AT&T review: this is a fraud 8

I received this deceptive junk mail, too. Writing REFUSED on the envelope and returning it to USPS. Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) Sect. 604.8.1.2 and Sect. 5071.18.2

To whom it may concern,

I would really like help with a company that I believe is scamming multiple small businesses. If you research AT&T Advertising Solutions you will find many people with the same issues our company is having. I have posted what we sent to the BBB. I have emails back and forth with the agency that’s here in Indy. If you type in the google search engine: AT&T Advertising Solutions Scam you will see them on [redacted] and all other complaint boards. I got the same response as other businesses have gotten. I just want help for our company and the other companies that have been taken for a ride. If you have any other suggestions I would greatly appreciate them.

Sincerely,

Small Business Owner,

I can understand your frustration, I can open a claim for the Indianapolis issues as well, but we do have a signed contract by you on March 22, 2010, your rep was Thersa Angleton, I’m not sure who told you that she would be coming back out to see you but typically once a sales rep get a signature on a contract, they don’t go back out.

However, the claims rep that was assigned to your account for the EVAIN and ANDIN should be calling you in the next week or so and you can make sure to tell him about the Indianapolis directories as well.

There is a signed contract taking advertising out of the east suburban, west suburban and the south suburban directories.

Thanks,
AT&T Advertising

From:
Sent: Friday, July 01, 2011 11:17 AM
To: (ATTADV)
Cc:
Subject: RE: billing,

Thank you but we were trying to cancel the whole thing before the Nov 2010 contract started. That is our issue. We feel as if we were scammed because how everything has been with this. We were told that our rep would be back and never showed up again. She said if the bill was above $400.00 then she would still be coming in. Even with the dollar amount if that was an issue couldn’t phone calls still be returned? Then we have a new rep after no phone calls were returned and then after we told the new rep we have been trying to cancel our old rep then calls us. Wouldn’t that make you feel like something was up? When AT&T has the automatic renewal policy if they don’t hear otherwise?

I appreciate you removing the advertising for Anderson and Evansville.

Thank you,

-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Friday, July 01, 2011 10:57 AM
To:
Cc: (ATTADV)
Subject: RE: billing,

I do see where you cancelled your advertising for Anderson and Evansville, and yet, you are being billed for those directories, I am opening a claim for you to get and adjustment on those billing items.

However, the bill you are being called about is also for Indianapolis print, Indianapolis companion and Internet advertising which you signed for March 22, 2010. The contract runs from November 2010 – October 2011. It was billed on your phone bill until May 2011 when it was moved to a direct bill.

The amount that is owed for May: $416.90
The amount that is owed for June: $416.90
Total amount owed by June 27th: $833.80

I will open the claim for ANDIN and EVAIN billing and remove the late fee of $6.86. I have updated your billing address to include the STE number. You can mail your payment to the address on the bill- which was sent to you on 6/21/11, but let me know if you haven’t received it yet.

If you have any questions, please call me at [protected].

Thank you,
Customer service Specialist

From: (ATTADV)
Sent: Friday, July 01, 2011 8:41 AM
To:
Subject: RE: billing

AT&T Advertising Solutions

From: (ATTADV)
Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2011 1:46 PM
To: (ATTADV)
Subject: RE: billing

What is the cust id please?
Thanks,

From: (ATTADV)
Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2011 10:57 AM
To: (ATTADV)
Subject: FW: billing

From: (ATTADV)
Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2011 10:47 AM
To:
Cc: (ATTADV)
Subject: RE: billing

You can call my manager Mike

Tina
AT&T Advertising Solutions

From:
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 2:10 PM
To: (ATTADV)
Cc:
Subject: RE: billing

Could we please have the contact to the head of AT&T adverstising so that we may get this issue resolved?

Thank you,
Vice President

-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 12:56 PM
To: Subject: RE: billing

Your advertising was cancelled but the remainder of your current contract is still in effect. This billing will run until November. I have cancelled your next year’s renewal.

AT&T Advertising Solutions

From: To:
Cc:
Subject: billing
Importance: High

Good afternoon,

I am writing in regards to a bill we just received yesterday in regards to AT&T advertising, which came in by surprise starting with a phone call from collections on Friday. I told them we had paid our final bill and they stated we currently had new charges and past due charges. They had the old address so I told them to send the bill to the new address which we have had for 2 years now. But we did not want to renew the contract that’s why we had been trying to get this issued resolved before we received anymore. I strongly disagree with being charged for something we had tried for months to get canceled. Buck had left messages for someone to call him back and never got one. But then when we finally got someone we had a new rep? We know the contract had to be canceled before Nov 2010 and that’s what we was trying to do. Could we please have the contact to the head of AT&T adverstising so that we may get this issue resolved?

