Rant about SBC - scream!

[ananda]

Hi ya'll,

I gotta tell ya.. I HATE SBC. I REALLY HATE SBC. That is the suckiest company on the planet!

All I have is basic phone service, and the basic charge is about $11, but my total bill is $24.42. This month they started charging me $2 plus tax for long distance service, and I have to pay it even if I never make a call.

And to make matters worse, they'll charge me over $8 just to remove the long distance service.

I HATE THAT COMPANY!!

Sheesh.. and they signed me up for DSL that I didn't even order, and I had to waste a lotta time canceling an order I NEVER MADE!!!

I REALLY HATE SBC!! THEY NEED SOME SERIOUS REGULATION AND COMPETITION... NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sue

[AllyCat]

1. They suck. Don't get their DSL.

I am counting the minutes until I can cancel that service. Spyware-infested nonsense.

[begin_within]

2. They are also holding up the undergrounding of the wires in my area,

because they won't pay their share of the cost. (San Diego)

[Oeditpus Rex]

3. Deregulation's a wunnerful thing, innit?

I use SBC (because that's pretty much all we can get here) for a phone/DSL package. Runs me about $70 per month. I make almost no long-distance calls, have few phone "extras" and the DSL is slow (about 170 kbps) since I live in the burboonies.

Thank you, Mr. Reagan. :puke:

[ananda]

16. Gawd that sucks!

SBC seems to be the only landline provider around here.

That means they're a MONOPOLY... like Time-Warner Cable.

What happened to the idea of COMPETITION and REGULATION!!!

I'm so angry I could spit.

I hate the way politics and corporations work to screw the consumer.

UGghhhh.

Sue

[Oeditpus Rex]

23. There's a difference between a monopoly

and a company that simply controls a lousy 80 percent of the market.

But they're working on the other 20 percent. :grr:

I think it's wrong that only one company makes the game "Monopoly." — Stephen Wright

[justabob]

4. ARGGGG I hate them too

I have had the pleasure of paying them way too much money for the privledge of endless problems. I recently quit using them as my isp, and as soon as I possibly can I will be moving to Vonage or some other company for my phone service. I hate sbc. I hate sbc. I hate sbc. I hate sbc

[ananda]

18. I looked up Vonage, but to use them..

.. I have to already have either DSL or Cable broadband. Vonage works through the computer.

That means I have to either use SBC-Yahoo DSL (NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS) or T-W Cable broadband, which is expensive.

What's the answer???

Anybody??

Sue

[MaineDem]

5. "THEY NEED SOME SERIOUS REGULATION AND COMPETITION"

Forgive me for laughing but it's too bad Judge Green has died. He'd love to hear your comments.

(I was around in 1983 with the MFJ and deregulation.)

[sinkingfeeling]

6. I agree 100%. Hate them and now aren't they taking over AT&T?

[justabob]

9. yes, nt

[ananda]

20. In a year, SBC will change its name to AT&T.

How's that for irony?

Yellllllllllllllllll

Sue

[BiggJawn]

22. Ain't that a laff?

Back in the early 80's, they busted-up ATn'T into several "Regional Operating Companies" and SBC was one of them. Southwestern Bell, I believe...

Now Everything Old is New again....

[Gidney N Cloyd]

7. I've got SBC for local POTS and MCI for long distance

Separate bills. MCI charges me the minimum service charge since I never call long distance. It's close to 8 bucks and part of that is a $1 fee for processing A PAPER BILL instead of electronic payment.

[lapfog_1]

8. I gave up on them a long time ago

I now have only a cell phone and cable internet... and with a lot of
my friends on Skype, I could potentially get rid of the cell phone too.

[ananda]

21. What's Skype?

nt

[firefox]

24. Skype is VoiP provider bought out by Ebay

VoiP is voice over Internet provider. You can make free calls over your broadband connection to any other Skype member in the world for free. Their membership is growing 150,000 a day. Now you can make calls over your broadband connection to regular phones at about two and half cents a minute.

Check out Skype.com for details and downloading software and registering.

Fatwallet.com is a messageboard about bargain hunting. It is a good place to read about alternatives on communications. NetZero just started VoiP service and it is the subject of this thread- http://www.fatwallet.com/t/18/538305/ Here is a thread on a USB phone for Skype - http://www.fatwallet.com/t/18/534683/

[idiosyncratic]

10. My bill was more than $500.00 after they made a mistake

when my local and long distance company changed the provider they use.

