyalty to this company.
06-29-2012 01:17:56 AM
They took money from your account because YOU gave them previous authorization to do so. If you didn't sign any authorization then the bank is liable.
06-29-2012 08:33:50 AM
Sorry about the issue. I would say that if ATT pulled the funds too soon, they should reimburse you for the extra costs. Be prepared to give them a copy of your statements. As to why they have to wait......
1. They do not have the funds in their account just yet and the transaction could have "bounced".
2. Had they refunded the money to you sooner than the 7 to 10 days and the withdrawl "bounced." you would have had your money plus their refund. They are not going to do that from a cash management perpsepctive. I have had this happen to me in my line of work where I was not only collecting the balance owed but now a refund I was instructed to issue.
In the future for others, you could have contacted your bank right away and dispute the transaction. It would have been stopped and pulled back from ATT getting you your money sooner.
Reach out to Jamileh here and see what she can do. Jamileh
06-29-2012 08:58:55 AM
I'm sorry that you've had to deal with this financial issue. I got your PM, thanks for the contact information.
I'll set up a call with a member of our team so we can determine what happened and review options.
