Sabrinas Solutions Sabrina Smith Some local consumers are fuming about bills theyve been getting, but say they dont deserve. In one day alone we received 10 calls at NBC 5, from people looking for a solution after they were hit with big phone bills from AT&T.

The problem seems to happen when North Texans switch their local phone service to AT&T. The telephone giant is now offering local service, not just long distance. But many people, who make the switch, are being billed long distance fees for their local calls in some cases hundreds of dollars. What we did was call AT&T and get the company to erase the charges for all the consumers who contacted us and were erroneously billed. The company apologizes and blames the problem on a computer error and says no one will be charged long-distance fees for local calls, no matter what their bills say. AT&T says its employing six hundred extra people to work its customer service department to handle this problem and insists its dedicated to getting the problem resolved. So if you get a bill you think you dont deserve call the customer service number at the bottom. Explain that youre a loyal customer, youre upset and you want changes made in your bill. If that fails, call the public utility commission. The government agency is designed to mediate complaints between consumers and companies

http://www.msnbc.com/local/KXAS/7844.asp#BODY

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 01, 2000

Answers

Welcome to the wonderful world of IT...this one is almost certainly NOT y2k-related. "Major long distance carriers" have had troubles in this area for many years.

-- Bud Hamilton (budham@hotmail.com), February 02, 2000.