Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request
From: asuvax!gtephx!mothra!bakerj@ncar.ucar.edu (Jon Baker)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Changing to MCI Long Distance
Message-ID: <5459@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 21 Mar 90 06:01:22 GMT
Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu
Organization: gte
Lines: 27
Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 192, Message 8 of 10


In article <5169@accuvax.nwu.edu>, gmc@mvuxr.att.com (Glenn M Cooley) writes:

> NETCO, my local TELCO, also does this (and who out there thinks
> they're squeaky clean?) and started charging me for added services
> (e.g. call waiting) which I never ordered. They insisted that I just
> must have said yes in such a call (or it just must have been my wife)
> because this service could not have been supplied otherwise. After
> further argument, they canceled the service and credited me the
> overcharges (do TELCOs hire people who see arguing as a fringe benefit
> or are they trained to never, never, never, give in before 20 minutes
> are up) still maintaining that this just could not happen and that
> mine was the only case they had ever encountered.

Also happened to me a few years back - my long distance service
suddenly changed to MCI, even though I had deliberately elected AT&T
as my carrier.  I called MCI about it, and they admitted to the
practice of calling US West and bogusly reporting that customers
wanted to change to MCI.  The Telco wouldn't argue, for legal reasons
and because they could charge for the switch.  (As it happens, this
was my first such switch, which was a freebie).  

I convinced the MCI rep that I'd keep their service if they'd credit
me the $5 switch fee (which I wasn't actually charged) PLUS another $5
switch fee to switch back to AT&T if I didn't like MCI.  I used up my
$10 credit years ago, and have kept MCI since.  Moral : cheap
marketing tactic, but it worked.