For more than a month, while I was connected to the Internet over a local phone number, they were charging my local/long distance provider (ECG) as if the local call was long distance.

It took more than two months for them to SEND ME A CHECK to send to my local and long distance provider.

Why they couldn't have just taken the charges off my bill, since it was a "wiring mistake," I just can't figure out.

ECG (Enhanced Communication Group) was great through the whole ordeal and they provide excellent service for a minimal charge. I recommend them, if they are in your area.

[firefox]

11. Wealthy have the machines and you are a battery

Just give them some juice.

What gets me is how our electric cooperative here is always talking about service, service, service. If you are a few days late on your bill they send you a letter that cost you $15 and another service is charging you $50 to turn your electricity back on after they deny you their wonderful service.

BellSouth went from $23.45 to $26.60 a month on last month's bill. That is a 13% increase. Well, I must be going to get better service.

What gets me is how Europe is already on Generation 3 with their wireless, yet we do not have it because we are so competitive with our free market system that we cannot agree on a standard. Damn, didn't they learn anything from Napoleon and the metric system in regards to adopting standards.

Korea gets 22 Mbps for $22 a month and the best BellSouth can do is 768Kbps. Some competitive society we are when Korea gets 30 times faster service for less than we get.

My friend in the next county over cancelled his phone because he was told the least his phone bill would be with Sprint is over $120. I really have some cognative dissonance with that, but I saw his bill and now he has no phone and he really wants one.

Has America hit bottom yet? Okay, we hit bottom 5 years ago and then started digging. Is America ready to quit digging already?

[Touchdown]

12. All thanks to the Bell breakup and de-regulation.

They can charge you whatever the Hell they want now, because all these regs about itemizing charges, capping fees, Long Distance subsidizing local phone service, etc. are now gone. Years ago AT&T (or the Bell system) had their profits capped. Employees flew first class, they hired more employees, paid them good union wages, and serious money was shoved into research to invent things like the transistor, fiber optics, and laser beams (all AT&T inventions). Now, with de-regulation, all they invent is new fees to gouge you with, while laying off workers.

Sprint charges you for their property taxes on your bill if you use them. They are not the only one.

SBC will soon be called AT&T. Since SBC is buying Ma Bell. They're putting it all back together, except this time, no regulations.

[mtnester]

13. Took us TWO YEARS to fix a billing snafu that was their fault

and we are a damn business account.

TWO YEARS

[firefox]

14. How much has the price of Vasoline increased since * took office?

We are being screwed in every way possible. Well, they might need a law to sell your body parts if you die while in debt.

Vasoline is an oil product so it has had to go up over the last 5 years. I know this is trivia, but if I knew how much Vasoline has gone up in 5 years I would have included it in responding to this thread.

Seriously, does anyone know how much Vasoline has increased since * was selected?

[sendero]

15. I do too..

... and the funny thing is, 4-5 years ago they were really a great company - I never had problem one with them until a couple of years ago.

I'll spare everyone the gory details, just add that this is the ONLY COMPANY I've had to get on the phone and just get nasty with them to make them stop screwing up my bill. One mistake after another, always in their favor.

They are a den of crooks IMHO.

[feminazi]

25. the old pacbell was great

once sbc took them over they started going to hell. i work in telecom and deal with sbc reps on the business (not residential) side all the time. they hate it, too.

[porphyrian]

17. I thought you meant the "Southern Baptist Convention." - n/t

[UTUSN]

19. & with Companies Buying Companies, It Was Heck to Get Rid of SBC

Once upon a time, SBC was my local monopoly & ATT the long distance monopoly. When deregulation kicked in, ATT started offering local services & I wanted to consolidate. Bad choice. After bill snafus that took months to "credit" back, I went with SBC. Then they went back to ATT for long distance. I got rid of both of them. It took months.

So then I was with this small internet service. After a year or two, they were bought out by Yahoo. O.K., didn't bother me. Then Yahoo was bought by -------guess who-------SBC! I got out THERE!

I'm with some other internet service that was bought by Earthlink. I'll be looking for another one in the Spring.

[progressivebydesign]

26. I have Century Tel and I LOVE them!

When you call in for help, you actually get really friendly people who are based IN AMERICA!! It's such a rarity anymore to talk to someone in Customer Service or Tech that is not in India.

Do you have any other options for service? Our cable company is now offering local and long distance phone services...