Cingular Bill Cram ?

I check my bill online, and find a mysterious " $1.79 Useage Charge".

After calling 611 and escalating 2 times they finally say "Thats for
Directory Service", I reply: " ...in my 4 years as a customer how many
previous such charges do you see?". They refused to answer, the answer
is ZERO. I can use www.whitepages.com if I need a number, or telephone
any number of folks iwho would happily do that for me, if I was not by
a computer. I never have and never would pay such an exorbitant
charge.

Finally they took the charge off my bill. As well the should it was a
simple incorrect charge. Either of the WHOOPS variety or the
CRAM variety.

Moral check your bill carefully. Apparently they need to pay for their
merger somehow.

---

› See More: Cingular Bill Cram ?

"www.ttdown.com" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I check my bill online, and find a mysterious " $1.79 Useage Charge".
>
> After calling 611 and escalating 2 times they finally say "Thats for
> Directory Service", I reply: " ...in my 4 years as a customer how many
> previous such charges do you see?". They refused to answer, the answer
> is ZERO. I can use www.whitepages.com if I need a number, or telephone
> any number of folks iwho would happily do that for me, if I was not by
> a computer. I never have and never would pay such an exorbitant
> charge.
>
> Finally they took the charge off my bill. As well the should it was a
> simple incorrect charge. Either of the WHOOPS variety or the
> CRAM variety.
>
> Moral check your bill carefully. Apparently they need to pay for their
> merger somehow.

There are several "free" information services, such as:

800-411-7282
800-373-3411
800-411-6387

I've used them and all you have to do is listen to a 15 second "commercial".

I think that works out to about (60/15) X 60 X $1.79 = $429.60 per hour.
Gosh, that's approaching attorney fees!

HTH

On Sat, 14 Oct 2006 23:22:52 GMT, www.ttdown.com
<[email protected]> wrote in
<[email protected]>:

>I check my bill online, and find a mysterious " $1.79 Useage Charge".
>
>After calling 611 and escalating 2 times they finally say "Thats for
>Directory Service", I reply: " ...in my 4 years as a customer how many
>previous such charges do you see?". They refused to answer, the answer
>is ZERO. I can use www.whitepages.com if I need a number, or telephone
>any number of folks iwho would happily do that for me, if I was not by
>a computer. I never have and never would pay such an exorbitant
>charge.
>
>Finally they took the charge off my bill. As well the should it was a
>simple incorrect charge. Either of the WHOOPS variety or the
>CRAM variety.
>
>Moral check your bill carefully. Apparently they need to pay for their
>merger somehow.

"Never attribute to malice that which can be
adequately explained by stupidity." [Hanlon's razor]

For cheap alternatives to carrier directory assistence, see "Directory
Assistance" in the Cingular FAQ below.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

Thanks for the info !!!

800-373-3411 it worked!!!







ACP wrote:
> "www.ttdown.com" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >I check my bill online, and find a mysterious " $1.79 Useage Charge".
> >
> > After calling 611 and escalating 2 times they finally say "Thats for
> > Directory Service", I reply: " ...in my 4 years as a customer how many
> > previous such charges do you see?". They refused to answer, the answer
> > is ZERO. I can use www.whitepages.com if I need a number, or telephone
> > any number of folks iwho would happily do that for me, if I was not by
> > a computer. I never have and never would pay such an exorbitant
> > charge.
> >
> > Finally they took the charge off my bill. As well the should it was a
> > simple incorrect charge. Either of the WHOOPS variety or the
> > CRAM variety.
> >
> > Moral check your bill carefully. Apparently they need to pay for their
> > merger somehow.
>
> There are several "free" information services, such as:
>
> 800-411-7282
> 800-373-3411
> 800-411-6387
>
> I've used them and all you have to do is listen to a 15 second "commercial".
>
> I think that works out to about (60/15) X 60 X $1.79 = $429.60 per hour.
> Gosh, that's approaching attorney fees!
>
> HTH

On Sat, 14 Oct 2006 19:30:32 -0400, "ACP" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Path: newssvr27.news.prodigy.net!newsdbm04.news.prodigy.com!newsdst01.news.prodigy.net!prodigy.com!newscon04.news.prodigy.net!prodigy.net!newshub.sdsu.edu!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!local01.nntp.dca.giganews.com!news.giganews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail
>NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 14 Oct 2006 18:30:17 -0500
>From: "ACP" <[email protected]>
>Newsgroups: alt.cellular.cingular
>References: <[email protected]>
>Subject: Re: Cingular Bill Cram ?
>Date: Sat, 14 Oct 2006 19:30:32 -0400
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>Xref: prodigy.net alt.cellular.cingular:71497
>
>
>"www.ttdown.com" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>>I check my bill online, and find a mysterious " $1.79 Useage Charge".
>>
>> After calling 611 and escalating 2 times they finally say "Thats for
>> Directory Service", I reply: " ...in my 4 years as a customer how many
>> previous such charges do you see?". They refused to answer, the answer
>> is ZERO. I can use www.whitepages.com if I need a number, or telephone
>> any number of folks iwho would happily do that for me, if I was not by
>> a computer. I never have and never would pay such an exorbitant
>> charge.
>>
>> Finally they took the charge off my bill. As well the should it was a
>> simple incorrect charge. Either of the WHOOPS variety or the
>> CRAM variety.
>>
>> Moral check your bill carefully. Apparently they need to pay for their
>> merger somehow.
>
>There are several "free" information services, such as:
>
>800-411-7282
>800-373-3411
>800-411-6387
>
>I've used them and all you have to do is listen to a 15 second "commercial".
>
>I think that works out to about (60/15) X 60 X $1.79 = $429.60 per hour.
>Gosh, that's approaching attorney fees!

