Things I Have Been Noticing About Sonic

[Guest]

We all had the exact same plan and no one made any long-distance calls in the last 6 months. They showed me their plan and their bills wondering if they were going to be charged as well. So why is AT&T charging me $5 and not them? I'll tell you why, AT&T is doing illegal things, but I have no real proof because they could just say it was a mistake. Note: I also thought it was a mistake, but it happened two months in a row will only me being charged and not the two roommates. Oh and this was all wired phone not cell phone all to the same box in the basement.

What year did this happen? I know atleast 2009 and earlier, having a long distance company used to be free after one is given a choice to use anything other than AT&T in 1986 and later. However, long distance carriers started added monthly fees just to have long distance regardless if you use long distance or not and unless you specifically tell them you do not want a long distance carrier, they will assign you one by default and you will get charged with a monthly fee, what was the exact name of the charge? Also, the bill specifically mentions who is the long distance carrier you have provided.

The AT&T we are dealing with today is not the AT&T we all know as the long distance carrier as basically, SBC which is Southwestern Bell Communications after buying a majority of the Regional Bell Operating Companies or Baby Bells from Pacific Bell, Neveda Bell, BellSouth, Ameritech, SNET. Local phone service is provided by AT&T California while long distance is with AT&T.

AT&T in 2011 started charging people $2 a month or adding to make the balance $2 if under $2 of long distance calls were made for people who don't make or makes less then $2 of long distance calls at 39 cents a minute as shown here:
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/busines ... s_wit.html

The point of my post is missed. Everything EVERYTHING including the long-distance carrier was exactly EXACTLY the same with all roommates. The usage was exactly EXACTLY the same for the last 6 months (no use of long distance) yet I was charged a $5 fee and they were not. Same house, same box downstairs, separate lines connected to the same box. We shared each other's bills for the last 6 months and the service and usage was exactly EXACTLY the same. I got charged $5 "non-usage fee" they did not. We all should have been charged the $5 fee not just me. That's the point.

And I'm done with this post as I suspect that the reply will be off the topic again anyway. :)

[virtualmike]

The point of my post is missed. Everything EVERYTHING including the long-distance carrier was exactly EXACTLY the same with all roommates. The usage was exactly EXACTLY the same for the last 6 months (no use of long distance) yet I was charged a $5 fee and they were not. Same house, same box downstairs, separate lines connected to the same box. We shared each other's bills for the last 6 months and the service and usage was exactly EXACTLY the same. I got charged $5 "non-usage fee" they did not. We all should have been charged the $5 fee not just me. That's the point.

And I'm done with this post as I suspect that the reply will be off the topic again anyway.

Directly responding to your point: yes, all three bills should have been the same. However, if the orders for the three lines were taken by different representatives, it's very possible the representative who handled your line checked a box the other reps did not, or didn't check a box the others did, or did something else slightly different when establishing your service.

I have a friend who asked, back in the PacBell days, to "have [her] line show as 'Private Number' on caller ID." Of course, she meant outbound C*ID blocking. However, the rep took her request literally, and when she'd call me, her number would show, but the displayed name would be "PRIVATE NUMBER."

[Tom Lee]

virtualmike makes good points. Comparing bills and such will get you nowhere since this is not related to the box downstairs. If you called 1-700-555-4141 and all three lines were the same, that still only meant it used the same long distance carrier but doesn't mean it still can't be different in the database. virtualmike makes a good point that they could have coded the accounts differently like the other two accounts may have some type of waiver on it so they don't get charged while you don't have the waiver. It's just like bank accounts that have fees, some people don't have them even when they are below the balance requirement and some people get charged fees even if they meet the balance requirement. The first is because of a fee waiver and the last is because the computer made a mistake.