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END OF BILL CYCLE CANCELLATION POLICY

casper69

Feb 3, 2004, 9:36 PM
I have mixed feelings about AT&T's policy in regards to mid-cycle cancellation and NOT allowing for a pro-rated final invoice. But if you could compare it to : going out to a restaurant to eat a meal and eating half the meal and demanding to only be charged half the price, because you were done half way through, the owner of the restaurant would think that you were nuts. He'd offer you a doggie bag so that you could take home your left over's -- but you would still pay full price. Then it all makes sense
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snowweasel

Feb 4, 2004, 11:03 AM
Yes, but one also realizes that that restaurant can't reuse the rest of that food. And any good restaurant...if your service absolutely sucks, and the quality of what you ordered is well below what you expect, they'll usually refund all of your money for that meal.
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BBKahuna

Apr 21, 2004, 5:33 PM
You could also step out of the restaurant metaphor, and step into a Verizon Wireless retail store that *does* pro-rate service whenever you do a calling plan change including cancellations or suspensions 🙂
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SMSGUNS

Feb 4, 2004, 2:11 PM
a better example would be the rent on your apartment-if you are moving out of your apartment mid-month would you expect your landlord to prorate your rent-probably not and you would look ridiculous if you did-you agreed to purchase servcie on a monthly basis-it is not unreasonable for a provider to charge you for that full month
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Athena

Feb 5, 2004, 9:37 PM
Adding to that, in most cases landlords require at least 30 days notice. 😉
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jhmlbrgr

Feb 6, 2004, 9:16 AM
Not prorating your cell phone cancellation to the middle of the month is crap!!! No other utility company charges you after the day that you request your service be terminated. When you move out of town and need to cancel your cable TV and landline phone or internet access those companies cancel your service effective the day that you request it to be terminated. Why should you have to pay for service that you are not going to use, even if it is only a few days? AT&T is just trying to suck out every last penny that they can get. I do not think that any other cellular provider has this policy, at that is because it is not fair to the consumer. If a customer is month to month and they want to cancel they should be able to, no matter when...
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Athena

Feb 6, 2004, 2:10 PM
No other utility company (except landline) bills you for services on a flat rate basis. They all bill per use.

Most cable companies, and Internet companies bill in advance for service, so of course they have no problem cancelling your service in the middle of a bill cycle, they already have their money, if you look in their terms and conditions of service, they don't supply refunds either.
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jhmlbrgr

Feb 6, 2004, 5:48 PM
Athena,
It is funny that you say that that you can not get a refund since the last two times I moved (about 14 months ago and 3 years prior to that) I received refund checks from both the landline and the cable company.

Now that you mention it I do remember getting screwed by AOL though when I canceled my dial-up connection. That really pissed me off.

I do know for a fact that VZW will cancel your service effective immediately with out any problems. I think it has something to do with a little thing called CUSTOMER SERVICE.
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moobak

Feb 6, 2004, 6:44 PM
Verizon sticks their customers every time with the whole pro-rated rate plan changes though. What kind of customer service is that? Give one, take one.
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Athena

Feb 7, 2004, 12:28 AM
Exactly Moobak. Just like customers used to complain that AT&T Wireless was screwing them by prorating their bills and charging them for airtime. Now they complain about the company screwing them for not letting them cancel immediately.

Sheesh! Make up your damn mind!!
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nifferleigh

Feb 7, 2004, 1:59 AM
and..by the way..when you accept the terms and conditions of a contract at ATTWS, you are agreeing to a MONTHLY service..when verbatims are read, they should say a "12 mo service extension" not a year, or a "24 month" etc. If you disagree with that, take a look at the terms and conditions of your wireless contract..which, by the way, if you agree to, you have accepted..whether you listen to the cc rep or not. that is consumer responsibility, not attws ( or any other carrier for that matter) responsibility.
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jhmlbrgr

Feb 8, 2004, 8:30 AM
A pro-rated plan is not screwing any one. It is simply making part of your bill be on the original price plan and part on the newly chosen price plan. Why should the change not take affect on the date it was requested?? Obviously the customer did not request it to changed ten days ago so why should it be back dated to ten days ago??? That is a pretty lame argument from someone who thinks it is ok to post date a cancellation request. The customer service is making the change effective immediately when you ask it to be changed, whether it is a price plan change or a cancellation request.

