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From: claris!netcom!mcmahan@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Dave Mc Mahan)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: AT&T SelectSaver(TM) Advertising Slime
Message-ID: <8834@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 9 Jun 90 23:36:52 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 425, Message 4 of 8


In a previous article, sneaky!gordon@uunet.uu.net (Gordon Burditt)
writes:

>The ad in my mail says "A review of your AT&T Long Distance bill
>indicates that you have the potential to save money by changing to the
>AT&T SelectSaver Plan".

>Now, if I had gotten this plan in December, 1989 (on ONE line, and
>made all the calls on that line), and made 1 10-minute evening-rate
>call each month in addition to actual use, I would have paid $11.40 in
>SelectSaver bills to date to save about $4.56 on calls, for a net loss
>of $6.84.  And they are strongly implying that they LOOKED at my bills
>and decided I could save money.  AAARRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I too was given the 'opportunity' to save on my long distance calling
via an AT&T plan (I believe it was the "Reach Out America" plan).  I
reviewed my phone bills for the previous six months, and found that
based on their plan, I would also come out slightly behind unless I
raised the amount of time I spent on long distance minutes/month.  I
wouldn't have paid much more in absolute dollars, but the percentage
increase was about 20%.  Plus, it would have induced me to make more
LD calls in the future to take advantage of the plan.

I feel that it is just a clever marketting ploy on the part of AT&T.
I think they arrived at their rate structure by analyzing several
hundred thousand billings, selecting those that fall into the range of
a couple of hours per month, and then devise a plan where they can
drop the effective hourly rate but still make more due to service
charges, etc.  Plus, they would also have the benefit that the plan
would induce subscribers to who otherwise wouldn't have to spend more
time on the LD calls to justify the cost of the service.  It sounded
like a good way to go broke saving money.  In the end, I followed
Nancy Reagan's advice and just said 'No'.

Later in time, I again looked at my bills for the three months
following the period I would have started if I had selected the plan.
I found that my cost would have been even higher (percentage-wise)
because I made less calls than the previous six months which triggered
the solicitation.  I think I made the right choice.


    -dave