Invisible Contract to Servicemembers during Pandemic

Binding Arbitration has nothing to do with the Office of the President. 

Unless you were assigned an Arbitrator and had an Arbitration hearing (neither of which you mentioned), you did not take advantage of that option.

The steps needed to implement Binding Arbitration are laid out in the Terms of Service.

ETA:  Resolve a dispute with AT&T via Binding Arbitration

I highly doubt you had an active U-Verse account that you supposedly knew nothing about for 2 years and never once received a bill, an email, or a letter about it. It would have been suspended for non payment long before 2 years. How would you not know something like that? I’m guessing you probably called to order it, a self install order was processed then you changed your mind but never called to cancel the order/service so it was automatically activated even if you never used it. 

@TrollGod69 Is the doubt to my integrity or to the error? I don’t know how the charge went into effect, but I do know that it occurred after I had ended and cleared all my accounts with ATT and I know that ATT never sent a bill or provided service. At the time they said the service started and in the home they said it started, the address in effect didn’t have any cable or internet hookups at all. My wife and I moved into a lake house in a wooded area that wasn’t wired for anything but electricity. At that time the only internet we had was hotspots. 

I’m a broken record here, but we have never had cable of any kind from any company. We’ve never ordered it, requested it, or even discussed the potential of having it with any company. The closest we’ve ever had to TV service was PSVue for a couple years, which had no contract, was a streaming service, and is now defunct.

It isn’t just supposedly knowing nothing about it; the bill and service did not exist while I was an ATT customer. Otherwise anytime I called to pay a bill, add a line, or change a service I would have learned from the automated system that I had overdue charges for the service. This never happened. The first I ever learned about it was a single page bill from Sunrise Credit Service, which I didn’t even know was affiliated with ATT and thought it was a scam until I called ATT to figure out what the deal was. I thought it would be, worst case scenario, ATT trying to charge tor that invalid line for a third time. When I provided the account info, they said it was for U-Verse. They provided no further information. Nobody can answer as to how ATT would let a U-Verse charge accumulate to $1,600+ before contacting the customer. They have no account on their end of ever having started the service or sending a bill. No joke. They cannot see nor provide this information. All they have is a bill that says its for U-Verse, and like with all things ATT this is the consumer’s fault. ATT does not correct errors made by ATT. No matter how nonsensical and glaringly obvious that an error was made. It must be the consumer’s fault. 

Even you, reading this, instead of acknowledging that $1,600 is an outlandish charge for ATT to bill a past customer out of the blue after more than a year of disconnected service, have jumped to the “I’m guessing you probably called to order it…” putting the responsibility back on me. 

I don’t accidentally order things. I haven’t even been remotely curious as to what my life would be like with cable. I have never had even a passing interest in live tv. But you insist that it must be my fault in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. In spite of ATT employees in the news being arrested for fraudulent behavior. In spite of all this you will still scratch your head and wonder what I must have done to deserve the charge. And that’s why I don’t do business with ATT. 

The correct response is, “This is obviously a mistake. Let me fix it.” ATT’s response, “This is obviously your mistake, let me run it up the chain and exhaust you with people who won’t fix it.” 

It’s an obnoxious song and dance. If you want receipts, I got them. I document everything.

@skeeterintexas I thought I was more clear on this earlier but may not have been. I have an attorney now working on multiple claims. 

No attorney is going to accept a case where binding arbitration is your only Avenue 

@Constructive Who said that’s my only avenue? I have an attorney through my credit consultants through my VA lender. Of course they’re accepting the case, that’s their whole freaking job. You’re going to tell me you’re an attorney expert now or accept the L on this one? 

Not an expert but the terms of service is limited to binding arbitration and the reward wouldn’t cover the cost of 2 hours of attorneys fees. I’ve been through it with my own claim with another provider. Let us know how it works out for you 🤔

So you’re saying AT&T just took all your information, ran a credit check, put in an order for U-Verse, still not sure if that means TV or internet, and created an account for you and then either signed you up for paperless billing with an invalid email address, or had a wrong billing address for you, or just said who cares we’re not going to send him a bill at all. And the only thing you could find out about it was that you owe $1,600. There’s no account number or previous billing information or notes on the account or anything. I don’t think so. How would it be AT&T’s mistake?

@TrollGod69 No, that’s what you’re saying. What I’m saying is I received a bill from Sunrise Credit Service for $1,600. They didn’t know what it was for other than ATT. I contacted ATT and they said it was for U-Verse. When I said I have never been a U-Verse customer they asked if I ever lived at a house that I lived in 3 years ago. When confirmed they said that is proof that a third party didn’t order the service using identity fraud. They have no records of bills or services rendered, only the bill that was sent to Sunrise in June of this year. All the rest of the nonsense you said is just nonsense and isn’t worth entertaining. 

