America Wake Up: You are being ripped off by your phone companies!

YES, it is true and NO, you are not stuck with it, because these tariffs do not exist everywhere. So there is no excuse that they cannot be changed.

I was shocked coming to America and finding out about those horrendous tariffs or as the phone companies like to call it “plans”. To me it sounded more like “trap”. I do not use the phone a lot, so I went for a prepaid card. I found out that I have to pay $30 dollars to stay activated for the next 3 months (a better deal than the activation costs for only one month) – [outrageous rip off #1: $30 dollars for 3 months?].

And if I do not pay I will lose all the money that has been put already in my account [outrageous rip off # 2: I will lose my money if I do not use it?].

The deal with the prepaid card should be that you do not have to pay a monthly fee, but putting monthly money into my account to stay activated IS a monthly fee, I am forced to, otherwise my account gets deactivated and I will lose all my money [outrageous rip off # 3: I am forced to pay monthly to stay activated like a contract phone?]. That is not what a prepaid phone card stands for!

But that is not all! I found out that when I get called from a number that I do not know or that is private (= no caller ID), I better not pick up, BECAUSE I might get charged for an incoming call! The last time I checked my account history I found an incoming call with the number 123456789, that is not even possible, and I really do not remember receiving it (maybe it’s a private call after all?) and I got charged $ 0.20 dollar for not even having a conversation but just for making the mistake to pick up a call that number I did not know. So lets say there is an emergency and I get called by someone to tell me my husband had an accident, but I do not pick up because I do not know the number and I do not want to get charged for an incoming call again… so, you get the idea? I have never heard of this methods before, of being charged by an incoming call. Should not the originator be charged for that and is this not already the practice for land lines? At least on a land line the operator will ask you in advance if you want to take a collect call, but using a mobile phone I would not know in advance [outrageous rip off # 4: I am charged for incoming calls without knowing it].

Lets move on to SMS or as it is more commonly called here - text message – which is very popular in Europe but not in the U.S. I had always wondered why, and now I know. The phone companies charge too much and even worse they charge for received text messages! I cannot even say NO to the received SMS, it just comes in. I do not get the possibility of being asked if I want to receive it. Assumption: Someone spams my mobile phone with one SMS per minute for one months. That makes it $2016.00 Dollars I would have to pay that month just for receiving SMS‘s. A good way to bankrupt someone you do not like. I asked the phone company why I have to pay for receiving SMS, because it did not make sense to me, the phone company just could not give me any plausible reason and merely said “That is our policy!”. Hello? That is a rip off! Lets look at T-Mobile, a German company doing business also in the US. Their policy in their country of origin and all other countries in Europe is: No one pays for incoming calls or incoming text messages. But that policy changes in the US! By asking them why, they also could not give me any reasonable answer. Maybe the answer is, “We can do it here, so lets do it! The Americans won’t complain, they don’t know any better!” [outrageous rip off # 5: I am charged for incoming text messages that i cannot even decline].

So, lets look at some Austrian tariffs for a comparison. The Austrian Chambor of Labour provides a really helpful website “The Mobile Phone Tariff Calculator” where you can fill out some questions regarding your phone habits (in German) and it gives you as a result a suggestion of the best fitting tariffs for you. It also provides a current list of all Tariffs for Mobile Telephony (PDF).

An example of one postpaid tariff, that I had is “tele.ring Ätsch!Ätsch!“ for 3,90 EUR a month and for 0,039 EUR per minute you can call to every phone in every phone network. An example for a prepaid card, that is offered in Austria is BOB. You buy the starter package, as to say the SIM card for 14,90 EUR and get the first 100 minutes or SMS for free. After that you pay 0,05 EUR per minute to all phones in every network and 0,15 EUR for every sent SMS. And the great thing is, your balance NEVER expires and you don’t have to pay monthly to have it activated. As you can see, none of those tariffs charges for incoming calls or receiving SMS.

Feel free to check out also the website of the German T-Mobile headquarter and their tariffs and compare them to the U.S. tariffs. You will see that no tariff they offer will have you pay for incoming calls or text messages!

And by the way… land line tariffs in Austria start out at 9,90 EUR and are at the highest 28,88 EUR. (PDF). And for the sake of completeness here is the “Land Line Phone Tariff Calculator“.

