A proud customer of AT&T since 2002

Thursday morning, I was just getting out of the shower when WM knocked on the door. “Honey? There’s a problem!”

I dashed out and he pointed at the computer screen. Our cellphone bill is automatically deducted from my account on the 22nd of each month. And on Thursday, October 22nd, AT&T deducted over $900.

Luckily, I was paid on Wednesday and was starting to save up for rent so the money was in there to begin with.

I stammered and shook while WM got on the phone with AT&T. He’s very good with situations like that. Turns out, when WM got his iPhone in September, the data plan wasn’t added to his account. So once he went over the 1MB limit that his old plan offered, we were billed approximately $10 per MB transferred.

The representative was very kind on the telephone and understood that it was a big mistake. She arranged for the extra monies (over $770) to be credited to our wireless account. And it was.

Trouble is…that was RENT money. And weekend money. And grocery money*. I logged into ING and moved $1000 into the checking account. That’ll take effect on Monday.

So I called AT&T Friday afternoon and asked for my money back. The representative was, again, very nice and put in a request to have the money returned to my account. She said she would request it to be immediately transferred back, but it might have to come back to me via check. In any case, I’ll have a resolution by 11/3.

AT&T could have been assy about the whole deal, and blame us for not checking our account online a week or so after the iPhone purchase to make sure it was properly set up. They could have blamed me for not looking at the paper statement that arrives a week before the money is taken. (I never do, because it comes out of my account.) But they didn’t. And I appreciate that.

Edited on 10/27 to add: AT&T will be sending the extra $700+ back to my checking account within the next 48 hours. Yay!

*Even with coupons, in-store sales, and Wegmans brand products, we cannot spend less than $70 a week on groceries anymore. We’re eating more home-cooked things, which is better overall but I think it would be cheaper if we ate at Taco Bell & McDonald’s every day.