AT&T
Complaint 284009 Details

NC Utilities Commission
4325 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-4325

To whom it may concern:

On April 29th of 2011 Nichols for AT & T and I agreed that 1) I would pay AT & T $19.95 a month for the next year 2) AT & T would provide Internet connectivity with port access unlimited and no site limitations at 3 Mega bits per second. Since the charge for a jack was $90 I declined it.

On 6/2/2011 Cameron for AT & T explained that my bill is higher than $19.95 because the credit to reduce the price to the $19.95 promotional price hadn't been applied yet. (Privately I wondered if it only gets applied if the customer waits 5-8 minutes on hold and asks about the bill.)

In September I noticed the bill was still messed up and called. On 9/6/2011 Crystal told me that the bill included a charge - $100 - for a DSL modem. She said if I returned it I would get a credit for the installments.

At this point in time I should point out that AT&T's position that I should have known there was a charge for the modem isn't tractable.
1) It wasn't mentioned in April when another additional charge was asked about.
2) Time Warner doesn't charge for their modems. I would also like to note that I paid about $5 for a DSL modem and I find their $100 price to be inflated and abusive.

Since I didn't find the paperwork to return the modem in the box I called on October and they said I could return it to a store.

I returned the modem to the store. After an hour or more of waiting cashier Joseph H gave me receipt
*X1339b3c3nbnd* for them modem. (On June 5th,, 2012 Ana tells me, “The store has no way of noting a wire line account regards a returned modem and not even a way of crediting it.” This coupled with their 800 # representative’s statements that I should return the modem to the store seems to be a set up for a systematic fraud by AT&T.)

In December I called to ask why there was no credit on my statement.

In late December AT & T stopped providing me with the Internet Connectivity.

Today, January 28th, I get a bill which still shows that I have the modem. AT & T is attempting to collect $100 for an item I got for less than $30. More importantly, the item was returned to them.

They have threatened me. Specifically they intend to report that I owe them money to credit bureaus presumably to cost me 100s or 1000s of dollars in increased interest charges.

I believe Merriam and Webster define fraud as deception for monetary gain. In addition I believe extortion is defined as an undeserved consequence (thousands of dollars in increased interest charges) for not making a monetary payment (money for the returned modem). I will leave it to your office to decide if this matter should be referred for criminal prosecution.

On or about March 9th, 2012 I received a letter from Bay Area Credit Service. I called 866-882-7666,1 and spoke to someone purporting to be Martin. I informed him this debt was not valid.

On March 10th of this year I delivered the attached letter asking AT & T to cease trying to collect this amount.

On June 4th I received a letter (attached) from Franklin Collection Services of Tupelo, Missouri. They intend to report this account on my credit history. I have called and informed them
1) This debt is not valid
2) AT & T is acting in a fraudulent manner
3) I reserve the right to take action.
It is my belief that their actions are or should be a violation of the fair debt collection laws.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Yours Truly,

/s/

CC: AT & T (Corporate Store on Stratford), - by fax Tuesday, June 05, 2012 3 PM
Franklin Collection Services of Tupelo, Missouri – letter sent – 6/15