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This is one corporate rant that got results. Soon after mailing this biting and desperate letter, Jon received a response from a high-level customer complaint investigator at AT&T. The response is posted below. The good news is that Jon doesn't owe the $900 any more. The bad news is that the AT&T investigator's explanation of events doesn't make a shred of sense.
05/22/01 Dear AT&T Customer Complaint Center, I am writing this letter to tell you about an ongoing and disturbing situation in which I have been implicated that involves AT&T Business Long Distance service. I am writing this for two reasons: first, because my situation is not yet resolved, and second, in the hopes that you can perhaps improve the process so others do not have to go through what I did. First, here’s my current profile. I started my own company, eCruiting Alternatives, Inc, last July 2000. Although I am not currently an AT&T business long distance customer, I have AT&T Digital Cable and Cable Modem access in my residence. My customer record will show that I pay these $100+ bills in a timely manner each month. Prior to starting my own company, I was a high-level commissioned recruiter for ABC & Associates, (555)555-1234 (I am not sure if this phone number is still active - that company has been reconfigured into a dotcom based out of New York). Since recruiting involves evening and weekend phone work, Mr. X, the owner of the firm, and Ms. Y, business manager, arranged to pay for the long distance calls that I made from my home office and remote office locations. They chose AT&T as the carrier and paid the bills each month. I never saw the bills and my name was not on them. My last day of work for ABC & Associates was June 30, 2000. After returning from a vacation in late July, I started my own company. At that time, I called AT&T and changed the long distance service - I kept the residential home office line as AT&T and switched my remote office business line to MCI. In January 2001, I switched my home office to a long distance discount carrier, so as of January 2001 I was no longer an AT&T long distance customer. During my five year employment at ABC & Associates, I never paid any long distance bills nor was my name associated with any telephone bills of any kind. That overhead was taken care of by the company. The phone number of (555)555-1234 was the main phone line for the entire company (up to 20 people) - we each had our own extensions. You can imagine my surprise, then, when about three weeks ago, almost ten months since I left ABC & Associates, I received an AT&T phone bill, IN MY NAME, at my new business address, for almost $900! Needless to say, I was in a state of shock and disbelief. After speaking in detail with AT&T over the course of a couple of hours - valuable hours which I would have much rather used running my current business - it was finally determined that almost all of these charges were for a T-1 line for the new dotcom company in New York - a company and location that I have never seen or worked for!!!! The remaining charges ($88.67) are for two conference calls even though I HAVE NEVER USED AT&T FOR CONFERENCE CALL SERVICES. All of the charges were accumulated this spring when I have had no formal association with AT&T whatsoever. At the end of the phone call I made to inquire about this strange bill, AT&T told me they were launching an “investigation” into these charges. Two weeks later, I called back, and the “investigation” continues, even though the outcome seems simple: re-bill the T-1 charges and the conference calls to the New York address and name you already have in the database linked to that account and take my name off the bill! I have since spoken to Mr. X and Ms. Y and they have acknowledged that these charges have nothing to do with me, and are in fact their company’s charges to pay for, yet the bill is still listed in my name and the investigation, for some reason, continues. Now that Ms. Y is leaving the new dotcom, and Mr. X may be moving on as well, I fear that the investigation will be harder for AT&T to complete. Let me see: the officers of the New York company admit complete responsibility for this bill – so what exactly is there to “investigate?” Part of the difficulty of this process is that Mr. X, Ms. Y and I are not interested in working with each other - we parted ways almost a year ago, and I did not even have their updated contact information. However, AT&T told me that I had to find them to persuade them to take my name off the bill, since AT&T will not remove my name from the bill at this time. So AT&T has put me in a very awkward situation in terms of tracking these individuals down. But that is not what is really on my mind today. What is on my mind is this: How did my name end up on a bill for almost $900 for a company I no longer work for and for which I never had bill paying responsibility? And why hasn’t AT&T called me even one time since my initial call to update me on this situation? The AT&T representatives I spoke with have no idea how my name got on the bill but they refuse to take my name off of it, even though the vast majority of the charges can be traced via a T-1 line to a location 200 miles from my house that I have never seen! It is my hope that this investigation will be resolved, and that furthermore, I will receive a letter of apology from AT&T for putting me through this stressful, disorganized, and unethical process. I don’t know of any business on earth that can force its bills onto departing employees who have no equity stake in that business! Truth is, indeed, sometimes stranger than fiction. Here I am, almost one year from my last day with ABC & Associates, spending my time trying to resolve bills that have absolutely nothing to do with me whatsoever. If there was more money involved I would consult my attorney immediately. And I have not ruled out that option if this fiasco continues much longer. Please let your AT&T salespeople know that I will not be receptive to their calls for long distance or other services unless this event is put behind me and handled with some care and thoughtfulness on your end. I sincerely hope that this situation can be resolved as soon as possible. Expect more correspondence from me if this is not handled in a timely manner. By the way, I am going to enclose a copy of the AT&T collections letter I received, along with the bill showing the total amount due. Please note that the AT&T collections letter is written as if I had been receiving bills all along, when in fact this collection letter and this bill are the first bills I have EVER received from AT&T regarding telephone line (555)555-1234, which has never been listed in my name. I look forward to a timely and thoughtful response to this frustrating matter.
Jon Reed cc: AT&T Revenue Assurance Mgmt, Mesa, AZ ----- Dear Mr. Reed, Regarding your letter of 05/22/01. After extensive review of your letter and the account that is billing services, I have found the problem and made the necessary corrections. ABC & Associates had several sub accounts that billed services. They had numerous other sub accounts that billed services. Your line was just one of many of the phone numbers listed on one of those sub accounts, and they had your specific information listed in the customer information for that sub account. Subsequently, they had seversal other sub accounts that were disconnected at there request. When they did this, this moved the sub account which had you listed in the customer information file into the designated lead sub account which is what generates the actual billing information. Per the information you provided, I have removed all information from acct 0123456789 from the file that relates to you, and your address and changed it ABC & Associates. You should not receive any further notices regarding this account since it does not relate to any services provided to you. Please accept my personal apology for any inconvenience you may have experienced. Unfortunately, we can only use the information that is provided to us by the customer. I really don't understand why they ever used you and your home address as part of there customer information, however, that is where we got that information and that is why you received the invoices. Should you have any questions, you may call (877) 555-9876 and refer to the case number I've listed above.
Harry
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