Another Reason to Hate SBC

And they say the government is full of worthless bureaucracy and rules? From the Corporate Logic Department at SBC/Ameritech:

I'm moving out. My roommate is staying. We have DSL/phone with SBC. The bill is in my name. All I need to do is change the bill name from 'Graham Walker' to 'Kamal Patel.' I call SBC, and apparently, two days ago, they enacted a "new policy," whereby I have to cancel my service, and they have to do a whole new account creation for my roommate. To this end, they have to cancel my DSL service for two weeks and then reactivate it under my roommate's account.

Brilliant, SBC. As Larry David's agent says on Curb Your Enthusiasm, "What the fuck?? WhatTheFuckWhatTheFuck?!?!"

Comments

[Brandt Beal]

I have just experienced the exact same problem with SBC, that they had to cancel the DSL service and open it up in my name under a new contract, and to hell if i am going to go another year with this service. I have spent over 6 hours arguing with these people in the last two days whom most of them had absolutely no place sorting sand on a beach much less answering phones for SBC. Further because I was in a contract I am suppose to pay a $200 early termination fee. Yea, thats not going to happen. Moral of the story is: For Gods sake don't buy services from SBC

[FreeAtLast]

Thanks to telephone number portability, I just told SBC to KISS MY GRITS. I transferred my (low-volume-usage) office number to an AT&T GoPhone, which has no contract. (My office number is almost always answered by voicemail anyway.) I have the AT&T 53.99 plan but can bump it down as low as 23 +change. I also ordered a 14.99 Vonage line for my home so I can use that for daytime outgoing calls to reduce the minute burn on my cellphone. I haven't had a landline at home for many months -- and I use a cable modem which IMO is far superior to DSL. Vonage also comes with 500 minutes of long distance. I've been paying $30 per month for voicemail alone which is not as good as Vonage's. I don't need internet at the office, fortunately, which makes all of this possible... But if I need a wired line again, I will go with the cable company.

[John W.]

Here's another reason to hate SBCYahoo. I opened a web hosting account. Lo and behold, a few days later I was told by tech support that the the brilliant SBC employee that took the order screwed up entering the wrong information. I could not, would not be able to access an account that I may or may not have. It gets better.. Every one of their departments: billing, sales and tech support was unable to do anything about the situation. You would think calling customer support would fix the problem. Not really... because there is no customer support for SBCYahoo Hosting! My situation was forwarded to some department in the corporate office. I asked how long it would take to have the matter resolved. The SBCYahoo billing office told me they didn't know! It could be a few days to weeks or longer. So it will take this long for SBCYahoo to fix a problem that SBCYahoo made in the first place. I have spent over six collective hours trying to clean up the initial error SBCYahoo made. And all I wanted to do was order a internet hosting account.

[John W.]

Here's another reason to hate SBCYahoo. I opened a web hosting account. Lo and behold, a few days later I was told by tech support that the the brilliant SBC employee that took the order screwed up entering the wrong information. I could not, would not be able to access an account that I may or may not have. It gets better.. Every one of their departments: billing, sales and tech support was unable to do anything about the situation. You would think calling customer support would fix the problem. Not really... because there is no customer support for SBCYahoo Hosting! My situation was forwarded to some department in the corporate office. I asked how long it would take to have the matter resolved. The SBCYahoo billing office told me they didn't know! It could be a few days to weeks or longer. So it will take this long for SBCYahoo to fix a problem that SBCYahoo made in the first place. I have spent over six collective hours trying to clean up the initial error SBCYahoo made. And all I wanted to do was order a internet hosting account.

[John W.]

Here's another reason to hate SBCYahoo. I opened a web hosting account. Lo and behold, a few days later I was told by tech support that the the brilliant SBC employee that took the order screwed up entering the wrong information. I could not, would not be able to access an account that I may or may not have. It gets better.. Every one of their departments: billing, sales and tech support was unable to do anything about the situation. You would think calling customer support would fix the problem. Not really... because there is no customer support for SBCYahoo Hosting! My situation was forwarded to some department in the corporate office. I asked how long it would take to have the matter resolved. The SBCYahoo billing office told me they didn't know! It could be a few days to weeks or longer. So it will take this long for SBCYahoo to fix a problem that SBCYahoo made in the first place. I have spent over six collective hours trying to clean up the initial error SBCYahoo made. And all I wanted to do was order a internet hosting account.