I'll check with my son, as to what his firm charged for him.

On Sat, 14 Oct 2006 23:35:02 GMT, John Navas
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>On Sat, 14 Oct 2006 23:22:52 GMT, www.ttdown.com
><[email protected]> wrote in
><[email protected]>:
>
>>I check my bill online, and find a mysterious " $1.79 Useage Charge".
>>
>>After calling 611 and escalating 2 times they finally say "Thats for
>>Directory Service", I reply: " ...in my 4 years as a customer how many
>>previous such charges do you see?". They refused to answer, the answer
>>is ZERO. I can use www.whitepages.com if I need a number, or telephone
>>any number of folks iwho would happily do that for me, if I was not by
>>a computer. I never have and never would pay such an exorbitant
>>charge.
>>
>>Finally they took the charge off my bill. As well the should it was a
>>simple incorrect charge. Either of the WHOOPS variety or the
>>CRAM variety.
>>
>>Moral check your bill carefully. Apparently they need to pay for their
>>merger somehow.



>
>"Never attribute to malice that which can be
>adequately explained by stupidity." [Hanlon's razor]



Agreed, but Navas is the last person I'd expect to call Cingular:
"STUPID"

On Sat, 14 Oct 2006 19:30:32 -0400, "ACP" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Path: newssvr27.news.prodigy.net!newsdbm04.news.prodigy.com!newsdst01.news.prodigy.net!prodigy.com!newscon04.news.prodigy.net!prodigy.net!newshub.sdsu.edu!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!local01.nntp.dca.giganews.com!news.giganews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail
>NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 14 Oct 2006 18:30:17 -0500
>From: "ACP" <[email protected]>
>Newsgroups: alt.cellular.cingular
>References: <[email protected]>
>Subject: Re: Cingular Bill Cram ?
>Date: Sat, 14 Oct 2006 19:30:32 -0400
>X-Priority: 3
>X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
>X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2869
>X-RFC2646: Format=Flowed; Original
>X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2962
>Message-ID: <[email protected]>
>Lines: 34
>X-Trace: sv3-LM2J0hKBR+zX1G9xRAld7tbTxpvapDW159eGSRvONrwaq+v0RwCMuZ1c+afT/n4dwDSuRqSHuOpP2lj!559ouvGiIp+OaqRYjO6rmBT2CXaScGHLqhKix8W/LKFwzHBhG48B1ZX6jRmE8eA/Gw4vZesg5Q==
>X-Complaints-To: [email protected]
>X-DMCA-Notifications: http://www.giganews.com/info/dmca.html
>X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers
>X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly
>X-Postfilter: 1.3.32
>Xref: prodigy.net alt.cellular.cingular:71497
>
>
>"www.ttdown.com" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>>I check my bill online, and find a mysterious " $1.79 Useage Charge".
>>
>> After calling 611 and escalating 2 times they finally say "Thats for
>> Directory Service", I reply: " ...in my 4 years as a customer how many
>> previous such charges do you see?". They refused to answer, the answer
>> is ZERO. I can use www.whitepages.com if I need a number, or telephone
>> any number of folks iwho would happily do that for me, if I was not by
>> a computer. I never have and never would pay such an exorbitant
>> charge.
>>
>> Finally they took the charge off my bill. As well the should it was a
>> simple incorrect charge. Either of the WHOOPS variety or the
>> CRAM variety.
>>
>> Moral check your bill carefully. Apparently they need to pay for their
>> merger somehow.
>
>There are several "free" information services, such as:
>
>800-411-7282
>800-373-3411
>800-411-6387
>
>I've used them and all you have to do is listen to a 15 second "commercial".
>
>I think that works out to about (60/15) X 60 X $1.79 = $429.60 per hour.



As I said, I've never used it, so I'm not sure, but isn't it automated
now, with zero human involvement?

In article <[email protected]>,
"randy" <[email protected]> wrote:

> Thanks for the info !!!
>
> 800-373-3411 it worked!!!
>
>
>
>
>

Yup, a far cheaper possibility for info.
All carriers rip you off on 411 calls.

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected]w says...

I agree with ACP, you don't have to pay or worry yourself with directory
assistance calls when there are free services out there that supply the
same info. I always use 1-800-Free-411. I was in the same boat a few
months ago, I have T-mobile and they charged me $1.75 for one directory
assistance lookup. I shat my pants when I got the bill, seeing I made
about 15 DA calls that month. I did a little research and found free411
and have used it since. I hope this helps.

Jon