Second iPhone Bill...BEWARE OF AT&T!

[ATT*mark]

Would you have the same attitude if you were enjoying your iPhone the first month and periodically checked your minutes to make sure you were not going over, and then when billed, realize its 260 more minutes then it said you were over when you checked the day before your billing cycle ended?

Probably not.

Remember, I am not trying to get out of paying for overage use. I knew I was over by about 25-30 minutes because thats what it said the day before my billing cycle ended.

If AT&T can't offer a service that works appropriately to show us our minutes used, how are we supposed to tally and keep track without going over?

you are so quick to blame AT&T . have you even looked at your bill? why dont you check the billed minutes on your statement...... if its false you can easily get that money credited i think you are just whining because you went over your minutes . you know there is a delay of minutes if you dial *MIN# or look online.

you clearly dont know how many minutes you were over.... and if you were indeed right about only being over 30 minutes then i bet you went over on text messaging. if you are correct then you can easily get that credited . but i bet you know you are wrong and cant prove it . thats why you are on here instead of on the phone with customer service....

 

[nevesis]

you are so quick to blame AT&T . have you even looked at your bill? why dont you check the billed minutes on your statement......

Of course I have, and the bill states that I went over 200+ minutes on my alotted 900 minute calling plan.

you know there is a delay of minutes if you dial *MIN# or look online.

Here is where my problem lies. Throughout the month of July I periodically checked how many minutes I had to be thoroughly sure I would not go over. I never saw any large delay in what it said on the website, or by dialing *MIN#.

Two days before my billing cycle ended, I checked my phone and realized I had gone over 15 minutes. One day before the billing cycle ended, I was at 30 minutes. From there on in I did not talk during peak hours.

So when I finally got my bill yesterday I was shocked to read that it logged over 200 minutes of peak billable talk time that I was not aware of at all.

The reason I am blaming AT&T is for a service that was not performed to give me an accurate count of how many minutes I had left and went over. A delay by a few minutes is one thing, but we are talking about $104.00 in overages, not $12.00.

I said before, I am not some cheap guy trying to swindle out of paying my overage fees, I just don't feel I should be charged for minutes that I was not aware I was using. Checking your minutes through the iPhone or the AT&T website is the only way to make sure, this feature should be VERY accurate.

 

[Canuck4]

Maybe you need to upgrade your plan to one with more minutes.
If you need to keep checking and making sure till the last day you dont go over by 15-30 minutes then your minutes are not enough IMO.
Wether you were aware or not you used those minutes and obviously they'll make you pay for them.

I said before, I am not some cheap guy trying to swindle out of paying my overage fees, I just don't feel I should be charged for minutes that I was not aware I was using. Checking your minutes through the iPhone or the AT&T website is the only way to make sure, this feature should be VERY accurate.

 

[vansouza]

Get more...

I am going to be calling them tommorow to hopefully work everything out. I will post in this thread the outcome.

Again, if anyone else who reads this thread notices a similiar problem with the view my minutes feature on the iPhone, let it be known.

You have got to get a plan with more min... so they can roll over... Lord, I have the 900 plan and barely broke 125... all my time was late in the evening or weekends... so free. Good luck to you...

 

[donmei]

you have no right to pi55 and moan until after you attempt to resolve this with ATT. For the time and effort you've put into complaining, you may have been able to resolve the problem to your satisfaction.

Don

p.s. I've gone over a couple of times and they waived all overage with nothing more than a phone call. However its usually not a problem since I have roll over minutes. So once i get a bank of them its a nice cushion.

p.p.s. hint, i fyou must have corporate email try the blackberry 8800. Its great. and it runs google maps WITH INTERNAL GPS. So not only does it show stuff on a map, it shows you where you are. Maybe the iphone v2.0 will get that.

 

[ATT*mark]

I said before, I am not some cheap guy trying to swindle out of paying my overage fees, I just don't feel I should be charged for minutes that I was not aware I was using. Checking your minutes through the iPhone or the AT&T website is the only way to make sure, this feature should be VERY accurate.

ok check the billing cycle . its going to be from the previous month...so if you went over 30 , and you just got your bill saying 300 , that means the previous month you went over 300 . if the billed minutes are on your plan and you made them, then AT&T wont do **** for you.....why would they and why should they? you made those calls , you picked what plan you wanted. nobody elses fault but your own. AT&T cant baby sit 6 million customers to see if they are going over their minutes......

 

[aerospace]

Has anyone from the dallas area gotten a second bill yet? I was hoping to know how much per month it comes to with taxes and everything.

Thanks!

 

[Rodimus Prime]

AT&T sends out details bills that have every single call you made and how long they where. Look at the details in your call logs and I bet it going to add up to show you where you 300 extra mins where. Chances are you went over and you got slap with a delay in the reporting between your last check and then the last up date for the billing cycle. I bet you will find you extra phone calls in there.

 

[somberlaine]

Why don't you take it easy the first few months and not talk a whole lot during peak hours untill you build a nice rollover minutes reserve. This way you are protected against future overages. I have over 2000 rollover minutes so I never worry about how many minutes I use...but I am not amuch of a talker as you seem to be (900 + 300 = ALOT of talking).

 

[overcast]

If you seriously have to check your usage THAT often then maybe it's time to upgrade to a larger package to reflect your usage. I still don't understand why you continue to post in this thread about this. READ YOUR DETAILED BILLING SUMMARY. It will you show you every single call, text, etc. A phone bill is not rocket science, they've only been around since you know - phones.

