Just plain MAD at AT&T

[Texas Proud]

Did a little reading and supposedly AT&T being big enough will get ACH transactions from any billpay institutions.

It still doesn't change my mind because seeing how poorly the information is presented on the paper checks probably transfers to the ACH transaction too. AT&T likely gets terrible (or no) memo information in order to attach it to the correct account.

Since you say you do not use bill pay then how would you know With a big company, the bill pay is talking to the vendor and sending the info they need...


As for your checks.... if there is not enough information, that is the fault of your donors not putting enough info into the system for you to get it... I know the checks that are sent to pay my one bill and two of my moms have enough info for the vendor to process correctly.... I have even talked to her condo to make sure they have what they need...

Blaming bill pay for what the donor or your organization should be doing is stupid IMO... it is not the systems fault but the users....

 

[Just_Steve]

I


As I said, I have been using bill pay for 17 years and have had very few problems.... this is the first one that involved an ACH... and it was not even MY bill ....

Been using bill pay forever also and the one and only time I had an issue was because the payee changed something on their end, coincidentally it was a telco also.

 

[JoeWras]

I never said bill pay is always electronic.... you are quoting us incorrectly for your rant....

I see where you changed your post... I KNOW that ATT is getting it ACH... I also KNOW which vendors do it it that way and which do not... my water bill is paid by a physical check, but all other bills are paid electronically...

Just because you have a problem with your accounting system does not mean bill pay is bad... heck, if every one of those people sent you their own individual check you would have to process them correctly would you not You seem to be putting your groups incompetence onto the bill pay system when it is not the fault of bill pay...


As I said, I have been using bill pay for 17 years and have had very few problems.... this is the first one that involved an ACH... and it was not even MY bill ....

Wow Texas. I apologize if you took offense.

I am not in any way blaming you for this. I was just trying to raise general awareness of how billpay can go wrong.

Again, my apologies. I was in your shoes before my dad passed away and as far as I'm concerned, you are saint on earth to be helping your mother. We need more children like this.

I'll start a new thread next time. Please forgive me... No offense to you at all.

 

[Texas Proud]

Wow Texas. I apologize if you took offense.

I am not in any way blaming you for this. I was just trying to raise general awareness of how billpay can go wrong.

Again, my apologies. I was in your shoes before my dad passed away and as far as I'm concerned, you are saint on earth to be helping your mother. We need more children like this.

I'll start a new thread next time. Please forgive me... No offense to you at all.

I accept your apology.


I only took offense since you quoted me and others a few times when I said it was paid electronically and you started to say it might not be... even bolding my words... making it look like I did not know what I was talking about... even though you posted later that you had found out it was you did not change your first post...

I also still disagree that bill pay is a bad thing... your example was incompetence at the charity IMO... anybody who works in a place that receives checks should be able to match any check to any invoice or in your case pledge... it just takes some effort...

So I will apologize for my comments also as I was a bit too harsh....

 

[ownyourfuture]

I know it's a bad attitude but I often just pay these little "mistakes" when they happen. It's not often but once a year or two and it's usually a few bucks. It's just not worth the time and anguish it takes to try to sort it out to get things corrected. Plus, since these companies are so incompetent it doesn't always sort out even though it's clear what happened and where the mistake was.

You're absolutely right. Unfortunately, I just can't bring myself to do that.
IMO, It just encourages companies to make 'more little mistakes'

About a year ago, the administrator for my Visa Rewards Card at Fidelity, changed.

For reasons I'm not going to go into here, that's one of 2 payments I still make via check.

The first month that I had to send the check to a different address, I mailed it on a Monday, it was due Wednesday of the following week. For what it's worth, there were no holidays in that period, & the town I mailed it to would be about a 6 hour drive.

I went online Friday & saw that the check still hadn't come through.
Same thing Saturday & Monday. Checked again on Tuesday. Not there.
Called the administrator, explained the situation, & was assured by the person that even if they didn't receive it tomorrow, he would make note of our conversation, & even if it was up to a week late, there would be no late charges.

You guessed it. By Thursday it still wasn't there, & when I logged into my Fidelity account, I saw interest charges & late fees.
The check finally 'arrived' on Friday, & after screaming at some poor representative for about 30 seconds, all the late charges & other penalties were removed.

