Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Gixer on April 30, 2004, 07:12:54 PM
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Think AT&T just bought themselves alot of bad publicity then the $2000 is worth with this story.
An Oklahoma Marine contends a bill collector is hounding him while he's fighting in Iraq.
The Marine is in a military hospital, recovering from wounds he received on the battlefield. But, he said he's more worried about the bill collector than he is about his health.
So his mother, here in Oklahoma, asked me to go "In His Corner."
If you've watched even a few minutes of news recently, you know that the serious action in Iraq is in a town called Fallujah. And that's exactly where Sonya Christmon's son is serving with the Marine Corps.
The Corps called her two days ago to say Robert had been wounded again by shrapnel, but that he would be all right.
Sonya was anxious to hear those words from her own son's mouth when he called later that same day.
But what was he worried about?
"And he said, 'Mom, I got a bill here on my cell phone.' "
"And I'm like, 'what?' "
"And he said, 'It's like $2,000.' I [have to] get this paid. Because you know his credit.' "
Robert had received a threatening letter from a bill collector for AT&T Wireless saying pay $2,000 or they would take legal action. Robert claimed he had shut off the service before he got shipped out from the U.S. again, but it wasn't shut off.
Sonya couldn't believe someone would trouble troops about a bill when they face death on a daily basis.
"But he's tough, he's tough," she said. "The only thing is I want him to concentrate on getting through this. Because this is very dangerous where he's at."
Sonya called and questioned the San Diego AT&T office because Robert's cell bills were normally $75 to $100. But they would only talk to Robert. They hung up on Sonya and her family.
Army National Guard attorney Capt. Michael Mannes said bill collectors can send letters to GI's in war zones, but soldiers, like anyone, can write and demand the letters stop. It's federal law. But if they persist, GI's can fight back against bill collectors, too.
"There are certain provisions that allow for a service member to bring civil action against them and in some cases there is even criminal penalty," Mannes said.
Now, I contacted AT&T corporate affairs and they have apologized.to Robert and his family and also said they deeply regret that a collector hounded Robert in a dangeroous combat situation.
A company executive told me they will work as hard as possible to get this bill resolved in the next few days.
That's a great relief to Robert's family. We'll check back for results.
I'm Brad Edwards, In Your Corner.
Most overseas units have access to military lawyers who are assigned to their unit. They're there to help with legal matters just like this.
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Kinda makes ya sick dont it.
And why are they having to use there cell phones to call home?
The government should provide FREE phone service to ALL service men and women over there.
By God It's the least they can do!
Just my 2 cents.
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Anybody know the number for AT&T's San Diego office?
We could all call and fill their phone lines until they submit to the will of the internet....
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great Idea holdin, that sounds like the thing to do
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Are you guys going to pay this guys bill?
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Originally posted by Thrawn
Are you guys going to pay this guys bill?
As tax payers Yes I think we should pay for phone callas for our troops!
Dam Its the Least we can do dont you think?
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Actually is seems he wasn't using the cell phone, he thought it was turned off. It may be monthly bills over a period of time.
Weird!
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Originally posted by Swager
Actually is seems he wasn't using the cell phone, he thought it was turned off. It may be monthly bills over a period of time.
Weird!
Yeah well there should be some way the dang phone company can tell if someone forgot to turn off there phone or not.
But NO!!!! they would rather just bill the crap out of them.
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Riinnnggg Rinnngg.....
Soldier...Hello?
Butthead....Yes Sir..Im calling on behalf of AT&T. You owe them 200.00 dollars sir for a phone bill..How would you like to take care of this?
Soldier...Sir,..can you hang on a sec please (ackackackackackack in the background) I'm kind of in the middle of a fire fight and..
Butthead..SIr..we need to get this matter resolved and I'm a busy person. Now you have this bill...
Soldier...Look ya idiot..I'm getting shot at here hold on!!!!
Butthead...Sir there is NO reason to resort to name calling..We will take leagal action if you do not pay this bill.
Soldier...Hey Sir? Let me ask you a question..Should I kill the guys coming from the left..the right..or up the middle..See I'm in Fallujah and currently they are trying there best to kill me and a few buddies here..So you go ahead and get a lawyer..and do what ya think..But If I so much as hear a peep outta ya while im here defending your obnoxious butt...I'm going to give Habib here your Phone number to call you. Have a nice day.
Click.:aok
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LOL good one.
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Originally posted by stratman
Yeah well there should be some way the dang phone company can tell if someone forgot to turn off there phone or not.
seems simple enough. if there where no calls made after he said he turned it off then his story checks out. if he kept using it, he's out of luck.
btw- as far as sending in a wave of calls to their call center, you'd likely just overload the international lines (possibly making it harder for soldiers to phone home).
when I dropped ATT, they called me several times to try and get me to change my mind. after the 3rd or 4th call I began to notice a trend in the accents of the callers, so I asked. the calls where coming from India.
I received a few more calls from them before they finally gave up. each time I asked to speak to a supervisor, and asked him to make a note for my account stating that " I am an American doing business with an American company in America, and could they please have an American contact me if there is any more business to discuss."
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I have been trying to choose a cell provider and AT&T was in the list. They are now not on the list.
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Originally posted by Maverick
I have been trying to choose a cell provider and AT&T was in the list. They are now not on the list.
I have T-Mobile Mav...it's been a good service so far for the last 2+ Years for my wife and I.:)
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Sounds like a misunderstanding...and a mountain made out of a molehill. Still, it's probably not a good time to start up service with AT&T anyhow, since Cingular just bought them - probably be some pains as they merge everything together.
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Originally posted by Maverick
I have been trying to choose a cell provider and AT&T was in the list. They are now not on the list.
AT&T is out of the cell phone business. It (cell phone business) was bought by cingular.
curly
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AT&T are a cheap skate company who create animosity and ill feeling where ever they tread.
Ask anyone who was working for IBM when AT&T bought out the Global Networking business.
(http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/209_1081438631_swoop.gif)
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AT+T will NEVER have my business again. I moved to Colorado about 6 mos ago, and anyways set up with a local provider, and AT+T calls (an american) to offer a one rate plan for my long distance, well, I jump at this rate, provided they would back date this plan 12 days to when I turned my phone on. Well all is fine and good until I get my $450.00+ phone bill. They never credited me back, nor did they set up the one rate plan. I call to get it straightened out, and continually get people in their call centers in India, whom I can not understand because of their accents. When I can understand them, I explain the situation and am told there is nothing I could do, that I should just pay my bill, and the next one will reflect the one rate plan. I say no, I want it fixed that they promised, they still refuse, well I refuse to pay it, they turn it over to a bill collector. I file a complaint with the FCC and BBB. Three months later and after a letter to their bill collector about the seriousness of this situation and that they stop contacting me as I will only talk to AT+T in regards to the matter, I get a call from AT+T demanding payment (call is an american) I launch into a massive explanation followed up by me saying I am through, contact my attorney, here is his number... well, the guy got quiet, says they will fix the bill, and that they apologised for any inconvienences. The bill gets credited, I get a letter from AT+T sating it is taken care of, and guess what. 2 mos later, it showed up on my credit report from the original credit agency, I disputed and AT+T supported the deby collector, so my attorney filed suit against AT+T, and the debt collector for an undisclosed amount. WIll be fun to see how this turns out. They are pretty well and through screwed as their letter is dated before the item posted to my report and was submitted....
Bastages!:mad: