Legal Question in Consumer Law in California

AT & T force me to buy

I was solicited by an At & T rep.(ID#70097)that I would have a certain less expensive rate. I joined in the program. One month later, the phone bill for my business came, the rate was 30-50 times higher than they promised. I have called them many times, problem still unsolved. Now they are using collection agent. In this case, 1. can I asked them to adjust the rate as they promised? 2. can I ask for compensation? because we have to stop the phone for 3 days in order to change to another carrier. Thank you.


Asked on 6/25/03, 1:10 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Benjamin Berger Berger-Harrison, A Professional Corporation

Re: AT & T force me to buy

The first thing to understand is that you don't owe them a certain amount of money just because they're asking for it.

If you had a deal with them, they're bound by it. If the deal was unclear or uncertain, then the law says to insert reasonable terms into the deal and to go from there.

If their rates are 30 to 50 times higher than you expected, I'm certain that the rate they're going for is not reasonable. Long distance carriers pull this crap all the time. Everyone on the planet knows that you can get long distance for less than 10 cents per minute, yet they try to gouge your eyes out with prices of 80 cents per minute or more.

Does 80 cents per minute sound reasonable to you? I don't think it would sound reasonable to a judge either.

You can stay strong and refuse to pay their crazy rates. In the meantime, you'll have to deal with collection agencies.

Email me if you'd like some of the letters I've sent in situations like this.

Best of luck,

Ben

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Answered on 6/25/03, 1:47 pm


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