I heart the BBB

Satori, consumers — Stephen on February 6, 2008 @ 8:05 pm — 0 comments

That’s right, I am talking about the Better Business Bureau. When I arrived in Mexico a few weeks ago, I figured I would cancel my ATT monthly cellphone account since I would be getting a local number. I called to do so a few days after getting here. I still had around 50 bucks left on my account and thought it would be useful for checking messages from time to time and sending a few international text messages and so on until my balance ran out. I asked ATT if I could still use my remaining balance and they said sure, we would just halt monthly re-billing and I would use up my balance.

Two weeks later, I put my ATT sim into my phone and noticed that I had voice mail messages, but when I tried to retrieve them, my account could not be accessed. I called ATT to see what was up and they told me that my balance had expired. After some increasingly testy exchanges and demands to speak to a supervisor, I was basically told to go screw myself by their management. They actually planned on stealing the money left on my account. Money I had paid to them for the service. Money that was part of a balance, not a monthly service charge. I was pretty irate.

I went online with the BBB and filed a complaint. They sent me a follow up email and I got a call from someone at ATT a day later. After a brief conversation, I was told that they would investigate and get back to me. Unlike my earlier exchange with them, they were very polite. About a week passed, and just a few minutes ago they got back to me, reinstating my balance and giving me several months until expiry. This never would have happened without the intervention of the BBB.