The company admits billing mistakes but denies using them to get consumers to call customer service.
By LOUIS HAU
Published May 1, 2004
State Attorney General Charlie Crist sued long-distance carrier AT&T on Friday for wrongful billing practices and for allegedly pressuring customers to sign up for the very services they were erroneously charged for.
In a lawsuit filed Friday in Leon County Circuit Court, Crist asked the court to impose civil penalties on AT&T of up to $10,000 for each billing error. Crist also asked the court to order AT&T to relinquish all revenue generated as a result of its billing errors, pay restitution to wrongly billed customers and assume attorney fees for what he called the company's violation of state laws barring unfair and deceptive business practices.
In an accompanying affidavit, an investigator in Crist's office said he called AT&T customer service earlier this week on behalf of a Winter Park woman who said her phone bill included erroneous charges. Posing as the woman's husband, the investigator spent nearly half an hour on the phone to get the charges removed. During the call, he said, he was transferred to four different customer service representatives, one of whom tried to sell him long-distance services while another tried to sell him an AT&T Wireless calling plan.
AT&T spokeswoman Julie Spechler declined to comment on the suit, saying she hadn't yet had a chance to review it.
Since issuing a public warning April 23 about AT&T's billing errors, Crist's office has been flooded with more than 600 complaints from Florida consumers claiming to have been wrongly billed.
AT&T has acknowledged billing about 1-million phone customers for services they never asked for. The company has attributed the billing errors to computer problems and has denied that they were intended to get consumers to call AT&T customer service.
But Crist said reports that AT&T representatives are using calls from irate consumers to persuade or coerce callers into purchasing phone services suggests something else may be afoot.
"We understand mistakes can happen," he said. "But when it happens over and over and over again, it gives the appearance of it being a practice."
Crist said a complaint received Thursday from a Palm Beach County resident was typical.
"They said the only way they could give her a refund was if she signed up for a (long-distance) plan," Crist said. "I think it's outrageous. It's unconscionable."
To report erroneous charges from AT&T or any other long-distance carrier, call the attorney general's toll-free fraud hotline at 1-866-966-7226.
- Louis Hau can be reached at hau@sptimes.com or 813 226-3404.
