Uverse Billing Service

I signed up for uverse on august 2013 for a one year contract. Before my contract was up on august 2014 and my rates went up, I called the uverse line to cancel the service. The gentleman then ask me why I was cancelling and I said it was more affordable switching to a different cable company. He then offered me a new expanded promotion with U450 with HBO, Showtime and Cinemax for the same price I've been paying all year for 3 more months around 135$ a month. I said ok, that's a good deal so I took the promotion. This is their strategy, but I was ok with paying for the expansion while still paying the same amount I've been paying all year long. I asked how much will the rates go up after the 3 month promotion and he said it would go up to 173$. So I told him I would cancel after the promotion because I could find a better rate from another cable company. So 3 months would get me through the first days of november, he told me to call and cancel by then. 

By I got two bills with the promotion in august, september and by the next bill I had to pay on october 25th,  the rate had already gone up to 173$. I called to complain about the last month of promotion I was promised and the representative said "att bills one month in advance, so the amount due on october 25th covers the usage for the month of november and that my promotion expired the first days of november, so that's why it wasn't reflected in my bill. I complained that I was promised 3 months at the 135$ rate and that I only got 2 months of it, and he said that is the it is set up. So I was pretty mad and decided to cancel service for sure this time. But I need internet since I am a PhD student I want to get the service from the cable company set up before I cancelled the service. I paid the bill for october 25th and I paid the 173$ bill on due on november 25th.

I finaly called on december 4th to have my service cancelled. By then I had recieved a due on december 25th of 200+$. I told the lady on the phone the reason I was canceling was because I could find a better rate elsewhere and I was upset with the way they did not honor the 3rd month of the promotion they promised me and that my rate was hiked up again this time to 200$. I asked specifically what was I supposed to pay and what I was going to get back from my payment I made that was due on novemebr 25th.  She said that because "att bills a month in advance, the payment paid on novemeber 25th covers the charges for the month of december, so I should get a prorated bill up until 12/4 and a refund for the days in december I would not use." I asked her about the 200$ bill that was due 12/25th and she said "ignore that bill that is for usage for the month of january". I said I wanted to know how much was my refund going to be and made her restaste at least 4 times that I did not have to pay the bill due on 12/25th. She said she wasn't able to tell me how much my refund was going to be because that is done by another department and I had to wait until january to know my final bill. I asked her again to make sure I am going to get a refund, I'm not going to get a bill in january that I have to pay.   She told me again to ignore that bill and wait until until january to see a final bill and recieve my refund for the prorated december. I asked her at least 4 times to reiterate that I didn't owe anything and was going to get a refund. I asked to give me the final bill right then and she said it had to wait until january. I didn't like that I was canceling service and was not getting the complete final information and had to wait until january to get the final bill. She told me that's the way they do it in at&t and she couldn't do anything about it. She told me not to worry in janury I will get my refund with my final bill. So I hung up, pretty annoyed that I had to wait until january I decided to believe what she told me mutliple times so I let it go. 

Now I recived my final bill from at&t and they are saying I owe 251.00$.  I called at&t again today to complain as to why I was getting billed when I should be getting a refund. I spoke to a customer service representative and she said that amount is what I owe for the usage for the months of october and november. I told her no, I've paid every month and the representativesd before me have told me that "at&t bills one month in advance" and specifically I told her what the representative said in december that the bill I paid in november covered the usage for the month of december and that I was going to get a refund for the days I wouldn't use. She said that the representative was mistaken and I owe the 251$ for usage for october and november. That  at&t bills one month in advance but I pay for use of two months behind. That what I paid in novemebr covered the usage for the month of september not december and that I still owed the months of october and november. 

As you can see this made no sense and was in complete contradiction to the information I was given in my previous calls. I asked to speak to her supervisor and she transfered me to Lisa M in manager of escalating claims. Who, according to her is the highest representative I could speak to. We went over the information all over again and she again changed information, she said that what I paid in november covers the usage for the month of november that the for the month of november bill was made on october 31st but it was due on novemebr 25th. That what I paind on novemember 25th covers the usage for the month of november. That this is what it means that "at&t bills one month in advance".

So I've spoken to 4-5 different people at at&t at this point and every single one of them says something different. She then said that I did miss a payment for the month of october plus the 5 days of december and that is the 251$ I have to pay now. I told her I paid my bills due in october so that couldn't be and she said she didn't see any record of me paying in october. I went to my bank account and found the payment and reference number and she said they were going to make a claim with the treasury department to find that "missing" payment.

I told Lisa the information that I was told in my previous conversations that I was never told I had "missing" payment when I canceled the service, that I was told my payment on november 25th covered the usage for the month of december and that I was going to get a refund in january. She said she was sorry for the miss information but that she is now giving me the correct information and I do owe the 251$ and there was nothing she could do. I told her I asked and was told specifically that I didn't owe anything when I canceled the service and I wans't going to pay the 251$. She said it was my decision but if I choose not to pay then the account will into collections and that would basically ruin my credit. But it was my decision not pay and there is nothing she could do. I told here how it was possible that I could get such completely different information from every representative I spoke to and that at&t has to be accountable for the mistake in the information given by their representatives.  She said she was sorry about the miss information but that doesn't mean I don't still owe the 251$. 

I asked her to transfer me to some one higher up and she refused, she said she was the highest person I could speak to. When I told I wanted to speak to some higher up and asked her if she was refusing to transfer me she finally gave me the number for the office of the President of Claims of at&t and that is I wanted to I could speak to them. She gave the number (1800-8484141), with no name for who to ask for and no extension number. I asked her to transfer me and she transfered me to an answering machine that requested an extension number. I could not find a way to connect to a physical person. I hung up and tried the the number and got machine saying I won a bahamas cruise for 2. So definetly not the office of the president and not even an at&t. I plan to call again tomorrow and get transfered to her again by asking by for her by name. 

This is unaceptable and a horrible way to do bussiness. Starting from the different information every representative handles, lack of accountability for the promotions they offer and the payment information the provide and finally to this last call to a number that is prebably not even associated with at&t. This is a terrible way to treat customers and I decided to post here so that there is a record of has trasnpired since every time I call they see no record of what I was told and what the promised. I will call again tomorrow and keep calling until this is resolved.