[John W.]

Here's another reason to hate SBCYahoo. I opened a web hosting account. Lo and behold, a few days later I was told by tech support that the the brilliant SBC employee that took the order screwed up entering the wrong information. I could not, would not be able to access an account that I may or may not have. It gets better.. Every one of their departments: billing, sales and tech support was unable to do anything about the situation. You would think calling customer support would fix the problem. Not really... because there is no customer support for SBCYahoo Hosting! My situation was forwarded to some department in the corporate office. I asked how long it would take to have the matter resolved. The SBCYahoo billing office told me they didn't know! It could be a few days to weeks or longer. So it will take this long for SBCYahoo to fix a problem that SBCYahoo made in the first place. I have spent over six collective hours trying to clean up the initial error SBCYahoo made. And all I wanted to do was order a internet hosting account.

[Joseph M]

I have the best reason to hate sbc. Last december after my devorce I was broke and had to move back in with dad. I called to transfer my service but they said they couldn't do it because he didn't live in their area. They also were not going to let me out of the contract. It gets better. The bastard from SBC told me to go ahead and move and keep it under my name and just have my roomate pay me. I don't think that was legal. I did it because I had to move. Four months later my roomate stoped paying me so I tried to cancel both the phone and DSL the shit stains at SBC only canceled my phone leaving the DSL in service I was glad to pay the 35 dollars a month I had four to go but they finaly fixed their mistake and sen't me a bill. I spent a total of 17 accumulated hours on the phone with them over a span of one month trying to find out what was going on and if I could set up some kind of payment plan. I called the corporate office and finally made some head way. They put a hold on the bill and would invistigate it. That was in june. THree weeks ago I said fuck it and used my student loan reimbursement to payfor it. Today reciece a letter from a collection agency. Fuck you SBC
Just wait until I find a street adress for your company.

And another reason to hate SBC... on the residential and business phone service level. On residential, anywhere i call from home is long distance. This was before the "unlimited long distance" took effect with SBC. I raked up to $300 - 400 in phone charges a month. We could pay them until i lost my job. I called sbc to tell them to extend the date until I could come up the payment. Well, I couldn't and I called back to request a payment plan. It turns out I couldn't. The bonehead that extended the date for me "tried to do me a favor" and overextended the date. Therefore, I wasn't eligible for a payment plan. Thanks very much SBC! However, they're not as clever as they think. My parents moved in with me from out of state. I had the phone turned on in a couple of days. A service rep from SBC told my dad, that they had to make sure he didn't live there when I had my service because the former customers ran up a big bill and never paid. I NEVER GOT a BILL! Until one month later. They continued to charge me until my bill ran up to $1400+! I made no payments on it. Magically it reduced to $1200+. What the hell is that about? In the year I had their crappy service, I received 3 bills and the rest were shut off notices with 2 remaining days to pay. They told me it was my responsibility to pay the bill on time. Isn't it their responsibility to send a bill out on time? Of course, the service rep said they were sent. My post master says they weren't.

Did you know that you have to keep business phone service for a year if you get their unlimited long distance plan? The sales rep neglected to tell us. With no bills being sent and the long running hatred for SBC, I switched. This resulted in a $800 phone bill. Magically again, it was reduced to $500. That's a $300 difference. What changed? I made no payment. And they think I'll pay for services they didn't provide and did not disclose to me that I would have to pay with early cancellation. If this is how SBC makes, scrath that, STEALS their money then they can take there services and stick it directly up their (fill in the blank)! I switched my phone service because of this bullcrap. Now I receive a bill on time, I don't have any contracts and I get my free long distance. Life is good! Now the letters and bills I get from SBC, I promptly place back into their envelope with big red letters across it saying, "KISS my (place body part of your choice here)! 37 cents is a good investment to tell SBC they can go to hell.

[Larisa]

First of all, let me say I'm so freaking grateful my friend found this website!