Update:

It’s a step in the right direction: California judge rules early cell phone termination fees illegal (Thu Jul 31, 2008)

Update 2008-08-18: AT&T is not only ripping me off but also pissing on me

This is a summary of the past months and my calls to AT&T customer service:

I got some calls where I picked up and no one was on the other end of the line. That is how I found out that I got charged for incoming calls and asked AT&T about it and told them that I was not aware of this since I am from Europe. I asked them why this i so, since the caller already pays for the connection.  I do not buy their explanation that I am using their service since I am also using their cables at the landlines also and I am not getting charged for this at all. They basically said, because we can = it is our policy.

I also got some SMS Spam and I also found out that I am getting charged for receiving SMS. I again called and asked why, because the sender is already charged for sending it and I cannot do anything about receiving SMS. They could not come up with any logical explanation again and only offered me to turn the SMS service of completely.

I pointed out to them that I worked for a MNO in Austria and I do not understand why I am charged for things that I don’t have control of. All I got was a mockery from the customer service agent saying “Australia?” so often that I realized that he is teasing me and making fun of me. He basically told me to get an Austrian phone service then. I told him that I want my money back for being treated like this. There are over 100 dollars in  my prepaid account which minutes I can never use up and which just keep piling up because I have to make a monthly payment to keep it activated. He said I won’t get my money back. I demanded to speak to a supervisor which he commented with a “sure, but I make you wait for this”. He then kept me on the waiting line for at least 15 minutes till I was transferred. Finally the supervisor only told me that I can get my money back when I transfer to a plan.

I went to an AT&T store and was surprised to see so many people in the store so that they had to maintain a waiting list. Then it became clear to me that they can simply do anything to their customers and don’t have to care if they lose one. I asked if I can get my 100 dollars transfered to a family plan. They told me NO. What!? I really think I am getting fooled now.

Since I was already there I also asked about the iPhone: No, you don’t get any discounts if other family member has been a customer already for five years. Yes, You still have to get a two year contract. Yes, you have to pay extra although there is already a data plan in use. Oh, and I dared to ask if GPS was included in the plan, which upon I was looked at as if I was asking a silly question. Of course GPS is included in the plan, BUT SMS IS NOT! What!? I have to pay extra for SMS? I really don’t understand that I have to pay for an additional service so that I can send a text message with 140 to 160 letters, but having a whole map displayed on my phone is included!? Hm, so SMS is not data but something more sophisticated then!?

I come from a country where plans are adjusted according to the development of technology. We had talk first, then SMS and finally data. And the plan always built up on the development of the technology. First we had to pay per minutes for talking, then they were included in a flat fee, then we had to pay per SMS, then they were included in this package, finally, European phone companies make their money with data.  But finding out, that in America, phone companies make it sound like SMS is a completely different service was mind-blowing.

So what shall I say other than I am still stuck with them and fighting to get my money back.

Update 2008-08-25: AT&T succeeded in keeping my money

And here is how they did it:

The following event took place in the past few weeks. As I mentioned already earlier the supervisor of customer service told me that I have to get a postpaid plan to be able to save the money. So I went to the next AT&T store to get a postpaid plan. The sales agent told me that she cannot do this and that I shall call customer service. I called customer service again and they told me that I have to get a plan first. So I went back the next weekend to the store. The sales agent in the store told me again I have to call customer agent, and since I did not want to be treated like a ping pong ball any more I called in the store and let the customer service agent talk to the sales person in the store so that she could tell him what to do. [I found this very odd and ridiculous]

They told me then that the money expired two days ago and I cannot have it transferred over. I could not believe it. I was sent back and forth until my money finally expired.

Furthermore the sales person told me I have to get a one or two years contract in order to keep the number although I still had my phone and was not planning on buying a new one. I told him I am already customer and it feels like a punishment to me. If I was not a customer they would hook me up to a service without any contract and if I would go to their competitor and sign up there and come back again with a competitors plan I also would not have to sign up for a one or two year contract. The manager came out also and told me that he knows that it does not make any sense but it is company policy. I also heard from him later that it is not worth to get sued over. Well, after spending two hours in the store and the sales person and manager calling customer service they finally managed to set me up on a plan without a one or two years contract with my old phone and my old number.

Until now the practice of AT&T leaves me speechless.


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categories Verenas Welt Blog | 2008/03/11

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