Sincerely,

I’m not sure if I have this complaint set up for the right AT&T because I have the billing address of
this: AT&T Advertising Solutions
PO BOX 5087
Carol Stream, IL 60197
[protected]
Account #: [protected]-00000 .

Is this were I need to file the complaint with you? I have been dealing with this issue and it won’t go away. If you could please help it would be greatly appreciated!

COMPLAINT ACTIVITY REPORT Case # Better Business Bureau, Inc.

Consumer Info: Business Info: AT&T Midwest
[protected]

Location Involved: (Same as above)

Consumer's Original Complaint:
We were wrongly charged for advertising that we had been trying to cancel for months. I feel as if we were scammed by our sales reps.
We had been trying to cancel our advertising since Nov. 2010. No calls were returned and kept getting the run around finally after they renewed the contract a new sales rep came out and we was told we had a new rep. But when we told her we wanted to completely cancel with AT&T she refused to let me. So then she came back in and talked to another person here and we again told her the same thing. At this time she had our old sales rep call in and we told her the same thing. About a month later we received cancellation forms. Last Friday I received a phone call saying that we had an outstanding balance with current charges and past due. Which shouldn’t be the case since we had been trying to cancel and it is not our fault we were played to the point past the cancellation date. I think it was very conveniant to switch reps. But then when the cancellation came about she wanted to work with us. The previous year we had canceled a majority of the advertising we could. She had told me she would be back to get the rest set up for cancellation. I had tried talking to customer service and got the run around. I emailed both the reps before I went this route and one email bounced back and the other rep never responded. I also emailed customer service and got sorry for the inconvenience and to call customer service. I copied our company attorney on the email so he could see the response if this has to go any further.

Below is the information I found on the bill they just sent me. Which we have been at this address for 2 years and they were sending them to the old address.

AT&T Advertising Solutions
PO BOX 5087
Carol Stream, IL 60197
[protected]
Account #: [protected]-00000

Consumer's Desired Resolution:
I want to be reimbursed for Nov 2010 ($456.40), Dec 2010 ($456.40), Jan 2011 ($456.40), Feb 2011($45640), March 2011 ($456.40) and April 2011($456.40). For a total of ($2, 738.40) I want this service to be canceled and the bills to be voided for May 2011 on...We should not have to pay for something we don’t use or want. I feel as if we were scammed by AT&T Advertising Sales Reps. Why would you do that to someone? We completely canceled everything with AT&T even our phone service. I would greatly appreciate your help in getting this issue resolved.

BBB Processing

06/29/2011 web BBB Case Received by BBB

Any suggestions would be helpful- March 16, 2011

I was visited by an account representative of AT&T Yellow pages.com back in September of 2010. I was adamant about not signing up for a pay per click campaign. I needed a comprehensive search engine optimization campaign for my company. AT&T Yellow page.com assured me that this was an SEO/SEM campaign and guaranteed that I would see nearly 35% increase in traffic to my website. I was informed they would automatically withdrawal approximately $1600/monthly from my account. In return for this rate, AT&T Yellowpages.com would create a clone of my website and launch a comprehensive SEO campaign. In order to do just this, I was informed by the sales representative that a website technician would phone me in a few days collecting comprehensive data for keywords in order to best feature exactly what we do as a company on the search engines they will utilize.
In short, the clone site was launched live without any phone interview with me-therefore, no keywords were collected. I repeatedly attempted to reach my sales representative to no avail. My next course of action was to contact the customer resolutions department in hopes to simply dissolve our agreement. My reason in wishing for our agreement to end was I found that I was working way too hard for something of which I had paid someone else to execute. I questioned as to why I was having to make certain the correct keywords were listed and why I was having such difficulty in connecting with the person that was overseeing my account, i.e., my account representative. After many discussions with the customer resolutions person, he explained that someone from AT&T Yellowpages.com would be contacting me since he did not have the authority to dissolve our relationship. October passed, November came...the next person representing this account was a Telecheck representative inquiring as to why I haven't honored the $1600.00 payment.