I have the SBC story to top them all! (Mine is better because there's hopeful resolution in the future by way of suing their asses off.)

I ordered DSL from SBC because of the deal and I wanted faster internet. The DSL worked spottily (about 1/3 of the time) from the moment of install. I logged several calls to tech support. Tech support (people from India or wherever) tried to help me as best as they were able which consisted of them reading prompts from a computer screen on their end. Tech support each time mentioned that I could order an SOS visit in which a technician comes to my home to check the problem for the whopping sum of $200/hr. I declined that option.

Then, two months after having the service which only worked 1/3 of the time to begin with, the DSL stopped working altogether. I called tech support. They told me to do the same things that I had been doing the previous 5 or 6 times I had called. (Turn off your computer. Turn off your modem. Unplug the connections. Wait one minute. Replug the connections. Turn on the computer. Blah blah blah. How fucking stupid are they? And how fucking stupid do they thing *WE* are?) They then reminded me of the $200/hr. SOS visit possibility. I again declined that option. It is corrupt business practice for a company to offer a service, charge you for the service, then charge you to fix the service that they're supposed to be providing that doesn't either a) work well, as was the case in the beginning or b) doesn't work at all, as was the case in the end.

I called the regular phone company line and talked to customer support there. They sent 2 technicians out the same day to check my "dial tone". One of the phone technicians said that DSL is its own division and that its record is horrible and that SBC has gotten so gigantic that each division doesn't know what the other division is doing/saying. There was nothing wrong with my dial tone.

At this point, I had talked to every tech support person in India, and had made my way down the roster of in-state customer support agents for the regular phone service. Each person told me something different.

Because I had been without internet for over two weeks at this point, I canceled. Why? Well, one of the reasons is that I needed internet access and I needed it now and I needed it to work consistently, not just when it felt like it (magical DSL potion... whatever). I was taking an online class at the time.

They of course told me that I would be charged an early termination fee of $200. I said to them, how can you charge me a termination fee for a product of yours I'm not actually receiving?

They said that I had to order an SOS visit to my home in order for them to establish that that was true. My response was that there was no way in hell I was going to pay them an additional $200 for them to establish that I wasn't receiving DSL!!!

I then canceled my phone service with them which hurt because I was completely enamored of their "privacy manager" feature.

Meanwhile, they told me that they *would* cancel my DSL. Guess what? They didn't. They then continued to bill me for service that I had canceled. Guess what? That's against FCC regulations. I'm going to sue them for that.

Long story short, I had to contact the Michigan Public Service Commission in order to file a complaint. The complaint went to a DSL Executive Appeals Director (who happened to be an illiterate hick). We then played phone tag for 6 weeks, I have since found out why-- she took a leave of absence for a month. (Wonder if it was to regain her sanity from all the lies she's told?)

There is no resolution forthcoming from SBC. I was told that the case was closed. I asked who had authorized the case to be closed. The DSL Exec. Appeals Hick said she didn't know... that it had been done while she was "away". I said, "In the appeals process, isn't it typical for the person who filed the complaint to be allowed to voice their concerns/side of the story/truth." She had no response to that. In fact, she became very agitated and addled.

Meanwhile, about 40 minutes before I had my last conversation with this DSL Exec. Appeals Hick... I had spoken to the Michigan Public Service Commission again. I spoke to a very knowledgeable gentleman there who said that since DSL isn't regulated that I can most certainly sue them. He gave me two examples of rules that SBC can break that the FCC sets. They broke one of them, in my case. Guess what the fine is for the rule that they broke (which was charging me for a service I wasn't receiving)? In Michigan, it is a fine of $500-$2000 a day. Per day!!! Payable to the state. Hello? I am going to sue them until they bleed.

In fact, I am interested in getting a class-action lawsuit going. If anyone is interested, contact this message board.

Their customer service is despicable. Their business practices are corrupt and unlawful. And I intend to see that it changes. And I intend to make them suffer as I've suffered.

I have spent easily over 30 hours and six months of my life trying to resolve this matter. I logged everything. I wrote down everyone's name and the dates.

