We all know what it
is like to be spending your entire evening studying for that test
tomorrow morning, we refer this as cramming. Basically it is trying
to jam as much knowledge as we can remember for about 24 hours of a
single subject. Cellular carriers have been known to do something
similar, but instead they try to squeeze us rocks for as much blood
as their vampiric ways can drink(which is never enough). This week
AT&T settled a $105 million settlement that was upheld by the
FCC. This is great that there is cracking down on this matter,
earlier in the year T-Mobile was in the crosshairs for similar
behavior, but there really is not enough done about this issue.
<rant>I am
not entirely sure, but I believe it does, that when I recently signed
with AT&T after leaving T-Mobile earlier in the year I was
affected by this bill cramming. As seen on this massive ad campaigns
AT&T and Verizon are doing, since they both basically have the
same exact offer, it is $160 a month for four per-purchased or AT&T
Next phones with 10 GB of shared data per month. Went into the
store, already had all four phones since we have them owned outright,
went through all they hoops they send you through to change networks,
keep phone numbers and set up account information. While in the
store they explicitly asked if we would want to have insurance for
our phones, obviously I said no since I do not think it is worth it.
Two weeks go by before I decide to look at what they were really
charging us, BIG mistake made there on my part. Turns out not only
did they have all four lines being covered by their insurance, which
is $6.99/mo per line (which not worth it on some of our phones which
are $60 basic flip phones), they also had signed us up for Beats
streaming service, $9.99/mo, and roadside assistance, $2.99/mo. So
what went from a $160/mo bill turned into a $240 a month bill, so I
quickly canceled these services. What you would think is they refund
what has not been used in the billing period, so at this point it
would be $40 for us, instead I get a crummy $20 rebate on the next
months bill. This was my dealing with this so called bill
cramming.</rant>
On to a more
serious problem with this settlement, and why I think it is total
garbage. The settlement is for $105 million, which is a large sum of
money. What is easily forgotten is this settlement covers all AT&T
customers, former or current, since 2009. Currently AT&T has
about 115 million customers, so if everyone who was affect, which I
probably many of these customers, will only receive about $1 a piece
for these unwanted and unauthorized charges. I only was affected for
one month and that cost me $80, if this problem went unnoticed for
year that would have been $960 or about a months worth of groceries
for a family of four. This $105 million settlement is basically a
slap on the wrist to AT&T which has revenues of around $150
billion. This basically shows that the FCC is unwilling to place
actually punishment on companies which conduct seedy and usually
unlawful business techniques. If a mom and pop shop were to have a
vending machine which just ate your money it would likely be that the
authorities would eventually come and either take the machine away of
force them to issue full refunds. Our major corporations should be
held the same and not given special privileges which they most
obviously receive.
No comments:
Post a Comment