Lets not get into a customer service discussion because everyone knows that VZW has the best in the industry. JD Powers says so, Consumer Reports s...
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Athena

Feb 9, 2004, 12:38 AM
The only reason I find it to be ok to post date a cancellation is because I got tired of hearing ex customers call in a bitch about not getting their 600 minutes when they only paid $20.00 for their service instead of $39.99 then demand that they get credit for the airtime charges, and escelate when its not given to them. It's a trade off. Personally, I would rather deal with those who think the company is screwing them by not honoring the cancellation effective immediately. Terms and conditions, and contracts of this nature were not created to benefit the consumer, they were created to benefit, and protect the company supplying the service.
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moobak

Feb 9, 2004, 7:37 PM
You're full of it. 90% of customers WANT to change their plan and have it retroactive because they went over their mintues, silly, not because they just decided to change one day. Thusly, Verizon sticks them with overage charges because they changed their plan too late! That is totally a valid argument.

JD Powers based their award on Consumer reports AND Wall street journal, they didnt make it up themselves, the difference consumers see is next to NOTHING. Every company offers good custoemr service, if they want to survive. If you score low, its on an elitists scale, nothing consumers look for. Policies have nothing to do with customer service, be it cancelation policies or prorating plan changes (which is so retarded!).
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jhmlbrgr

Feb 10, 2004, 6:39 AM
I never said that the customer did not want to have the policy change made retro active, I said it is not right. The change should be effective on the date requested not earlier, not later.


Did you bother to read the Consumer Reports article in Feb 2004??? If you read it you will see that their was a big difference between VZW and everyone else as far as customer service. And their results came from surveying cellular customers, so it is the voice of the customer that said there is a difference in the quality of customer service provided. And policies definitely play a role in customer service since following a policy can result in the customer being happy or not.
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badspawn

Feb 17, 2004, 12:31 AM
I think you have it all wrong. This is a company that like all those other companies is out to make money. I like money....its what pays me every two weeks and I like to spend money. So Im a worker and a spender just like you. When I sign up with a company I expect service and satisfaction I understand change and can accept it. Allot about service in all aspects of business has changed....for the worst in most cases. But to sit there and cry over paying a MONTH of service for not checking when YOUR cycle ends? That is not something a company should suffer for no matter who they are. Especially when this type of Utility is a luxury and is very exspensive to operate. This is minor to what they could charge or do. Paying for monthly service the...
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mycool

Mar 16, 2004, 12:13 AM
Oh boo hoo, another dumb customer gloats about one company yet uses the service of another company.

That'd be like me complaining that one restaurant is terrible and the one next door is utter bliss, yet taking my service to the crappy one.

Makes a whole lotta sense eh?
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jhmlbrgr

Mar 16, 2004, 9:00 AM
mycool said:
Oh boo hoo, another dumb customer gloats about one company yet uses the service of another company.

That'd be like me complaining that one restaurant is terrible and the one next door is utter bliss, yet taking my service to the crappy one.

Makes a whole lotta sense eh?



Do not insult me by saying that I would ever use ATTW service. I am way smarter than that. I will pay a little more a month to have service that works when I need it too. ATT is constantly rated as one of the worst carriers and VZW is constantly rated as the best carrier. You cannot argue with the opinions of the people who use the services. FYI, I was a VZW customer long before I accepted a job with them. As far ...
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mycool

Mar 16, 2004, 10:07 AM
Ah fun stuff... so let me get this straight...