I believe, with every fiber of my being, that this was no accident/mistake. I believe they did this just to check & see which customers would put up a stink, & which ones would just say what the heck, it's not worth the stress.

I now send my payment approximately two weeks before the due date, & the funny thing is, if I mail the check on a Monday, they almost ALWAYS have it by Wednesday, or at the latest Thursday.

 

[OldShooter]

Recently, I switched ... It's getting easier these days.

Agreed. But for most people and, especially, with television providers, switching cost is perceived as significant. Hence, poor customer service is not punished adequately.

 

[ulrichw]

[...]
Now that I am getting 'up to date' I will look to see if there is an internet phone that I can use... maybe Comcast... however, that is going to be pushed off as there are other things I have to get done...

If you're willing to use some technology that may be a little more "raw", here's a recipe that might work:
- Obihai Obitalk 200: https://www.amazon.com/OBi200-1-Port-Adapter-Support-Service/dp/B00BUV7C9A ($50)
- Port your number to voip.ms: www.voip.ms
- Sign up for Anveo e-911 service (instructions come with OBI200)

Service charges:
- $15/year for Anveo
- $0.89/month + $.009/minute for voip.ms (charges are for incoming calls; outgoing is $0.01/minute to US)
- No porting fees

Voip.ms is prepaid via credit card - all online.

I recently replaced my AT&T home phone service with this and have talked to other people who've had good experiences with this setup over a longer duration.

Note that you need a reliable Internet connection for this.

 

[Texas Proud]

If you're willing to use some technology that may be a little more "raw", here's a recipe that might work:
- Obihai Obitalk 200: https://www.amazon.com/OBi200-1-Port-Adapter-Support-Service/dp/B00BUV7C9A ($50)
- Port your number to voip.ms: www.voip.ms
- Sign up for Anveo e-911 service (instructions come with OBI200)

Service charges:
- $15/year for Anveo
- $0.89/month + $.009/minute for voip.ms (charges are for incoming calls; outgoing is $0.01/minute to US)
- No porting fees

Voip.ms is prepaid via credit card - all online.

I recently replaced my AT&T home phone service with this and have talked to other people who've had good experiences with this setup over a longer duration.

Note that you need a reliable Internet connection for this.

Thanks for that info....


But I do have one problem with this... and it happened again tonight. I can call and she does not answer the phone correctly... she might hit the answer button twice and then I am on hold... but she never hangs up... SO, it looked like she was online for 4 hours.... that is only 15 cents, but who knows how often this can happen and how big a bill I might get... the max for a month is $432.... I would rather have a fixed rate...

 

[cathy63]

Thanks for that info....


But I do have one problem with this... and it happened again tonight. I can call and she does not answer the phone correctly... she might hit the answer button twice and then I am on hold... but she never hangs up... SO, it looked like she was online for 4 hours.... that is only 15 cents, but who knows how often this can happen and how big a bill I might get... the max for a month is $432.... I would rather have a fixed rate...

If you port to Google Voice instead of voip.ms, there's no charge for the voice service at all. There is a $20 porting fee though, and you have to do it in two steps, first going to a cell phone then to Google.

 

[Scrapr]

ooma (voip) has been good for us for close to 10 years. Pay about $100 for the ooma. About 20-40 to port. Then local taxes only. Mine are about $3 per month

 

[ulrichw]

[...] I can call and she does not answer the phone correctly... she might hit the answer button twice and then I am on hold... but she never hangs up... SO, it looked like she was online for 4 hours.... [...]

Are you sure about this? The call should drop if either party hangs up.

Her line might be kept busy if the line in her house stays "off hook," but it shouldn't be billed as a 4 hour call.

 

[Sojourner]

ooma (voip) has been good for us for close to 10 years. Pay about $100 for the ooma. About 20-40 to port. Then local taxes only. Mine are about $3 per month

+1

Ooma works just like a landline if you have a decent high-speed Internet connection. I dropped my AT&T landline and went to Ooma a couple years ago, saving myself roughly $35/month in the process. Call quality is very similar, and the reduction in telemarketing / scam calls has been enormous. With AT&T I was getting no fewer than 2 or 3 of those annoying calls per day, but with Ooma I might get one telemarketing call every 2 months.

