^#@$@&% Phone companies

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HydroSqueegee

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Nov 15, 2004
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So... a few weeks back, some guy from Cincinnati Bell was trolling door to door looking for new land line customers. I chatted with him, but told him i couldnt make the final decision to switch services (since i really didnt want to and needed to talk with tish about it anyhoo).

So not too long after thant, lo and behold, my service was switched. :wtf:

So i call up AT&T to tell them that my service was switched without my authorization and after going through all their crap, got my service switched back over to them. And it was a bonus for me because my service rate ended being $15 cheaper for the same service i had before.

I thought it was all fine and dandy. Yesterday i got a check from AT&T for $50 and now today, we have no phone service. :mad:

So i need to find some time to call them from the office when hardly any one else is around (big no no for shit like this). Fricking pissed off.
 
Slamming is the unethical practice of a long distance company contacting the local telco and getting the 1+ service switched to itself without permission of the line owner. The business won't find out about the switch until it gets a bill in the mail from the long distance company for the long distance service, which by then is usually a month of service.
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To prevent this you need to ask your preferred carrier to put a PIC Freeze on your account, a.k.a. P-Lock.

Here's some info on that: http://www.gotricounty.biz/pdf/PICFreezeInformation.pdf

It's usually free to have that done. My dad worked for Alltel for 33 years, i grew up with this stuff :eek:
 
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April23 said:
Cell phones are the way to go. I haven't had a land line since living with my parents.
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back when i was single, this was the way to go. But now if im out and about, i dont really want anyone calling me (having a job where you take phone calls doesnt help either).

Dont have to worry about cell towers not being in range and the phone is never down if you need to call 911 or something... unless the fuckers turn off your service.

if i cant get the number we had, im going after blood.
 
HydroSqueegee said:
this was my entire service, not just long distance. How in the fuck can they get away with that?
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woah, that's a little weird. I've never heard of that happening before. Usually to switch basic service the customer has to verify over the phone with a 3rd party that they want to switch.

I just asked someone that knows, they said it can be done but the company (cinn bell) would have to have all your personal info before they could complete a switch like that without your authorization. Did you give them any personal info? Have you had your identity stolen or compromised recently?

She said also, if there is someone crooked at AT&T sometimes small companies will pay off the AT&T rep to give them the needed info. It happens unfortunately.
 
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ERage said:
woah, that's a little weird. I've never heard of that happening before. Usually to switch basic service the customer has to verify over the phone with a 3rd party that they want to switch.

I just asked someone that knows, they said it can be done but the company (cinn bell) would have to have all your personal info before they could complete a switch like that without your authorization. Did you give them any personal info? Have you had your identity stolen or compromised recently?

She said also, if there is someone crooked at AT&T sometimes small companies will pay off the AT&T rep to give them the needed info. It happens unfortunately.
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well i never filled out any paperwork or spoke to anyone over the phone. Just chatted with the cock jockey of a door to door terrorist working for cin bell. im mightily pissed about this whole thing now.
 
ERage said:
woah, that's a little weird. I've never heard of that happening before. Usually to switch basic service the customer has to verify over the phone with a 3rd party that they want to switch.

I just asked someone that knows, they said it can be done but the company (cinn bell) would have to have all your personal info before they could complete a switch like that without your authorization. Did you give them any personal info? Have you had your identity stolen or compromised recently?

She said also, if there is someone crooked at AT&T sometimes small companies will pay off the AT&T rep to give them the needed info. It happens unfortunately.
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Not necessarily. These days most telcos just send eachother an official form (which for the life of me I can't recall the name of) stating that one of their customers wants to be released from service and unless told previously not to (with the PIC as you mentioned) most carriers just go ahead and do it.
 
HydroSqueegee said:
back when i was single, this was the way to go. But now if im out and about, i dont really want anyone calling me (having a job where you take phone calls doesnt help either).

Dont have to worry about cell towers not being in range and the phone is never down if you need to call 911 or something... unless the fuckers turn off your service.

if i cant get the number we had, im going after blood.
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:dunno: I've had more problems with land lines than my cell phone. Tmo rocks.
 
KNYTE said:
Not necessarily. These days most telcos just send eachother an official form (which for the life of me I can't recall the name of) stating that one of their customers wants to be released from service and unless told previously not to (with the PIC as you mentioned) most carriers just go ahead and do it.
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That's exactly right for the 1+ service (long distance) but not true for the basic carrier. That requires, usually, a third party confirmation of the customer's intent. What I was told was that depending on the state's laws, it is possible to do the local carrier swap without that 3rd party but they would need to know very intimate details about the customer's personal info.

That's why if hydro didn't give out his personal info to these guys, then it is possible there is a mole at AT&T selling customer info for pocket money. It has happened before.

Also, i should note that a PIC freeze only blocks the long distance carrier from being changed. I'm not sure if there is a similar freeze that exists for the basic carrier. You might want to ask.
 
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The only bad experience I've had with a telco was one I subleased an apartment to a deadbeat waitress I met at Cracker Barrel. I had cancelled my phone service a month before but she called up and had it restarted without my permission, never paid the final bills so they sent me to collections for 64 bucks and change. :o
 
FlyNavy said:
The only bad experience I've had with a telco was one I subleased an apartment to a deadbeat waitress I met at Cracker Barrel. I had cancelled my phone service a month before but she called up and had it restarted without my permission, never paid the final bills so they sent me to collections for 64 bucks and change. :o
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Least it was only 64 bucks. Could have been way worse.
 
Coqui said:
Least it was only 64 bucks. Could have been way worse.
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She also didn't pay me rent for three months and her boyfriend sold the mountain bike I'd left on the deck. I had to kick them out with three 250lb+ Bermudans standing behind me. :)
 
I'm with you bro. I dumped my phone company a couple years ago when I made the switch to cable internet and voip. I don't even use the voip much anymore so i'm thinking of cancelling that too when I get a new cellphone plan (so i can still call international)

by the time i finally made the call to disconnect my service i'd been through so much shit with them that it was all i could do not to curse out the guy taking my call. i tried to be as civil as possible, but i made it clear what my reason for disconnecting was.

As for your specific problem, that is almost definitely illegal. i saw a reference to slamming above. i think that's the term. you gotta start by finding out why your current service is disconnected though.
 
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You have a choice for phone companies?

We have Verizon... and... Verizon.... and... Verizon.
 
FlamingGlory said:
You have a choice for phone companies?

We have Verizon... and... Verizon.... and... Verizon.
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There are usually small carriers out there but you have to look for them, they don't advertise widely. They usually pick up high risk customers with bad credit that don't qualify for service with the main carrier in the area and then they charge inflated rates in comparison. Usually they make you pay a flat monthly rate and pay each month in advance.

Some areas have small carriers that try to compete with the big guys for normal business though. Just depends on where you live.
 
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