You WORK for VZW yet you hang out in an AWS forum for what? To bash your competition. Wow, you are "smarter than that".

Ah yes, only 5% of the entire AC is analog (not analogue)... right, i'm sure you, being so smart, know exactly how much of your precious network is analog.

You can keep you're wonderful analog, i'll stick to GSM. To each his own.

Oh, and for future reference, please make yourself seem a bit more intelligent by using the "CHECK SPELLING" button.
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jhmlbrgr

Mar 16, 2004, 10:40 AM
mycool said:
Ah fun stuff... so let me get this straight...

You WORK for VZW yet you hang out in an AWS forum for what? To bash your competition. Wow, you are "smarter than that".

Ah yes, only 5% of the entire AC is analog (not analogue)... right, i'm sure you, being so smart, know exactly how much of your precious network is analog.

You can keep you're wonderful analog, i'll stick to GSM. To each his own.

Oh, and for future reference, please make yourself seem a bit more intelligent by using the "CHECK SPELLING" button.
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jhmlbrgr

Mar 16, 2004, 10:49 AM
No I was not bashing anyone in my initial post. I was getting involved in a discussion and stating some facts.
As far as the 5% of the network being analog that is a close approximation (could be 3%, could be 7%) and since I work for VZW I should know since a good bit of time is spent in training teaching us about the network and how it works.

Since you want to talk about using the spell check, maybe you should give it a try yourself. You might have figured out that the "I" in the words I'm and I'll need to be capitalized. I am impressed though that you caught the fact that I used the wrong word. I actually did not misspell analogue, it is the wrong word, but indeed it is spelled correctly.
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jhmlbrgr

Feb 10, 2004, 7:39 AM
moobak said:
JD Powers based their award on Consumer reports AND Wall street journal, they didn't make it up themselves, the difference consumers see is next to NOTHING. Every company offers good customer service, if they want to survive. If you score low, its on an elitists scale, nothing consumers look for.



You are totally wrong here. JD Power and Associates do not use the Wall Street Journal and Consumer Reports to judge their awards. They use their own independent unbiased surveys of consumers. You must be really flexible because you are constantly putting your foot in your mouth. Here is an excerpt from the JD Powers website on how awards are given out.

From JD Powers and Associates website:...
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slipperybear

Feb 10, 2004, 6:13 PM
I truly believe that ATTWS could have a class action lawsuit against them regarding their current EOBC policy. The reason is that it is not clearly written in their terms and conditions. If they can prorate an invoice in the very beginning of service they should be able to at the end of their service as well. ATTWS does make exceptions for Lost/Stolen phones and Military Leave and Customer Death. Those cancellations do not bill to the end of the billing cycle and any customer could conceivably call in and say they are cancelling becuase they lost their phone. The EOBC policy has never made sense. The company can't even give their Customer Care Reps a REAL reason why this is done.
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Death123

Feb 10, 2004, 7:50 PM
When a phone is canceled due to lost or stolen phone that number can not be ported same with the reasons you have listed the only way to port your number is to pay the cancelation fee and then port your number to another carrier
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moobak

Feb 11, 2004, 12:28 AM
This policy has been around for a year. No class actions yet! Wow, maby thats because they're allowed to.

Don't keep thinking Verizon is so almighjty because they have a phat network and a cheezy award that is probably bribed under the table dude, yet again you Verzion butt kissers walk into our forum to slander us, and promote your own service.
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jhmlbrgr

Feb 11, 2004, 8:19 AM
Moobak,
I never slandered anyone when I replied to this thread. I just disagreed with the not canceling service at the time it was requested. The reason I responded int he first place is that I hear ex-ATTW customers telling me this all the time. At first I thought the customer was making it up, or misunderstood the ATTW cust service rep, but then I came to find that it was the actually policy of ATTW to squeeze every last penny out of a customer who was leaving them. Nothing like having the customer leave with a bad taste in their mouth.
Do you really think that J.D. Power and Assoc. accepts bribes and payoffs??? They are a consumer organization operated to educated and help consumers. Their awards are very highly regard...
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moobak

Feb 11, 2004, 5:56 PM
90% of the U.S is bribed dude, you should know that by now. 😛 Anyway this is not Verizon we're talking about its AT&T Wireless.

