I have AT&T for my residential home phone service. I have the absolute basic service simply because I need a live line for DSL and for my apartment building’s intercom system.

Back in August, after having no dial tone for 3 days, I put in a trouble ticket online. They made sure to tell me that if the technician came out and determined that the source of the trouble was not on their end (such as my phone being broken or my inside wiring is messed up) then I would get charged $55. Well, I knew the problem wasn’t on my end. I have two fairly new phones that I both tried in different jacks and my apartment building is only about a year old with brand new wiring.

Well, a technician came out, didn’t come inside our apartment, and fixed something on the outside and our dial tone was back. But the next morning it was gone again. We had his cell phone and called him and within an hour it was fixed. I never saw him.

Well last week, we had no dial tone again. After the second day, I submitted another trouble ticket. Same spiel about the $55 charge. This time instead of giving me a window, it said the problem would be fixed by 8 PM the next day. I had to work the next day and couldn’t be home, but I figured since the last guy didn’t even come in the first time around, there was no need for me to wait for this technician. It was also odd that unlike the previous incident in which I got a 4-hour window, this time it just said service would be restored by 8 PM the next day. It seemed like they knew what the problem was and everything was under control.

Well the next day I came home from work to a $55 bill pinned to my door!! The technician came by and said he didn’t see any issues at all on their end and it must have been our problem. The $55 charge was for him coming out and determining that there was nothing for him to do. So supposedly he didn’t do any thing, but guess what, my phone “magically” worked again. Gee, what a strange coincidence that I had no dial tone for 2 days, and then after an AT&T technician came out and “did nothing” my dial tone was back!

Now, I know more and more people are switching to cell phones and getting rid of landlines. There must not be much work for these technicians. Do they get commission for a visit? Considering that my non-working phone line worked only after his visit, he must have done something, yet I got a bill because he supposedly didn’t and it was a problem with my phone that coincidentally waited to fix itself after his visit. Really??

Today is November 20th, 9 days later. I was on the phone trying to check the tracking of a delivery I’m expecting tomorrow. Midway through the call, the line went dead. I hung up and when I tried the phone again there was no dial tone! What!? I tried our other phone and it didn’t have a dial tone either. Then I noticed an AT&T work truck pulling up to the curb on the other side of the street. Coincidence? I watched him for a bit and it turns out he was just going into the 7-Eleven, but it was still strange.

I was reluctant to put in another trouble ticket. I didn’t want to charged another $55! It seems like even when it isn’t on my end, the technician can just charge me anyway. But then I thought, isn’t this proof that the problem isn’t on my end?

I called AT&T and the agent checked my line and stated that it seemed like there was problem from the pole to the apartment complex. She was going to send out a technician to fix it tomorrow, between 8 AM and 12 PM, but again told me that if it was determined that the problem wasn’t on their end, I would be charged another $55! I asked her about the last ticket and told her I wanted to dispute it because we didn’t do anything to fix our line and it was only fixed after the technician came out. She said that I could dispute it with the billing department, but she said “to be honest…” that the billing department will just look at the notes the technician submitted and the notes show that he found no issues. So why did my dial tone come back after he was here?? Grrrr… and why is it gone now? Shouldn’t this tell them that there was something wrong last time that’s continuing?

I will give the last technician the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he wasn’t lying. Maybe the issue is intermittent, like having to move a television antenna around. Depending on the wind and the angle and how you jiggle it, sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. Maybe when the technician came out the problem wasn’t clearly visible, maybe him just moving things around in the process of checking things cleared up the problem, so perhaps he honestly thinks that he didn’t do anything, but because of the outcome, he had to have done something.

Anyway, Tim is pretty angry about the $55 charge and is saying he’s gonna dispute it, even if he has to take them to court…. um… the court fees alone are going to be more than the charge, but that’s how he is. I’d rather not spend any more money, but I will call AT&T tomorrow to see if there’s anything I can do. From what the agent told me tonight, I’m not very optimistic.

So tomorrow, I’m staying home from work, awaiting the delivery of a 189 lb dresser which will probably be left on the curb (how the fuck am I going to get it inside??!), waiting for an AT&T technician to fix my phone line and not try to say he didn’t do anything when my dial tone comes back, and calling AT&T’s billing department to dispute the $55 visit charge from the previous trouble ticket.

Oh boy, it’s going to be a fun day.

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