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CBS Report: AT&T, DirecTV Have History of Over-Charging
A new CBS report claims that AT&T and DirecTV collectively have a bad habit: advertising one rate, then charging customers significantly more. The news outlet says it said it found more than 4,000 instances of the companies (DirecTV is owned by AT&T) over-charging broadband and TV customers by two or even three times the advertised rate. CBS doesn't really explore the fact that most of this is courtesy of hidden fees intentionally used to falsely advertise a lower rate. CBS does however correctly note many of these users aren't technically able to sue the company, courtesy of binding arbitration language buried in consumer contracts, something only made possible courtesy of AT&T's 2011 Supreme Court win.

Most recommended from 22 comments


stephend2
join:2012-11-22
Belzoni, MS

7 recommendations

stephend2

Member

"What you pay" should be the advertised...

I'll preface with this is a plug for my company, but this model has worked extremely well for us.

»belzonicable.com

Everything we do is advertised as what you pay. We advertise expanded basic cable tv for $65, it includes tax and franchise. No bs fees or anything else.

Our internet includes a wireless gateway or standard modem your choice no extra charge.

Our pricing is simple and our customers tell us that we offer the best customer service they ever experienced. We may not have every latest and greatest technology. We are just now launching digital tv this year, but 80% market penetration doesn't lie. We stay on top of what our customers actually want as far as video programming and make changes based on those surveys as contracts allow.

More providers should look at doing it this way but investors won't hear it. It's all about arpu everything else be damned. We keep our prices low and make up for it in the volume of business we do. We may not have the best tv lineup but it's priced right. We do have internet cornered here, att max here is 18/1.5....

battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000

5 recommendations

battleop

Member

It's not over charging...

It's not over charging, it false adverting. Call it what it is.
microphone
Premium Member
join:2009-04-29
Parkville, MD

4 recommendations

microphone

Premium Member

It's time that Cable/Satellite advertise more realistic total pricing

1) Advertised price should be for a common configuration. If most people are needing 2 HD boxes with DVR capability on 1 than maybe the advisement price reflect these items?

2) Why are the broadcast and regional sports fees extra line items if we cannot opt out of these services? (Although come to think of it, wasn't broadcast tv an add on for satellite tv at one point?)

Estimating the final monthly rate reminds me of the car sales man punching in all the additional fees on the adding machine. You go in with a plan of spending $300 a month and it ends up being $400 a month.

Anon154b7
@myvzw.com

3 recommendations

Anon154b7

Anon

Overcharging

Don't forget, at&t was fined for overcharging schools in Florida, blind people assistance, etc. They claimed their outside plant records were grossly wrong in other lawsuits so as to blame a tower company for doing what at&t told them to do.

Who is actually running this company? Is it a purely criminal organization or just improperly managed, or incompetent?

Packeteers
Premium Member
join:2005-06-18
Forest Hills, NY
Asus RT-AC3100
(Software) Asuswrt-Merlin

2 recommendations

Packeteers

Premium Member

unintentional?

i blame poor rushed programming. when i did the 3 month dtvn deal online registration, the price was wrong despite having a code,

but there was a support chat link to a human who reviewed my account application and then manually adjusted the rate on the spot.

the squeaky wheel gets the grease

SuperSpy
join:2012-06-15
Coldwater, MI

2 recommendations

SuperSpy

Member

inb4

"Oops, due to 'routing issues' we 'accidentally' blackholed cbs.com while simultaneously having satellite signal issues that caused all cbs broadcast channels to go dark."