Squeeze every penny out of them? There is plenty of other companies who do the same thing, dude. I can't name any right now because they're irrelevant, but AT&T Wireless requires 30 days notice to cancel ones service. Since thats in the Terms and Conditions, it would be smart for a customer to cancel just before the end of their billing cycle and be able to avoid paying any further.

As well, Verizons whole prorated rate plan changing is only to squeeze every last penny out of their EXISTING customers. That leaves them a bad taste in their mouth.
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moobak

Feb 12, 2004, 12:18 AM
Just checked Verizons terms and conditions.

If you terminate your service as of the end of your minimum term, you won't be responsible for any remaining part of your monthly billing cycle. **Otherwise, all terminations by you during a monthly billing cycle become effective on the last day of that billing cycle.**
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Athena

Feb 12, 2004, 12:21 PM
Cingular's T&Cs..


"AFTER YOUR SERVICE COMMITMENT, THIS AGREEMENT SHALL AUTOMATICALLY RENEW ON A MONTH-TO-MONTH BASIS UNTIL NOTICE IS GIVEN TO CINGULAR PURSUANT TO THE TERMINATION PROVISION BELOW. No Termination Fee will be charged for a termination of service with a month-to-month service commitment; provided, however, that there is no proration of the fixed monthly charge if service is terminated on other than the last day of your billing cycle. "

Nextel's

"Nextel may extend the Minimum Term by any period of time during which Service was suspended to Customer or during time on a seasonal Service Plan. Upon completion of the term, this Agreement shall automatically renew on a month to month basis until the Agreement is terminated ...
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moobak

Feb 12, 2004, 7:00 PM
Now who has their foot in their mouth jhmlbrgr?
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PodLizard

Mar 16, 2004, 12:19 AM
But , but, but ATT Bad Must bad mouth, does nto compute zzzz z spark fry. ah, that felt good.
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jhmlbrgr

Feb 13, 2004, 7:42 AM
moobak said:
Just checked Verizons terms and conditions.

If you terminate your service as of the end of your minimum term, you won't be responsible for any remaining part of your monthly billing cycle. **Otherwise, all terminations by you during a monthly billing cycle become effective on the last day of that billing cycle.**




Moobak,
That applies for any customers attempting to disconnect early, Not for customer who are on month. A month to month cust. can end their service at any time and get the bill prorated to the date that they would like their service ended. I know I work for the company, and have see it done everyday.

I do have a question for you regarding porting. It is ...
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moobak

Feb 14, 2004, 7:33 PM
They are canceled immediately but charged until the end of the billing cycle. Same as any other provider.

I'll take VZW's terms and conditions over your word, sorry. ;)
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McG

Feb 12, 2004, 10:08 PM
Think about it. If you started service on the 15th. Your cycle is the 1-31st. Would you be willing to pay for the 15 days you didnt even have the phone? No. No cust would. You can do it at the end of the contract since you actually have the phone to use. And if the phone is broken im sorry but you can always get a refurb for the remainder. And when we did prorate the bills we had cust's all the time calling in demanding credit because they only got partial min. Sure a lot of them loved the fact we would credit the min but i remember some escalations because i had to debit them the rest of the monthly charge. Which personally I never understood why they would be upset. I mean common sense.
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LordoftheSith

Feb 12, 2004, 10:12 PM
AT&T is damed if they do and damed if they don't. Lord knows how many cust's I had calling up freakin' out over their pro-rated bill becuz AT&T wireles over charged them, or they did not get all the mins. Now that we've eliminated the pro-ration, the cust's are freakin' out cuz they can't cancel their service the same day which in turn would give them a pro-rated bill.
Stupid.
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theDMan