 

[ivinsfan]

+1

Ooma works just like a landline if you have a decent high-speed Internet connection. I dropped my AT&T landline and went to Ooma a couple years ago, saving myself roughly $35/month in the process. Call quality is very similar, and the reduction in telemarketing / scam calls has been enormous. With AT&T I was getting no fewer than 2 or 3 of those annoying calls per day, but with Ooma I might get one telemarketing call every 2 months.

what is a decent speed for Ooma?

 

[Texas Proud]

Are you sure about this? The call should drop if either party hangs up.

Her line might be kept busy if the line in her house stays "off hook," but it shouldn't be billed as a 4 hour call.

No, I am not sure what is happening. I agree that the call is dropped on my end since I can use my phone properly...

I know her line is still 'off hook' as you say since I cannot call her again... I get a busy signal.... so I would assume that a phone company would count that as being used on her end.... I know that when she had a cell phone it took those minutes off...

 

[Texas Proud]

+1

Ooma works just like a landline if you have a decent high-speed Internet connection. I dropped my AT&T landline and went to Ooma a couple years ago, saving myself roughly $35/month in the process. Call quality is very similar, and the reduction in telemarketing / scam calls has been enormous. With AT&T I was getting no fewer than 2 or 3 of those annoying calls per day, but with Ooma I might get one telemarketing call every 2 months.

what is a decent speed for Ooma?

+1 we have the crappy slow speed of ATT DSL.... but it might be enough for a phone call...

As one of my sisters pointed out if we had to get her a new number.... who calls her but us Well, of course all of the crap call also...


EDIT to add.... is it easy to restrict incoming calls on any of these VOIP lines.... that might be a blessing where I can put together a white list of calls that can go through and block all other calls... this will actually save a few dollars from when my mom gets a call from a 'police charity' and she gives them something or some salesman pushing snake oil....

 

[Hermit]

what is a decent speed for Ooma?

If you can talk over Hangouts/Google Voice or Skype, you should be good to go on OOMA. When I got my OOMA about 3 years ago, I told them I wasn't sure if my satellite internet would work with OOMA. They agreed to allow me 90 days to try their system and if it didn't work I could return it. I had Hughesnet at the time and, like clockwork, when my thirty day trial period for Hughesnet was up my internet turned crappy and stayed that way for the two years of the contract period. I returned the OOMA because no VOIP worked and they gave me my money back. I would get OOMA again, but I am happy now just using Hangouts with a Google Voice number. I am on another satellite network and usually have good VOIP other than the inherent time delay.

 

[pb4uski]

+1 we have the crappy slow speed of ATT DSL.... but it might be enough for a phone call.......

We have DSL (but not AT&T) and use Ooma and have had no problems at all... I don't think that voice only requires a lot of speed.

 

[Texas Proud]

OH HECK!!!

Went to mom's last night and what did I see

AT&T sending another cancellation notice!!!


I have to find a better option.... but, I also do not want to pay for internet going forward since she just does not use it...

 

[target2019]

/begin offtopic comment
My mother used to walk down to the bank on the corner, and payed the phone bill, as well as a few others. Those were healthier and happier times. We had to walk to the phone to answer it.
/end offtopic comment

 

[target2019]

OH HECK!!!

Went to mom's last night and what did I see

AT&T sending another cancellation notice!!!

I have to find a better option.... but, I also do not want to pay for internet going forward since she just does not use it...

This is what I do. We have a VZW account with 3 lines. DD logs in to VZW each month, reviews the bill, and uses one of my CCs to pay. It goes through immediately, I get an email, she gets an email, etc.

(DD has the account now, to get a 20% discount from her employer.)

It sounds ridiculous and old-fashioned to do this manually, but I also get a 5% cash back from the credit card when used with telecommunications purchases. So, peace of mind, and 5% cash back.

Right now you can probably login to AT&T and pay what's in arrears, get better CS, etc.

Good luck with your search.

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

All big companies it seems sort of shift away from providing customer service and more towards just making money. The companies get so big they do not worry about the little man just the big picture. I think they figure an individual doesn't really matter so long as they still have their money rolling in and the bulk of their customers are on board. Now that's not what they will tell the public, but that is what it amounts to. That is why companies only bend to your will when you are threatening to cut off service or downgrading a service. It effects their bottom line and they do not like losing money. Otherwise they do not care .