People, when dealing with SBC, or any business who is attempting to screw you, write down every detail. Most important details are 1. What is said. 2. Who said it. 3. Date it was said. It can be used as evidence in court.

Meanwhile, I got on board with Comcast. Yes, they're more expensive. However, no problems with customer support. No problems with phone or internet. Period.

[margaret opine]

"SBC: YOU WAIT TILL I GET YOUR STREET ADDRESS"

I came to this website because I was trying clever "keywords" to see if I could get the street address for SBC but I couldn't. They've got control going on. Then I remembered I could check with a special source. I'm pretty sure this address will get some action if enough SBC customers stormed their mail boxes with our anger and discontent: "IT'S CUSTOMER SERVICE STUPID!"
SBC Telecommunications Inc.
1010 No. St Mary's Street
Room 9-Y-40 {that's the correct room number)
San Antonio, Tx. 78215

[Andrea]

I signed up for SBCYahoo!'s home networking DSL service two months ago. I received the hardware/software and installed the wireless router/modem on my desktop. After receiving a username, but not actually being able to get onto the net (due to my Norton Antivirus, another issue), I thought I'd move on to see if I could set up my laptop before I called tech support if any other concerns came up because I knew I was going to be on hold for a minimum of a half an hour and I might as well have my laundry list ready. Well come to find out, I needed a 2Wire PCI card and could not use the LinkSys PCI card I already owned. I called SBC customer service and complained and said I wanted a full refund, cancel my order, and I am shipping your stuff back. The customer service representative said that he had experienced a large number of people who were dissatisfied with the fact that they were not told up front that they would have to purchase additional hardware for home networking and that many people were also cancelling. Well good I said, it sounds like a class-action lawsuit. He confirmed that my order was cancelled and I assumed along with it, were my financial obligations to the company. WRONG! I received a bill yesterday for the DSL service. I called billing and talked to Rachael, the billing manager, who said that I would have to come hell or high water, pay the $12.99 for shipping and prorated service fee for the two days I, according to their records, could access the internet, even though I could not. Moral of the story, go to fcc.gov and your state's Better Business Bureau and file a complaint. We need a class-action suit for this!

[tina]

I applied for working assets long distance phone service not knowing that SBC was going to charge me 5.00 each for inra and long distance "disconnection fee"
yes they nickel and dime you to death.
So I had a promotional offer that was 17.99 for 6 months for basic (barely service). it ended in october, yesterday I received a bill for 63.00 ????? so I called. CR is rude and attitude is bad. I ask for service to be cut off. Did you know that they have to if you request it, put the referral number on the tape when someone calls your disconnected number? I asked. Instead of phone being shut off today as soon as I hung up the phone the service was off and it said the phone was being checked for trouble....I called and begged them to turn it back on....I have until Dec 3rd to find another phone company. I am using Vontage a phone you can hook up to your computer and use my internet cable..cost 14.99 a month....but i have to find out what the hidden taxes and fees are for the bottom line price...but I am learning....learning to ask the right questions....I am sick of SBC, I am sick of this period.

[tina]

do not cut off your phone service, if you are unhappy. Wait and find a company to transfer to first. They the new company will be glad to change your service for you. and possibly pay the disconnect fees. just ask.

[a]

SBC is ridiculously bad as all we know it. However, you guys don't have to live with the fawking SBC services. for internet access, you can try Speakeasy (www.speakeasy.net). IMO it's not the cheapest, but it is surely the best customer service company out there. Speakeasy also has a plan called 'one-link' which allows you to ditch the fawking SBC line *while* still use their DSL service, for just $6 more.

For phone line, these days you can use IP Phone services from company like vonage. it works just as good as FawkSBC.

So, with Speakeasy+one-link+vonage, you can say good-bye to those fawking companies once and for all.

