ATT Raises your bill with this trick ..

You can drop your level of promotion without entering into a new contract, but the rate may be higher. 

You can change the level of service yourself either by logging into your AT&T account online or by going to a certain channel on U-Verse (I think 9901 or something that high) and setting it yourself. 

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@americangame wrote:

You can drop your level of promotion without entering into a new contract, but the rate may be higher. 

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I was going to say exactly that. You can drop back to U-200 and not get a 1 year lock, but you'll pay a higher rate for U-200 than you would with the promotional rate. But that rate is sure to be less than the U-450 rate.

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@americangame wrote:

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You can change the level of service yourself either by logging into your AT&T account online or by going to a certain channel on U-Verse (I think 9901 or something that high) and setting it yourself. 

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Only when you're adding services. AT&T will not allow you to down grade or drop a service level this way.

All-

Thanks for the suggestions, I will definitely look into that.  The most frustrating thing is the mis-information my wife recieved when an agent suggested we could save money by switching to U400.  I don't feel like the total ramifications of making that switch were explained.

A billing cycle has already occurred .. so any savings we earned by switching at the representatives suggestion were more than wiped out with one auto-pay cycle.  And of course there was no message (or it we missed it somehow) indicating that our bill was increasing.

The reporesentative that assisted me today probably did all they can do, and applied a credit for the upcoming billing cycle, but it doesn't help me with the extra $50 I already paid ATT on the current billing cycle.

It all just feels like a "scheme" that ATT has where they don't disclose all the conditions of these "promotions" that agents / representatives are encouraging customers to take advantage of.  We took advantage and now my bill is almost double what it was.

Why can't ATT just say "Here's your service, this is what you get and this is how much it costs."  Why all the tricks and gimmics and "let me see if I can apply any promotions."  I think ATT over-complicates it in order to confuse and wear down customers.  It feels like a full-time effort to monitor your account and your bill, cause if you stop paying attention, your bill might just increase 100% while you're not looking.

AT&T is, unfortunately, using the same tricks and schemes as the Cable TV industry that they're competing with.

Yeah .. that's unfortunate for sure .. and I don't blame ATT for it .. I guess.  I do wish this particular instance hadn't occured with what felt like intentional deception.  Or a "lie by ommission" in that my wife insists that the agent didn't tell her that this promotion would expire or that we would have to call in to cancel or renew it.

Whether the agent made a mistake and failed to mention it, or my wife didn't hear or understand what the representative was telling her .. either way when I was done with my on-line chat effort to resolve the issue, I was left with two options; enter into a 1 year term and go back to what I was paying before or 2- keep the package and pricing I have now, $197/mo.

Thanks to this group, it seems at least there is a third option of going to the self-serve portal and downgrading my service there. That will reduce my bill, although possibly not to what it was before, and it will reduce my actual service, but at least it won't lock me into a contract while I figure out what to do more long term.

I just thought it was worth mentioning to others that they should pay extra attention to their "promotions" and deals and they really need to verify they have a complete and accurate understanding of the terms and conditions on any of these promotions.  Otherwise, if they're not paying attention, suddenly they'll find themselves backed into a corner of paying a substantially higher bill, and/or being forced into a term committment.

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@chackett wrote:

Why can't ATT just say "Here's your service, this is what you get and this is how much it costs."

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They do. Next time your promotions expire, that's what you will be paying. Any promotion is an option that you decide to take, not AT&T. 

This is common practice throughout numerous cable companies. If you still are not satisfied you can always threaten to leave and through retention they may give you a reduced monthy fee.

Good luck.

I just love how nonchalantly AT&T employees try to justify disgusting marketing and billing practices.  I have been on uVerse for 5 years now and in addition to a completely muddled organization (for the employees too), it is a constant battle to check the complicated billing and keep them honest.  

The marketing, fine print and billing is convoluted on purpose because they count on the average consumer to be lazy or too busy to pay attention to the details.

And to say that the whole industry is deceitful so AT&T must be to be competitive is a real solid business plan (....but we all equally suck). The first provider in this space that goes to a straight forward and honest approach should gain market share.

no  no no ...at@t tricks people all the time.. i get it all the time..the last one was if i change to a new uverse box my internet will work better..but no talk of the wnew $11 mo  equiment fee.if there was i would not have got it and just delt with the other...now i must call tomorrow and yell at them again and do the hole dance till get to preferd costumer service..or get hung up on..but this time after 20 year of at@t ***** i think im gonna cancel and go with my local company.{edited for word filter evasion}..im over it....

My contract expired over a year ago and the monthly bill went up every month! I would call the loyalty department to work out a fordable price since i no longer work!  The loyalty department would work out a bill that was agreeable to us both! I paid exactly what was agreed upon. However my paper statement  were always higher then what I agreed to pay.  I called the billing department to clarify exactly why the bill was 50 -60 higher then the amount I agreed to pay. I read my notes referencing whom I spoke to and the date and what was said. I was told it does not manner who told you to pay this amount, you have to pay what is on your paper statement.! They were rude and simply said we will terminate services. In the course of a month I paid almost 450.00 to make up the difference between what the loyalty department people quoted me and what was on my paper statement.  Now I received a bill for 288.00 they claim I had a past due amount of 54.93 on my last bill! I paid on time what I was quoted to pay by the billing department 224.00. However they billed me for 278.00. My bills have went up almost 100.00 a month. Sick of them! 

This is just a classic "bait and switch" gimmick. I have the same thing on my bill this month - in all a $90 increase for the DirecTV/internet/phone bundle. I am sure calling them will be futile, but I do notice that Spectrum is offering to buy out existing contracts for new customers. Either that, or simply cut the cord altogether.

I am having the same problem. AT&T makes it sound like at the end of the 1 year promotion they will get you into a new one. They NEVER once say at the end of the 12 months the bill will go from 100 to 200 monthly. We don't get special TV movie channels. We have TV and internet. For people who they know are on fixed incomes this is despicable, especially during the Covid 19. The government needs to stop this gouging of customers. Now that AT&T bought HBO and Warner Media they are back to being a monopoly again. IMO .

I know just what you are saying. My one year is up and my bill went for being 100 a month to 200 a month. Before I signed up I explained I did not want a company that gouged people and AT&T insisted they work with people to keep a package. That is not true. They should be required IMO to list on the contract the exact amount your services will cost at the end of the promotion. No one would sign up with them. I don't have any special movie channel and would never subscribe to HBO. But no text that my bill would double next month. You go to pay your bill and see they doubled it. I do not think that is ethical. Many people are on fixed incomes. I made sure I asked all that before I signed up. They are not truthful.