Feb 14, 2004, 1:01 AM
I dont get what the big deal is with paying for the full month of service is. If you go to a concert and decide to leave halfway through because you decided that the one down the street is better you dont try and get your money back, youd be laughed at so hard you wouldnt know what hit you. Same thing with a phone, you decide to switch to another carrier halfway thru a billing cycle thats your decision, why should AT&T have to prorate your bill for you. They have already accounted for those dollars and now you want them to just throw them out the window, get real.
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badspawn

Feb 17, 2004, 12:37 AM
Amen to theDMan 😳
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ATTneveragain

Mar 15, 2004, 7:07 PM
There is difference between a service and buying a product.
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PodLizard

Mar 16, 2004, 12:17 AM
You are hallucinating, service is a product. The more you speak, the less regard I have for you wit.
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ATTneveragain

Apr 20, 2004, 3:16 PM
Well “Podlizardbreath” I guess if I’m a guy who is hallucinating please don't wake me up because I just received a FULL CREDIT today for the bill sent by ATT for the FULL BILLING cycle. The rep from the "ATT Executive Response Center” then apologized for all the trouble and agreed with me that not prorating the final Bill when "Porting out" didn't seem fair either. Let me just repeat this, my bill WAS NOT JUST PRORATED ... this Rep credited the entire amount due for the final bill and then apologized for all my trouble. WOW!

My hats off to ATT for recognizing this mistake and making good in the end. As for my wit, who cares I won.

Sincerely, “ATTNeveragain” or is it “ATTMaybe”!
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Liam20

Apr 20, 2004, 4:39 PM
hmmm the reason why is because you're terms of service says end of billing cycle and it says if you port out on your Nov and Dec invoices you will be charged up until end of billing cycle, so hey feel special you got out of it, and dont give me your wireless number or else I will reverse any credit they gave you 😁
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muchdrama

Apr 20, 2004, 4:52 PM
Liam20 said:
hmmm the reason why is because you're terms of service says end of billing cycle and it says if you port out on your Nov and Dec invoices you will be charged up until end of billing cycle, so hey feel special you got out of it, and dont give me your wireless number or else I will reverse any credit they gave you 😁

I don't know about anyone else, but I thought this was funny as all hell get out.
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Liam20

Apr 20, 2004, 5:51 PM
I find it funny to, but hey since its not my call I dont care either way, but if he/she were my customer my general message being conveyed would be "tough ****, all customers are treated the same" but hey whatever. 😛
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moobak

Apr 20, 2004, 9:50 PM
Man I'm amazed this dude went to tier 4 (executive response center) for his problem. Attneveragain - You know what, they CREDITED you because you were COSTING AWS more money by sitting on the phone whining like a panzy instead of just going on with your pathetic life. Jeezus.
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ATTneveragain

Mar 15, 2004, 7:03 PM
I'm with you slipperybear,

Go to www.fcc.gov/cgb/complaints.html and fill out a complaint with the FCC. I DID!
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mycool

Mar 16, 2004, 12:21 AM
Congratulations:

Total complaints made about this issue is now at ONE. Feel special because someone behind the FCC's computer just hit the "archive into a black hole" button on your complaint!
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badspawn

Mar 15, 2004, 9:20 PM
Read the terms and conditions a litte better bud cause your not all there. THIS WAS A POLICY MADE TO COVER THE COST OF CLOSING THE ACCOUNT???? YOU NEED A EMAIL FROM YOU SUP ABOUT THAT? How hard is that to understand? Nobody wants to pay it cause they are to interested in breaking away and starting new service and not paying attention to the policies with the current service provider.
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LordoftheSith

Mar 15, 2004, 9:48 PM
How long a thread does it take for AT&T customers to understand the new EOBC policy?