[simone]

Oh here you go...........Another SBC DSL nightmare. Had SBC dsl for a year no problems until I moved. Placed an order for the phone and dsl to be tranferred to my new apt. in august 2004. My phone was transferred with no problem, but on august 13th the dsl was not transferred as promised. I called SBC and was told by customer service that the agent who took my original order screwed up. She made the order out for the address from which I was moving instead of to the new address. Dumb. The agent said I had to wait 10 more days until dsl would be up and running. Well in the meantime a friend of mine and her computer guru boyfriend moved into a different building in my apartment complex. He said you can't get dsl here and they were going with cable modem. So I called SBC to double check and was told that I still would be receiveing dsl on the 23rd of august. I spent 45 minutes on the phone with the csr and his supervisor going over my account and my friends account to see why I was getting dsl and she was not. I was told that it is common to see one apartment getting dsl and another not that were even in the same building.
Well, the 23rd rolls around and no dsl. That day I received a letter from SBC stating that dsl was not available. I call SBC and was immediatly told that my apartment was not able to receive dsl. I asked them then to disconnect the dsl and drop me down to basic phone service because I was unhappy with their service. I then wanted them to credit my account for the dsl that they were charging me for that I couldn't get.
Being reassured, I hung up. By my next bill, I was still being charged for dsl and now for dial up service that I never had. I called and they credited my account and also canceled the dial up.
So with that in mind I decided to call another phone company and fark SBC. I called Mcloed USA and they said that in order for them to give me phone service with the same phone number I first had to get the dsl off my line.
Calling SBC again they stated that they were still charging for the DSl and that they would be disconnecting it.
This has gone on for months. Finally, as of yesterday, I got the dsl disconnected. YOU HAVE TO GET A CONFIRMATION NUMBER AND THE CSR'S NAME AND ID # AND DESK NUMBER. With that info, they seem more eager not to let the buck pass and to deal with the problem.
However, they did tell me that they could not credit me for all the charges because they suddenly had no record of me ever moving, canceling dsl, or even the letter that they sent me stating that I couldn't even get dsl in my complex. I hung up with that csr and called back and got another person who after another half hour with her supervisor was told "just tell her we will call her back". That was supposed to be today before noon. Of course no one called.
So I called again. And within 20 minutes I was credited $127 and my last bill is being sent to me as we speak.
It has taken me 4 months and a lot of exterranious charges to straighten this fiasco out.
I can't wait to see my last bill. It will probably have another dsl charge on it.....................

[Carmen]

Hi

I also am experiencing hell after having hooked up with SBC. I started out as a SBC dial customer. I didn't have any problems with that; the problem started when like an idiot I decided to switch to their DSL service. I honestly fell hook line and sinker; I did the research and fell for the good comments I was reading regarding SBC DSL.
Well, the nightmare began when SBC screwed up my online order and in order to rectify their own stupidity pushed my activation date forward 2 weeks. Well, I thought it will be worth it... WRONG!!!! I had signed up for their Bill Pay service while a dial member; well, without telling me at all they cancelled the Bill Pay service for my account the moment I signed up for DSL.. I even kept the same ID..so that wasn't an issue; they just decided without telling me first that it neede to be done. Well, I had quite a few bills lined up to be paid including the rent. When I finally activated DSL; I tried to access my Bill Pay account to check on the progress of my bills... well.. that is when I found out the account had been closed. I contacted SBC for some answers... oh my GOD!!!! first I felt like a ping pong ball trying to correctly get to the right area... then when I finally got a person on the line.. I had to repeat myself countless times to make them understand that it wasn't a billing question but rather an issue with Bill Pay. I spent literally HOURS.. goign back and forth between departments with everyoen telling me they couldn't help me but.. "let me transfer you to the correct department". I never did get a straight answer..... the Bill Pay area in Yahoo has been having Technical Difficulties since the 29th and has yet to come up.. and nobody in Yahoo seems to know anything about it...
Well, needless to say I have had to literally hold my breath wondering what if any bills were paid.. and I guess the one thing that totally infuriates me is their assurance of "caring for me" and "wanting to make it a better online experience" I think it is an insult to tell customers you care when in reality all it turns out to be is a statement of PR not reality.
I have decided to switch to another company; of course I have to return the modem and filters as soon as the new company notifies me that it is okay to cancel SBC.
I was wondering if anyone knew the address one would use to sedn the whole shitload of stuff back to SBC Yahoo? I tried to get the information on the SBC website but it is of course impossible to find!! I just don't want a run around when I call SBC yahoo to cancel. I am still within the 30 day window to return the equipment and cancel without paying the early termination fee. My service is in northern CA.

