North-side Retiree Takes On AT&T, Wins
Tuesday, August 26, 2008—For months, Rosemary Whelan paid AT&T for phone services she thought were canceled. She even put up with a broken Caller ID service that still showed up on her bill. But when her monthly payment hit a staggering $107, the north-side retiree decided she had enough.

“They were charging me way too much and there were a lot of things on my bill that I didn’t pay attention to that I’ve had for a long time,” Whelan said.

Whelan called the company to cancel the services, but her efforts were fruitless.

“I called them once and they said they would handle it but nobody did,” Whelan said.

That’s a familiar story for Sandra Marcelin-Reme, CUB’s director of consumer advocacy. She said it’s very easy for customers to pay way too much for unused and unnecessary services.

“No matter how informed the consumer might be, the Customer Service Representative will try to sell the most expensive plan possible,” Marcelin-Reme said. “Whether it’s tacking on expensive features to a basic service plan or overloading the consumer with information, the Customer Service Representatives are looking to earn more bonuses for themselves rather than finding the best plan for customers.”

Whelan decided to call CUB. Marcelin-Reme immediately coordinated a three-way call among herself, Whelan and an AT&T representative, resulting in big savings for Whelan. Her bill was cut nearly in half.

“She was able to save me quite a bit of money on my bill,” Whelan wrote in a letter to CUB. “She went out of her way to help me.”

For now, Whelan has advice for people with similar problems with their phone bills: “Call somebody that will help because you don’t get too far with the telephone companies.”

Whelan decided to give back to CUB for the friendly help she received.

“Just this one service was worth my $25 donation,” Whelan wrote.

Marcelin-Reme is glad she can help but knows that CUB will be helping many others just like Whelan fight for fair utility service in the future.

“I’m glad that folks have a place independent of the utility companies to sort that out for them,” Marcelin-Reme said.

Whelan is glad too.