Legal Question in Business Law in Texas

My name is John F.

I just signed up for an AT&T Cell Phone Family plan with 700 minutes shared between two phones. My first bill was over $200 which I expected with activation fees and junk. But my second bill was $258. I found out that incoming land line calls are deducted from my 700 minutes.

My question is:

How can a company get away with double charging for airtime? I pay for the call coming from my house land line and I have to pay to receive it? This is just wrong and I believe it's also illegal.

Do you have any idea as to why and how they get away with this?


Asked on 9/28/12, 8:08 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

I don't see why you think it's illegal. AT&T is charging you twice because you're using two of its services.

If you had different phone companies for your land line and your cell phone I'm sure you'd expect to be charged for both ends of the call. The provider of the land line would be entitled to charge you for the outgoing call to your cell phone, and the provider of the cellular line would be entitled to charge you for the air time. That the same company is doing both does not mean it has to forfeit the money it earns at one end of the call.

Also, it's likely that you are dealing with two different AT&T subsidiaries and not a single company.

AT&T could offer a deal like the one you want, but it doesn't have to and apparently it didn't. You just assumed that the company wouldn't charge you for calls from home. It's not AT&T's fault that your assumption was incorrect. And it certainly isn't illegal, unless AT&T affirmatively led you to believe there would be no charge for receiving calls from home on your cell phone.

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Answered on 9/28/12, 9:35 am


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