Data Overages charged after CSR has waived them - what do i do?!

I'm looking to see if anyone has ever had a similar experience and what resolution they came to.

 

I've honestly never had a negative experience with AT&T.  I switched to AT&T about 7 -8 years ago (from T-Mobile) and have always had GREAT customer service! I currently have 3 iPhones, a basic phone, and an iPad, as well as my home wifi, with AT&T.   

 

Back in May 2017, I upgraded my mother to the iPhone 7+ for Mother's Day, and was sold in store by a Sales Agent on upgrading to the Uverse 1000 (Fiber Optic internet) plan. The cost was about about $15 more per month from my current plan, so I agreed. Someone came out 4 days later to make the switch to the already installed fiber optic cables (my apartment did a mass install last Fall.) After shutting off my existing wifi, however, the Tech let me know something was wrong with the signal and he'd have to have an engineer come out. I missed the rest of the day of work waiting for someone else to come out, only to find out when I called into customer service, that nobody would be able to make it out until 4 days later. 

 

At this point, I'm without wifi. I know it'll affect my mobile data usage to be without wifi for almost a week, so I went ahead and called the Mobile Customer Service - Retention Dept to be proactive in finding a resolution.  The Agent on the phone advised there were no better alternatives for my family, and that she would notate in the account that due to the availability of alternatives, she would waive all Data Overages for the month, as this was an AT&T error and nothing I had control over. She sent me a text copy of her notes in the system, and I still have them.  

 

The billing month goes by, and after numerous appointments scheduled to fix my wifi, the techs just failed to show up for two and then randomly showed up on Sunday morning, with no notice (nearly a full month later) to fix the wifi issue.  All of my headache had been with the Uverse wifi side of the company and I was so grateful that the Mobile side was so helpful in the situation. 

 

Until I get my bill. I receive my bill in the middle of June, only to see that it's nearly $700, approximately twice as much as it should be! I call in, thinking it was a simple mistake, as the waiver was provided in the notes section of my account only. I direct my call straight to the Retention Dept (as I've learned this is the only way to get things done,) and the Rep who answers (Rep #2) somewhat angrily insists there's no way to remove the overage fees. He "puts me on hold" to speak to his manager, only instead, our call is disconnected. I call back immediately and get another Rep (Rep #3). I explain to her, still in an understanding manner, that my previous call had been disconnected and the fees should be waived, as had been notated in my account on May 17th.  She says the only way to do it is to change my plan to the new AT&T Unlimited and backdate it to May 17th, and then apply a $100 credit to take care of the remaining difference. I reluctantly agree, but if that's what she says I need to do, then okay.  

 

Almost a week goes by, there's no change in my bill due on the App, so I call in again to confirm the changes took place as expected.  The Rep (Rep #4) I get this time tells me that Rep #3 actually FUTURE DATED the new plan rather than Backdated it, so he would have to fix her backdating and then submit a request to the back office for the credit to my account. After nearly an hour on the phone with him, he has the Credit Request submitted and tells me to call back in 3-4 days to check the status of the request. 

 

I call back, 3-4 days later, and get Rep #5.  This guy was SUPER understanding and really seemed to know what he was doing. He lets me know that the Credit Request has been denied by back office for some reason.  I go into my spiel and explain to him everything that's been going on for approximately a month and a half now.  At this point, I'm concerned that my service will be disconnected, so we agree I'll go ahead and pay what my phone bill normally is ($382), he'll submit another Credit Request to back office, as well as set a Payment Arrangement for August (we're in early July at this point) for the remaining balance that I've been billed. He states that this will keep all of our lines from being disconnected, as well as give back office a chance to process the Credit and basically zero out the remaining balance. 

 

Fast forward to August, the day before the Payment Arrangement is due, and the outrageous bill is still past due, and now, my NEW bill is over $500, even though I had no overages!!! I call in, yet again. Rep #6 is again, SUPER understanding and also agrees this is absolutely no error on my part. After an hour on the phone (yet again,)  she confirms there are multiple issues. Not only has the most recent Credit Request has been denied (again,) but the new Uverse Unlimited plan that Rep 3 & 4 switched me to, isn't compatible with my employee discount (that I've had for 5 years), and now my ongoing monthly bill has gone up OVER $100 per month, meaning instead of $382 a month, I'll be looking at $500+ a month, PLUS the still outstanding ~$400-500 I have "past due." 

 

Rep #6 is great. She puts me back on the original plan I had, since I never requested being changed anyway, agrees it sounds like Rep #3 just wanted to sell me on the new plan, reapplies my employee discount, and submits yet ANOTHER Credit Request to back office, making as many detailed notes as possible, because she agrees, there is NO WAY this is my error and I shouldn't be charged.  At the end of the call, she extends the payment arrangement (now for approximately $800, as it is the past due amount billed in error along with my actual portion I should be paying) and agrees it'll be simpler all around if I hold off on paying anything else until this is resolved, so everyone can see more clearly what charges are being added to my account and not worry about the credits applied by my payments. 

 

Which brings us to today... My next Payment Arrangement is due tomorrow, which should have bought enough time (yet again) for back office to approve the Credit Request and apply the credit, bringing my overall phone balance down to approximately $760.  Nope. I check the app, and instead, I apparently have $1,277 past due. I call in, yet again, as if I don't resolve this today, my service will be disconnected tomorrow since I'm not going to meet the Payment Arrangement. I'm told by Rep #7 that the Credit Request again has been denied and there's no sense in re-requesting because it seems as though back office doesn't agree. I'm not upset with the Rep at all, as I understand this is the first conversation I had with her, and apparently the entire Retention Dept is at the mercy of "back office." I simply ask to speak to someone in back office or her supervisor so we can try to find another resolution rather than submitting request after request and never making headway. After about 40 minutes on the phone (while I'm at work, mind you,) I finally get to Rep #7's supervisor. The Supervisor advises that the back office is denying the request as this is technically not a "billing issue" and that the most she can do it send myself and my family phone accessories to compensate for the over $500 we're now expected to pay. I very clearly tell her that that's not an option. Even if I want to, I can't afford a $1,300 phone bill.  She then offers to split that past due balance over the course of the next year.  Still, not good enough for me. Even if I'm paying it in small increments, I'm paying over $500 that I should never have been charged in the first place. That's just not okay with me. I let her know very calmly that I've been a loyal customer for years and have never had anything negative to say, in fact I've always spoken highly of AT&T Customer Service and that defended them against negative reviews, but if this is really the best they can do, this is an unacceptable way to treat your customers.  Her final offer is to get me in touch with the Supervisor of the Rep #1 who "waived" the overage fees back in May and see if they can offer any additional solutions, but my hopes are not high at this point. She pushes my Payment Arrangement for $1,277 to October now, so that I'll have time to make a decision about what action I'll be taking, but I'm at a loss. 

 

I'd love to know if anyone else has ever run into an issue where AT&T will not honor something that a Representative has very clearly stated, and if so, what the result was. I've already started researching the Arbitration referenced in my contract, but I'd love to not even have to take this that far. I understand that AT&T policy may not be to waive the fees, but if the Customer Service Rep has specifically told the Customer something, I believe it is the Company's responsibility to follow through on the promise made to the customer rather than penalize the customer for their employee not "following procedure."

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