Is that a major pain or what?? That just happened to me today; I got my phone bill and there was a call on there that I know for damn sure I did not make. The date was on a Monday at 6:16 am (I don't call anybody at that time, since I don't get up until 6:30 am).

The clincher was that I called my long distance phone company, and they told me that they could not do anything about it, I had to call my local phone company to get it taken care of. The person I spoke to at the long distance phone company claimed that they got the charges from my local phone company, and that they could not help me.

So I called my local phone company, only to be given the run around and told that THEY could not help me, since they did not have access to my account as far as what phone calls were made. Okay, so now I'm totally pissed. I called my long distance phone company back AGAIN, and this time asked to speak to a supervisor or manager, someone who knew what they were doing (and yes, I did say that, because I was furious at this time!).

The supervisor I talked to at the long distance phone company was very nice, even though I was not very nice to her and told her what happened, and how angry I was. She told me that she would issue a request for a credit for the amount that I was wrongly billed for, and would call me if it was not approved. :confused: I told her that it better not be refused, since I did not make the phone call in the first place, and I sure as hell was NOT paying for it. She then asked me if someone else might have made the call, and I told her, "No, I live alone, so it could not have been anyone else but me."

The amount that I was charged was not the issue here, it was just the principle of the whole issue; being billed for a call that I never made. I'm dropping this long distance phone company, since I'm really aggravated at being billed wrong, and for getting the run around the first time I called them (which should never have happened). I have a cell phone where I can make long distance phone calls for free anyway, so I don't really need another company for it anyway. So Adelphia, kiss this!
[This message was edited Thu Jun 24 15:46:09 2004 by psychodelicide]

Well what happened is that the salesgirl explained the card like it was a bonus points card - you know, like the Safeway Club card. My mom agreed to it, NEVER knowing it was in fact a credit card. So when she got the bill a month later she was really angry. She had to call the headquarters and even rang up the store and tattled on the salesgirl to the manager.

I work for a phone company on the residential side and I see this every single day!!! Believe me, its frustrating for us too!
The local company may add the long distance charges to your local bill , but the charges are determined and initially billed by the long distance company, so we cannot change the billing at all. I dont know why the customers are being referred back to the local company, I would say either the person who answered the phone doesnt feel like doing their job (it does happen) or they may be penalized in some way if they give credits.
This has always happened but I'm noticing a lot more often now than it used to be. I usually have this situation 1-2 times a day. Its terrible!

psychodelicide said:

bummer, dudette! if i were you i'd be tempted to put it in writing to their customer service department.

The same thing happened to my mom. Only it was with the Victoria Secret Angels card. So I guess it wasn't the same thing at all.

Natsume said:

He..he. Natsume's mum is a little on the naughty side.

althom said:

she can be scary when she wants to be! though I'm AWFUL with customer service. I have an attitude right when I call up and most of the time it ends in me screaming and demanding to speak with a manager.

Natsume said:

biglots has you on the "can no longer enter" list.