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AT&T Quietly Adds Charges To All Contract Cell Plans
guttentag writes "The Wall Street Journal is reporting that AT&T Mobility, the second-largest wireless carrier in the U.S., has added a new monthly administrative fee of 61 cents to the bills of all of its contract wireless lines as of May 1, a move that could bring in more than a half-billion dollars in annual revenue to the telecom giant. An AT&T spokeswoman said the fee covers 'certain expenses, such as interconnection and cell-site rents and maintenance.' The increased cost to consumers comes even though AT&T's growth in wireless revenue last year outpaced the costs to operate and support its wireless business. The company has talked of continuing to improve wireless profitability. Citigroup analyst Michael Rollins noted that the new administrative fee is a key component for accelerating revenue growth for the rest of the year. He said the fee should add 0.30 of a percentage point to AT&T's 2013 revenue growth; he predicts total top-line growth of about 1.5%. Normally, consumers could vote with their wallets by taking their business elsewhere. AT&T would be required to let customers out of their contracts without an early termination fee if it raised prices, but it is avoiding this by simply calling the increase a 'surcharge,' effectively forcing millions of people to either pay more money per month or pay the ETF."
AT&T would be required to let customers out of their contracts without an early termination fee if it raised prices, but it is avoiding this by simply calling the increase a 'surcharge'
I love the way there's always a loophole!
"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert"
..which are the expenses you were supposedly paying for already.
ditch 'em. and sue 'em for screwing the etf.
what good is the rule, if they just add charges and still have you pay the etf?
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
And here is a very succinct how to by someone who successfully ended their AT&T service sans ETF.
(Note it still did take 2 hours)
"the new administrative fee is a key component for accelerating revenue growth for the rest of the year"
So, have I understood this correctly? If you have a contract with them, they aren't violating it, because they aren't raising your rates. They're just adding a separate administrative fee. Reminds me of the game airlines play: your flight is cheap, but you have to pay the fees for the airports, for fuel, for your luggage, for having wings on the airplane...
This is great for the bean-counters and marketeers, but it's unethical as hell. Why do big businesses lose their ethics? Does MBA stand for "Must Be an A**hole"?
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
Congressperson: That's fucked up. I should introduce legislation which would allow the consumer to get out of their contract if the carrier breaks it like this.
AT&T lobbyist: (Opens suitcase full of cash.)
Congressperson. Free market!
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Ok, so no kidding:
A while back my company was trying to resolve a billing issue.
We were under "foundation" billing. Whatever that means.
So the customer service dude on the phone gave us a URL where we could check our "foundation" billing. In this web portal, we were able to see all the other foundation accounts bills.
As in detailed bills of other people and companies, including call logs. There were thousands of these, all in PDF for the download. With everything you'd expect on a bill, like name, address, phone number, ammount due. I suppose anyone could have seen our bill too.
It reminded me of the at&t ipad "hacker" case.
AT&T overcharges many customers on every bill anyway. I have to call in every month to receive a credit to my account because of their business practice of overcharging and hoping customers don't notice. I've been an AT&T customer a few times over the years, and EVERY time they do this. It's not a mistake on their end, it's a deceptive business practice.
This new "surcharge" is just the tip of the ice-berg of AT&T's deceptive business practices. I know people who work there and most of them I've spoken with actually agree with me, thought they wouldn't go so far as to call the company "evil" as much as greedy and mis-managed.
Part of what we pay for with state taxes is an Attorney General who amongst other things, is supposed to stand up for tax paying citizens in these sorts of situations - This is a clear david vs goliath contract law issue and a state AG or two suing these motherfuckrs could help...
I agreed to a particular price, if they can not offer the service and make profit for the price they offered it to me at, its their own bad business decision...
There's a good thread here detailing other AT&T customers experiences with getting out of their current contract without paying the ETF. That thread also contains extremely useful info about how to go to Arbitration with AT&T if they won't budge.
Many of us on ATT are not stupid at all - Many are grandfathered in on really old plans that they keep letting us carry forward each cycle! I have a plan from the old Cellular One, which became Cingular which much later became ATT Wireless...why on earth would I change when my rate hasnt gone up since 2003 (with the exception of the data package added in like 06)
I pay like $78 per month for what on ATT or VZW now costs about $120 or so - I get a new phone and sign a new contract every two years and they dont ever manke me change when my contract terms expire so...I would be nuts to NOT stay with them, right?
>" Normally, consumers could vote with their wallets by taking their business elsewhere"
Hate to tell you this, but I think they all do that. Sprint has, Verizon has... not how T-Mobile does it. They all have one or more mysterious "fee" lines on the bill. It is a sham and why you can't believe any advertising from any cell company about the price of the plans. It is bad enough that in MY locality, wireless is taxed at something like 22%, then add "carrier surcharges", E911 fees, administrative fees, "Federal Univ Serv Assess Non-ID" fees, "State Gross Receipts Surcharge", "State Special Revenue Surcharge", "Regulatory Charge", and even f*ing sales tax (how can the state charge sales tax on a SERVICE???)
Then don't forget to add that data add-on charge and insurance protection in case you drop that $600 phone.
Before all the above, my plan for two phones is $107.99. And after- it is $159.48. 48% higher than the shiny number being advertised.
Simple fix
Call up AT&T and switch to a pay by check through the mail. The cost of billing and postage will cost them more than the 61-cents.
I think you can find instances of every carrier sneaking rate hikes onto customers with contracts. The contract only helps the carrier, never ever the consumer.
Thankfully, my contract is up next month. I'll be off to T-mobile no-contract plan.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
And this my friends is why business imposed rule (law for the average consumer since it's legally binding and generally not practical/worthwhile to fight for your average Joe) through contractual agreements that sign your rights away (including participating in class action suits) is a bad thing. I'd like to see consumers in mass refuse to sign agreements waiving all sorts of liabilities to businesses and rights of consumers. This will not happen and businesses are well aware of it. As such, businesses' legal teams can tuck away with all sorts of crap in contracts/agreements for product/services that makes me want to vomit.
"After all, why bother reading and comprehending that 14+ page document you're signing? Just initial these pages and sign here to get what you want, no one reads these things after all (except us--Good Corp.--and the courts) and this particular example you read about helps our consumers at a completely insignificant cost (it's only $0.63 here, $.53 there, ..., $6.56/mo tomorrow)! We Good Corp. sales associates verbally cross our hearts what we've told you is true (though statements are counter to the contract), even though it won't legally hold a candle to that contract you just signed symbolizing you: read, understood, and agreed to all terms expressed there in. It does make you feel better though, right?" Then average said consumer signs, agrees, and moves on.
Every time I see this happen I watch my options dwindle to: A) completely refusing a product/service (since all competitors have similar agreements) or B) am forced to buy in with everyone else. Please, stop being wreckless with your purchasing power people. Purchasing power is real, it's just being manipulated to the masses. When the bulk of consumers realize this, we'll all get screwed a little less, which means it's time to stock up on lube.
You can get unlimited talk, text, and data through Straight Talk or similar for less than $50 a month. Bring your AT&T phone and just buy a new SIM card, if you like (usually around $15 or less). Or if you're not overly concerned with having the fanciest phones (which these days doesn't make nearly as much difference as it did 2-3 years ago), you can get a phone on Verizon's network and possibly have better coverage.
Yes, I think you're nuts.
The confidence of ignorance will always overcome the indecision of knowledge.