GREEDY CROOKED Cell Phone Company

I'm so mad I don't know where to start! I tried to pay my cell phone bill a little while ago and couldn't! It is due by midnight or risks getting turned off .... if not turned off, a big late fee at least.  Yes, I know I shouldn't wait until the last minute, but I had been ill for awhile, it took its toll on my finances, and I have been working really hard to catch up (my bill was not late, just due). I just finally made enough to get my bill payed, made the bank deposit on my way to work this morning to cover it, and now, finally at home and settled in, I tried to get on their site to pay my bill. But they had just shut down for maintenance!

Now, I will admit, I have procrastinated in the past, and sometimes the 'dates' just plain got away from me and I have often paid my bill just before the deadline (online) with no problem, so I had no idea they were going to do this. Who is "they" you might wonder? AT&T Wireless! And the bills for a LARGE number of their cell phone (and Internet) customers is due by midnight on the 9th of the month. So shutting down their site for 'Scheduled Maintenance' just before the deadline for everyone to make their payments just doesn't make sense! When you click on the page to make your payment, here is what you get:

Scheduled Maintenance

myAT&T will be temporarily 

unavailable at the following times:

All customers: Between 9:00 p.m. 

CT Saturday, June 9 and 5:00 p.m.

CT Sunday, June 10

That is just wrong!! I am sure that, right now, there are tons of customers trying to beat the deadline to get their phone bills paid online at the last minute. In most places, it is after hours and the stores won't be open to make a payment. I tried to pay by phone, but that is closed, too (*729 - I had never done that before and didn't realize I could). So tons of customers will now have LATE FEES!

AT&T could have picked any time and day of the month to shut that portion of their site down for 'scheduled maintenance', but I find it odd that they chose the time just before the payment deadline for millions of their customers! I have NO DOUBT but that this was PURPOSELY done to rack up a  BUNCH of extra cash in late fees!!!!  And for those whose phones get turned off, there will be extra HUGE fees to get their phones turned back on. I don't know if their little 'note' on their site was posted in advance, or not, but that argument won't hold up as, obviously, most people don't get on there just to browse around. Most people won't get on the site until they are ready to pay their bill, and they know that.

I fully believe that this was a well planned out, crooked scheme by ATT to literally steal extra money from their customers. And we are left with no choice but to pay up or walk away. And for those of us that have had our phones for many, many years, have businesses attached to the number, and/or are in bad health and depend on having our phone on us at all times for emergency sake, a lapse in cell phone service and/or change in providers could be devastating. Yep, AT&T knew exactly what they were doing with their cleverly timed and so-called "scheduled maintenance". Someone there realized how much money a scheme like this could bring in and seized the opportunity. Is it legal? MAYBE   Is it crooked? YOU BET!!! And I absolutely DETEST any business that hides behind 'legal' to CROOKEDLY swindle people for their financial gain! ! ! ! ! ! !  Oh, yes, and here is the other message you get when you try to pay your bill tonight:

We are enhancing your online experience, and our systems are temporarily unavailable. Please try again after Sunday, June 10th at 5 p.m. CT. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Don't you just love that word "enhancing" they use?  It could easily be changed to "gouging"!

I have had my phone service with AT&T for well over 10 years now and have always made my payments. They; however, have not held up their end with good service. My phone service often goes down for hours at a time, sometimes even days, which hurts my business, but I am still expected to make my full payment. Reception is so lousy that often times I can't hold a conversation with anyone. Calls constantly drop, which often causes enormous problems, yet I still have to make my full payment on time. When you try and hold a lengthy conversation during peek times, your call is dropped after a set amount of time, with great difficulty (if not impossible) to reconnect. All this, alone, is crooked and wrong, NOW THIS NEW SCAM THEY HAVE COME UP WITH!!!  And it is a terrible shame that they will probably get away with it!!!!  I need my phone, and changed phone companies would be a great hardship, as it would be very difficult to get a new number out to all of my customers ..... but I have had more than enough!!!! I can't hold reception long enough half or more of the time anyway to hold a conversation with my customers, friends and family. So, if they end up turning my phone off before they are open somewhere to take my payment, I WON'T GO THROUGH THE PROCESS AND COST OF HAVING IT TURNED BACK ON!!!!  I will simply seize the opportunity of taking up my service with a new provider and be DONE with ATT once and for all! It will take some time and work to get a new number out to everyone I need to, and I might lose a few sales in the process, but in the end, I have no doubt but that it would be WELL WORTH IT!!!