@Constructive, I’m under the impression you don’t have any experience in legal matters at all. 2 hours of attorney fees? For a small claim credit matter? It’s a flat rate when you’re working with a credit and debt consultant, which in this case is just around $200. Much less than the $1,600 ATT wants me to pay them.

@skeeterintexas are you suggesting to go through arbitration without an attorney? With my attorney I likely don’t even need arbitration. I give them power of attorney, the attorney tells them to cut their crap and drop the charge, and if they don’t it goes into litigation. I’m not saying your son isn’t telling the truth, though what he is licensed in is pretty relevant. My attorney is through my VA lender for my mortgage. Their job is specifically in litigating credit disputes. I’m not trying to get money, I’m arguing that I don’t owe any money. If it comes back that they discover ATT or Sunrise did do anything illegal in their dealings then they do kick their butts in court. The goal isn’t court though, it’s to clear invalid charges and credit repair. 

Be sure to keep us posted.

There would be a record of the initial work order for the service. There would be a record of at least the previous 2 years of bills. There would be a record of when it got disconnected.

@TrollGod69 I don’t know if you’re questioning my integrity or telling me what I already know to be true. If it was a valid charge for a valid service ATT would have a record of it and be able to provide all those things. Yes. This is true. But it’s not a valid charge for a provided service that was ever connected nor disconnected for a consumer of the product… so none of those things exist. Sunrise has my name, the amount I allegedly owe, and my phone number, as that is all that is given when debt is purchased. They bought the debt from ATT. ATT only has a record of selling the debt and that it was for U-Verse attached to my name. They have my address and all that on record because I had a phone with ATT for a decade. 

If it were valid they would have more than that. I know this. You know this. Even ATT knows this. But ATT doesn’t investigate its own negligence or fraud and billing can only help you pay bills. To get bills to lower you must go through loyalty department where they try to scam you into a new contract by offering some too good to be true deal on an existing service for a few months to a year. They cannot do this if the customer has no service with ATT. Which I don’t. Therefore ATT can do nothing. They can provide me no proof that I owe. And their options are to take the credit score hit or pat the $1,600 for something that has no record of existing that I never received.

Let me ask you a hypothetical. If I made it my goal to rob ATT of as many services as I could by signing up for them and refusing to pay, how many months would ATT provide said service and continue billing me before they cancel the service and send it to collections? Do you think I could intentionally steal more than 1500 dollars of service over a period of two years before they notice? Do you think it would take them three years to send it to collections?

This is the hypothetical scenario you’re leaning on as being the most likely thing to have occurred and why the charge is valid. Does that sound more or less reasonable to you as to why customer of ATT could accrue $1,600 of charges than someone in the company making an error?

I think you asked elsewhere whether it was for internet or TV. According to ATT billing department it was U-Verse TV service, which IIRC is something like $60 a month. It was for something like 24 months of unpaid TV service. Please explain to me how, if I wanted 24 months of free TV service, I would be able to do this without it being cut off? What kind of mastermind do you take me for?

The loyalty department doesn’t scam customers. They also don’t offer any promotions that put you into a contract, other than a free equipment upgrade. The only way you get a new contract after you complete the initial 2 year contract that you’re in as a new customer is if you 1.) add a receiver 2.) upgrade your receivers or 3.) move your service. You would want to talk to the loyalty department because those reps are more likely to be empathetic and willing to really try to resolve your concern so they would take more time looking into it and seeing if the charges are valid, what they are for, and if you are owed a credit. I really don’t think that info they gave you about it being for 24 months of unpaid U-Verse TV is correct... I doubt it’s even for U-Verse TV. I would say more likely for AT&T internet, or cell phone service.

The "loyalty" department itself doesn't scam customers, but they are not immune from bad agents like any other department. As for being "empathetic" well of course they are, at least in how they present themselves. By working with a customer so you keep their business, you retain them thereby increasing "loyalty". I will say from my own personal experience that such department has been more helpful as they aren't as sales pressured as many front-line agents seem to be.

There have been some 12 or 24 month discounts in the past that came with an agreement for the same time, which just like equipment have an order confirmation sent out. Though those are not as often right now because of their CEO hard pulling discounts back to address and issue where they were making some customers at risk of being a financial drain on the company.

At the extent this issue has gone, only going through a FCC/BBB complaint or the arbitration clause in the ToS, seems to be the only way to have chance at resolution. I really hope the OP gets this straightened out.