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September 7, 2009

So A&T is charging me an ETF after all ()

by fluffy at 1:06 AM
Over a month after I terminated my contract with AT&T and it seemed as if they were letting me off easy for the ETF which they have absolutely no actual right to (since I provided my own unsubsidized phone for the line I had to pay an extra $25 "naked SIM" charge for), they're charging me a $123 ETF. I have the right to dispute it through arbitration — with a $125 "filing fee," which will be refunded if and only if arbitration finds in my favor. So I can either pay the $123 now or I can pay $125 now with the hope of getting it back but the risk of having to pay $248. GEE WHAT A GREAT SITUATION.

Anyway, I had planned on paying the ETF as part of my migration back to T-Mobile anyway, so I'd might as well just pay the damn thing. It's actually lower than I was expecting. It's just a bit aggravating to be hit with it so much later, and to still be held to it even though the purpose of an ETF (recouping the cost of a subsidized phone) did not even remotely apply in this situation.

Comments

#12374 09/07/2009 08:12 am
Charge you for the privilege of using an unsubsidized phone, then charge you the subsidy fee for it anyway. Yup, that's AT&T. "We're the phone company. We don't have to."

Videotron cable in Quebec tried to charge me an unchargeable ETF, and when I said I wouldn't pay it, they transferred me to a "handler" who threatened to hit my credit report. I called the guy a fucking frog and hung up. To date, I haven't seen anything about a delinquent Videotron account on my credit report, but maybe it's a different report in Canada.
#12383 09/09/2009 08:50 pm
Just to mess with them I purposefully overpaid by 2 cents.