It is very simple. AT&T implemented this new policy because of the amount of customers who would call up after cancelling mid billing cycle to dispute their invoices.

"I was overcharged" or "You charged me additional minutes even though I have xxx minutes and I did not go over" or whatever else they can think of.

Most customers do not know how pro-ration works or even what it is and those that do...bless you. It makes explaining it a lot easier.

But pro-ration can cost a customer more than a mortgage payment if they don't understand it...and we are the ones that have to deal with those customers.

Most say "I was not informed of this" (like w...
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badspawn

Mar 15, 2004, 10:13 PM
AMEN
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badspawn

Mar 15, 2004, 9:57 PM
Another thing you failed to mention is that the service is prorated at the point of sale because they just started in the system and most customers will pay a ACTIVATION FEE which is 36 bucks thats to cover the COST of opening that account. Military is prorated because we give them the privlage because they service our country. Lost or stolen is out of the customers control and most get a new phone with us so no charges for that either. Suspension for Non pay is prorated because we dont give service for non pay and they pay 25.00 bucks to reinstate thats to cover cost of reistating. And the dumbest one of all is customer death which is canceled and prorated because the customer DIED. Voluntary suspend is done and prorated but for a fee 9.99 ...
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LordoftheSith

Mar 15, 2004, 10:04 PM
exactly...thank you for making those important facts.
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mycool

Mar 16, 2004, 12:09 AM
LOL, then go to VZW and live in your bliss. I'll stick to a service that works for me without the analog fuzz and CDMA garbage. Ah, the beauty of GSM. :-D
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Oggy

Apr 20, 2004, 10:17 PM
(FlogTheDeadHorse)

Just a passing opinion,

I don't think it's proper to confuse AWS Customer Service with AWS (or any other companies') Policy. AWS policy is to cancel at the end of the billing cycle, minus a very few exceptions (customer death, end of contract, so on, so forth).

Currently, LNP Port-Outs are subject to the End Of Billing Cycle Voluntary Cancel Policy (EOBCVC), such that any leftover period of time from the point of LNP cancellation (which is immediate upon the confirmation that the OSA has ported out the number) to the end of the billing cycle will be charged.

I'll not comment on legality or ethics or the like, beyond pointing to the AWS (and other) terms and conditions posted by another member to...
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ziggystardust

Apr 21, 2004, 7:23 PM
The Terms and Conditions does not say either way if the cancellation is end of cycle or prorated.

If someone cancels and its prorated, they usually call back because they went over the prorated mins and have a large bill.
If someone cancels and its not prorated they get upset because of the end of cycle.
You can't please everybody.

Bottom line is that every wireless company is in the business of making money, not providing service to wireless phones. The phones are just the tool used to make the money. The end of cycle policy makes more money. I personally disagree with it and people should be given the option of a prorated bill or post dated cancel, but I don't make the rules, just implement them.
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PodLizard

Feb 14, 2004, 1:14 AM
I heard T-Mobile requires 30 day notice to cancel. 😈
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theDMan

Feb 16, 2004, 1:49 AM
AT&T NOW IDENTIFIES END OF BILL CYVLE POLICY IN T&C'S OF SERVICE

https://www.attwireless.com/global/content/terms_of_ ... »

12. Term. The term of this Agreement for each Identifier begins on the date we activate Service for that Identifier or the date you accept a benefit that extends or renews the term and ends when Service for that Identifier is terminated. UNLESS WE AGREE OTHERWISE, YOU AGREE TO AN INITIAL TERM OF ONE YEAR AND AGREE TO PURCHASE SERVICE FOR THE FULL INITIAL TERM. If we allow you to suspend your account for a temporary period, we may extend the term of your Agreement by the length of the temporary suspension. After the initial one year term expires, this Agreement will continue on a month to month basis...
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slipperybear

Feb 16, 2004, 8:51 PM
YEAH!!!!! Now I don't have to argue with the customers anymore about the EOBC policy!!!
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