 

[scaredpoet]

Would you have the same attitude if you were enjoying your iPhone the first month and periodically checked your minutes to make sure you were not going over, and then when billed, realize its 260 more minutes then it said you were over when you checked the day before your billing cycle ended?

Actually, I'd take extra pains my first month (as I did, actually) not to go over in my minutes. I also know, from several years of being a customer on Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T, that minute estimates on ANY of the online services is not gospel, merely an estimate. And they can be way off the first month that you start a new plan.

As for checking your own usage, go to Home -> Settings -> Usage. You will see two call timers: "Current Period" and "Lifetime." The first is resettable. So you definitely have all tools you need to accurately track your own usage, independent of OLAM. But since you've been enjoying your iPhone so much, I'm certain you already knew that.

Anyway, good luck with your little crusade against AT&T. If I were you, I'd at least have the courtesy of informing AT&T of your intentions. They might actually work things out with you, or at least explain their position to you.

 

[103734]

I Was Being Irresponsible And Not Paying Attention To How Many Mins I Was Using On My Plan And I Went Over!!!! Im Not Paying, Its Att"s Fault For Not Baby Sitting Me And Telling Me When Im Doing Something Im Not Supposed To!!

Zomg At&t Sucks!!! Watch Out Of Them!!!

 

[johnnybluejeans]

Is it possible your first month's minutes were prorated? As in, you joined midway through a billing cycle and really only had 450 or so minutes to use?

As for checking your minutes the last day of your billing cycle to see that you are 30 minutes over -- if AT&T says there can be a 3-5 day delay on showing the correct usage, that means you may have been 30 minutes over 5 days before your billing cycle ended.

Either way, there is about a 99.99% chance that the computers are right and you are wrong.

 

[nevesis]

Update!

After calling AT&T and explaining my situation to them they were courteous enough to drop the overage charges incurred due to their flawed view my minutes feature.

Customer service at its best! I now know not to rely on the view my minutes feature and to start resetting the call time on my iPhone each time my billing cycle refreshes.

Good luck to anyone who finds themselves in the same situation as me.

 

[RedInAustin]

Update!

I now know not to rely on the view my minutes feature and to start resetting the call time on my iPhone each time my billing cycle refreshes.

Good luck to anyone who finds themselves in the same situation as me.

Just remember that AT&T rounds each call up to the next whole minute, so that if a call lasts 5:02 that call is recorded as 6 minutes. The timer on the phone gives actual "send to end" duration; so your phone timer will always show less time used than AT&T will. Be careful and as others have suggested, you might consider upgrading your plan.

Good Luck.

 

[savar]

If AT&T can't offer a service that works appropriately to show us our minutes used, how are we supposed to tally and keep track without going over?

edit: nevermind

 

[sbrownla]

Do NOT EVER CHANGE YOUR PLAN MID-CYCLE!!!!!

I swear, that's the way you will guarantee yourself a $200.00 bill or more.

 

[jt2ga65]

Is it possible your first month's minutes were prorated? As in, you joined midway through a billing cycle and really only had 450 or so minutes to use?

This had occurred to me. When checked on the last day of the billing cycle, the plan was 30 minutes over, but the 1/2 month or so at the beginning, the plan was 270 minutes over. That's just speculation, but I fully expected that AT&T would drop the overage THIS time. There's also a note on your account, and I would not expect this to work a second time.

You should also know that the anytime minutes are between 7 am and 9 pm. Some other carriers have them between 7 an and 7pm. You can spend another $5.99 a month and get AT&T to give you the extra 2 hours a night.

As far as billing cycle... I don't know of any carrier that does NOT bill forward. You local phone company does, your cable company does, and your cell phone company will do that as well.

-jt2

 

[diamond.g]

This had occurred to me. When checked on the last day of the billing cycle, the plan was 30 minutes over, but the 1/2 month or so at the beginning, the plan was 270 minutes over. That's just speculation, but I fully expected that AT&T would drop the overage THIS time. There's also a note on your account, and I would not expect this to work a second time.

You should also know that the anytime minutes are between 7 am and 9 pm. Some other carriers have them between 7 an and 7pm. You can spend another $5.99 a month and get AT&T to give you the extra 2 hours a night.

As far as billing cycle... I don't know of any carrier that does NOT bill forward. You local phone company does, your cable company does, and your cell phone company will do that as well.

-jt2

you mean 6am to 9pm for the any time minutes

 

[Diode]

You could also get them to bump you up to the next plan and prorate it for you for the last month.

I've known others that have done that.

 

[ferchu in mex]

Hey I just read some of the first posts.. but something similar happened to me.. I was constanly cheking eith my iphone not to go over my minutes.. so the other day.. the message told me that I had zero minnutes left.. I called ATT and they told me I was around 54 minutes over.. I was like ........... whatttttttttttttt! I told them I was cheking always my usage.,.and thety told me that was not that accurate....... so I left the issue like that and regroup and tought abou a way to have those minutes remmoved form my bill!
So I called ATT and requested somone is Spanish.. and then I told them what happend.. and tod them like 7 times I was a FIRST TIME USER.. that It wasunfair for me to pay thos extra minutes because I was trusting the system.. so the lady told me she was going to remove them form my bill!

So actually dont trust that minute counter!

sorry for the bad grammar.. english is my secon language , plus I didnt went back to check for misspellings!