Any help would be appreciated,

carmen

[Veronica]

Oh Boy...

This message board is great! I have had problems with SBC off and on for years, home and work, dial and DSL. Now we have a situation at work that is about to blow up. My co. has been in business for nearly 40 years. We are a Corporation with more than one d.b.a. A few years ago we switched from SBC to another carrier at our office, which is in an out of the way location. We had MAJOR problems with that company: Dropped calls, people calling and getting no answer. After enough of that, we switched back to SBC. You think that would be easy right? After all, we were their customer for nearly 40 years (Pacific Bell/SBC). WRONGO. Yes our phone lines work now, not that it does us any good. We just discovered that when SBC took our service back, they mysteriously erased two of our company names from our account, business listing (and yes that includes information 411 - Now there is no listing for us when you call!) The company name they did choose to use, is a company we bought many years ago that now does hardly any business. Our main companies our now erased from the public. The new 05 phone books just came out and we are screwed in that department for the next year. This happened in the late summer of 04 although we just found out about the name(s) ommission. And we were wondering while sales were declining and the phone calls were diminishing. Law Suit? Thoughts anyone? Or other website links would be very helpful.

[Sirirat]

I hate SBC so much. I moved from Austin to Cedar Park and there is no DSL service. The customer service said there will be no charged but they keep sending monthly bill. This is horrible. Everytime I call noone know what to answer no answer. I don't know what kind of people do they hire there. Do they get train at all? SBC in California is nice and neat and quick service, TX SBC is horrible the biggest hassel ever. I hate them. I want the world to know that they are horrible.

[kansa]

I had quite an experience with SBC. After I had visited the US and already returned to Europe, they let someone use my money to pay a $1200 phone bill, then a few days later paid a $600 phone bill. I hadn't given my permission and didn't even know the person. Nope, it was not by credit or debit card. It was pure theft. When I called them to tell them that their system completely sucked and caused great problems for me; the customer service guy (Cedric) said, "We treat our customers as if they have integrity." When the case came up in court (I found the culprit really easily--hotel chambermaid), SBC sent 500+ pages of some other person's telephone account. I think they are complete jerks.

[sarah]

sbc TRIPLE charged me through my credit card. they kept $180 of my money and held it hostage never to return it due to a "computer malfunction". over christmastime for godsake. this happened to every customer who paid electronically within that 12 hr period. ASSBALLS! i think i spoke with over half of the sbc customer service team. i don't know what i was expecting. my FUCKING MONEY BACK??????????????
i hate hate hate hate loaaaaaaaaaaaathhhe sbmotherfuckingc.

[Bart]

the idiots at sbc yahoo have been working to ty and fix a problem with my sub account which says I have four left but there isn't an add sub account button anymore, it's bad enough those morons have a suspend account option rather than to just delete it, those cheap bastards just want to keep people from making more accounts or changing the name due to spam etc. and it is real nice they moved a bunch of the customer service calls to India, thanks for supporting America you fuckers!!!

[Country]

