SKASS@drew.bitnet (12/07/90)
Check out this weirdness on my latest AT&T bill: DATE TIME PLACE AREA-NUMBER RATE MIN AMOUNT NOV 11 6:40PM SAN DIEGO, CA 619-NXX-XXXX D 48 # 7.28 NOV 11 8:45PM PASADENA, CA 818-NXX-XXXX D 54 # 8.17 Get this. Rate code D means DAY (see the time). The amounts are correct for rate code E, evening, which is when the calls were placed, anyway. BUT, the # means that my Reach Out America discount applies, and that discount is 10% for day calls and 25% for evening calls. Looking at the summary page, these two calls were discounted at 10%, since the rate code field in the record is D (even though the amount doesn't match that). So I should get another 15% off of each of these calls, or a credit of $2.31. Try explaining that to an AT&T representative. An occasional two bucks here and there could amount to big money for the telecommunications giant. Or maybe a programmer is getting very rich somewhere. I still like AT&T, but I have to wonder how often I miss things like this. Steve Kass-Math & CS Dept-Drew U-Madison NJ 07940-(201)4083614-skass@drew.edu
jdominey@bsga05.attmail.com (12/11/90)
In Digest #874, Steve Kass <skass@drew.edu> writes about an error on the billing for some AT&T calls under Reach Out America. >Try explaining that to an AT&T representative. An occasional two >bucks here and there could amount to big money for the >telecommunications giant. Or maybe a programmer is getting very rich >somewhere. >I still like AT&T, but I have to wonder how often I miss things like >this. Much as I hate to defend something as inexcuseable as a billing error ... most AT&T residential billing is still done through the local company (NJ Bell, in this case). It would be darn hard for AT&T to make an illegal buck off this sort of thing. Jack Dominey|AT&T Commercial Marketing| 800 241-4285 | AT&T Mail: !dominey