After submitting a letter to Telecheck, I stopped all future payments to AT&T Yellowpages.com. I did NOT receive what I thought that I had purchased; a comprehensive SEO/SEM campaign catered to my specific company with an account representative to assist with modifications and additional needs. What I received was dismay, aggravation, and disgust all with a hefty price tag.

February 2011-Collections contacts me for a second time, I again reiterate the situation and my frustrations. I explain that I have made numerous attempts to simply dissolve our relationship due to not receiving delivery on what I had initially purchased. I explained the numerous phone calls made to resolve our situation and how I continuously came up empty handed. I explained that I was the client and yet there has been absolutely no attempt to assist me the client and my needs but every attempt to withdrawal money from my account regardless of my level of satisfaction.

Collections gave me the name and number of the General Sales Manager for our demographics. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts in contacting him, I used another number that would not have my caller ID listed; miraculously he answered.

March 1, 2011, We set an appointment for him to visit me in our office/home office to discuss the situation. March 3, 2011, he came with the sales representative that sold us the advertising campaign. To compound an already delicate situation, the General Sales Manager and the Sales Representative, neither knew anything about my history with AT&T Yellowpages.com except that I was unhappy. Neither sales reps had any written documentation substantiating phone call made and received from me to AT&T Yellowpages.com, dates of communication and content of communication, dates when the site launched live and who was the technician responsible for collecting keywords. The two representatives had nothing other than a Laurel and Hardy routine prepared for me; it was adding insult to injury. This only defined that they did not care for me as a client, but cared for me as a monetary account.

After some discourse, we requested the General Sales Manager to simply dissolve our relationship. He said that he did not have the authority to do so, but on our behalf would propose to those who did have the authority to do just that. March 16, 2011, the General Sales Manager and I connected. He said that AT&T Yellowpages.com did everything that they promised to do for me and that they would NOT cancel the contract.

So-here I stand...tethered to incompetency and frustrated beyond. I was informed by the General Sales Manager that they had a contractual agreement with Google...who apparently is really behind our advertising campaign. I have tried contacting Google to understand the terms they have with AT&T Yellowpages.com. I am considering a class action suit against the company. If you have any ideas, I would be grateful. If anyone reading this is willing to be listed in a class action suit, please contact me at [protected].

I want to thank all the wonderful individuals who have taken their time to respond to our comment/complaint and, apologize to those whom we have not returned contact. Your response (needless to say) has been over whelming. AT&T-Yellowpages.com and Blue Ribbon Auto Glass, Llc. have mutually agreed to terminate our contract and we have received a full refund. This does not excuse AT&T's misrepresentation of their product or unconscionable behavior. Nor does this make-up for our total financial losses. However, at this time we are not pursuing our law suite.

If I could pass on what this experience has shown me, I would say to, Not go quietly into the night. Let your voice be heard. File your complaint with as many organizations outside of ATT's control as possible. The BBB, Federal Trade commission, State Attorney Generals Office etc... If you are paying with a credit/debit card, STOP PAYMENT NOW! And dispute the charges with your card company (AT&T must prove their charges are valid to the card company and are not allowed to contact the person or business disputing the charges about the amount disputed until it is settled). If they do so, file a complaint with your card company (Visa/MC/AMEX/DC) not your bank. If you have been sent to collections, dispute the validity of the original bill. Make AT&T prove they provided the service. Your contract is for clicks, not calls. AT&T must show a preponderance of proof that your clicks are in accordance with your specific contract. The plain and simple truth is they can not. IF YOU DID NOT RECEIVE THE SERVICE STATED IN YOUR CONTRACT, THE CONTRACT IS NOT VALID. Finally, USE the experience and advice given on the complaint board. It is a great resource!

Thank you,

Mathew Korba
Blue Ribbon Auto Glass, Llc.

**********IF YOU HAVE ISSUED ANY PAYMENTS TO A COMPANY THAT HAS NOT PROVIDED ANY SERVICES AND HAVE NOT RECEIVED A FULL REFUND PLEASE CONTACT US - We can get you a full refund if it has been within 18 months since the transaction. We have no upfront fees, or contract to be signed, and no personal information is needed to start the dispute process which on average takes about two - three weeks. If you have been a victim of another form of telemarketing fraud please let us know! --- [protected] Ext 401 --- email: mcooper@bcarecovery.com or srobinson@bcarecovery.com

I am going threw the same thing. I dont know what to do. They just ran the add with out even letting me see it.