After arguing with SBCYahell Dial since July of 2003 I am so glad I found this site and will bookmark it if I don't get disconnected first. Wait...bookmark it now!!! OK...
I had a Yahoo account before I had my own computer. Since I have SBC for all my phone services and Yahoo account, I thought it would be easy. Plus they gave me $3.00 off their regular price since I have them for all phone stuff. First I waited 10 days to receive the installation disk which arrived broken in three pieces because they put it in a regular thin envelope. I called up screaming and a Tech guy set me up via the internet. It worked for a few hours and stopped. Incorrect name and/or password. I called and told them that maybe my regular yahoo ID and/or password might be conflicting with the SBCglobal.net name and password THEY gave me. 5 passwords later (some of them as ingenious as 123456, 654321 and abc123) it turned out that me...no computer geek... was right. They merged the sbc and regular yahoo IDs and then I could pick a password.
Since then (7/2003) I have had to uninstall and reinstall SBCYahell Dial 5 times. Sometimes because each tech support person tells me to do something opposite of what the idiot before told me to do and it gets so screwed up I don't know how to undo it...Once it was because one idiot told me my files were corrupted. I uninstalled and was having a hard time reinstalling and THEN I get someone who said, "OH!!! You live in CT??!!! We're having major problems in CT!!!"
They've screwed me up so that I got dumped out of SBCYahoo Mail into regular Yahoo Mail. Their brilliant Techs then disappeared my e-mails into Outlook Express which I had NEVER used. Atleast since I do the important Windows Updates, I wasn't running an old version of OE.
I'd already started noting the names of the Tech Un-Support along with confirmation numbers and date and time/duration of call. THANKS for telling me I should get their ID and Desk Numbers as well.
Another thing that gets them, if you have SBC for regular phone and a good/great Attorney General like CT has, is to threaten them with contacting your State Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau and Department of Consumer Affairs. SBC has given me one month free Dial-Up. They said they had no record of the Tech Idiots letting them know I was having a major problem.
Thanks for this site!!! At least I got to vent my anger and frustration.........

[dave]

When I called to cancel my DSL account, SBC in Texas said that there "may be an early termination fee" of $200 since I was cancelling 6 weeks before my term ended. My reply was that I would hope they'd waive that, as I bundled my TV, Phone and DSL through SBC and was paying them over $150/month. The advice I got was "they probably won't charge you, and if they do, just call and they'll reverse the charge."

Well, last week, when I got a $200 bill from SBC (mind you, this was a full month after they sent my "Final Bill" -- a $10 credit), I called to have the charge reversed. To make a 55 minute phone call/story short, they said that they wouldn't reverse the charge and that "I knew I was taking a risk by cancelling early." When I pointed out that their rep advised me to cancel at that time, and that I would've gladly paid the $41 to keep the line open for 6 weeks rather than a $200 fee for nothing, they just kept repeating that I signed a contract. In reality, I never signed anything. I agreed to an onscreen TOS that is 17 printed pages long. The Term and Termination part is so nebulous that it can be interpreted any number of ways. SBC said their notes on the call simply said "customer paid over $150/month, will dispute charges." Not exactly an accurate representation of what happened on the call.

The moral of the story, don't deal with SBC, especially for DSL. The service was awful and now it's going to cost me either $200 or my credit rating. I will be contacting the FCC about this matter.

[Blondee02]

Don't you boys realize NOBODY cares about your problems with SBC? Its the damn phone company! Why not grow some nuts and suck it up. Maybe you've noticed your friends and family's blank faces everytime you bring up your petty issues, Its because you are too self-absorbed to see that people don't enjoy spending time with whiny cry-babies. Get over it, move on with your life, and someday EVEN YOU might find a little happiness. Just a thought.

[scott]

SBC is the BIGGEST worthless piece of shit I know.

The PILE of crap they call service just plain sucks big donkey dicks. I cannot believe the customer service crap
and this whole transition AT&T / CINGULAR is major bullshit. I am leaving. I am going to T-Mobile.

Fuck CINGULAR...

FUCK SBC

Fuck you all. Im pissed off.

Anything SHORT of suing you, is NOT ENOUGH.

I can't STAND your bullshit customer service tactics.

Thanks for ruining AT&T wireless.You succeeded driving
OUT a LOYAL AT&T customer you fuckwads. fuck you.

For SEVEN YEARS I was with AT&T I had NO ISSUES.

When Airtouch merged with VERIZON, they pulled the very
same BILLING tactics you people are doing today.

I LEFT Airtouch. I'm LEAVING YOU CINGULAR. Fuck SBC.

I SWEAR TO GOD....

I will help RUIN you. I am sooo over your bullshit.

I payed your fucking bill to ZERO $$$$ yesterday.

Billing fuck ups and all. I don't care about the money.

I CARE about the service. And YOU SUCK.

I hope you fuck enough people so that you go out of business. Im sick of this bullshit.

I am paying the $175.00 to migrate out to T-Mobile.

Fuck you SBC.

Eat shit.

BTW/ If you BUY out T-MOBILE.....I will drop them too!

I simply HATE you motherfuckers.