Bottom line: AT&T (Bellsouth) "determined" that the line interference came from inside my house and charged me $90 without prior notification. At least, they could have fixed the problem or could have waived the fee because I was loyal customer of theirs for +/- 10 years.

The Full Story: I called AT&T (Bellsouth) about a noise interference on my telephone line and they checked it from their computer and determined there was a legitimate problem with the line, so they told me they would send out a technician to investigate. I have had similar problems with my phone line and they did the same thing. However, this time the technician came out and "determined" the problem was inside the house and left without fixing my line and then I get my bill at the end of the month that included a $90 trouble line determination fee. They never told me that there policy had changed and that I would have to pay this fee (if I didn't already have their "in-home maintence package") before sending out their technician. As you can imagine, I was rather upset about my bill, so I called them to resolve the issue and they offered me 50% reduction if I were to sign up for their "in-home maintence package" that day. I refused their offer because I didn't feel that I was obligated to pay for a service that neither benefited from nor agree to pay for the service beforehand. I then requested to speak with their manager on staff which I refused to sympathize with me. Because of their deceitful business practices and their unwillingness to work with a faithful customer for over 4 years, I told them that they would lose my business. After setup COX internet, I called back AT&T with the intentions to cancel my service. However, the customer representative persuaded me to stay and add the "in-home maintence package" and they would waive the $90 fee already incurred. A month later and the fee was still on my account and now I was paying for an "in-home maintence package" fee. In addition, I was charged late fees for not paying my whole bill. Well, I decided that I had enough and I called them back and confronted them on their customer service and why the $90 fee wasn't waived. They informed me that I could not receive the waiver because I refused their first offer two months earlier. That was it for me and I canceled my service with them at that time.

After placing my complaint with BBB, At&T called in an "attempt" to settle the dispute and here is my response to BBB: AT&T called me up to dispute my complaint and to defend their company business practice with me. I told them that I was not interested in debating the issue (especially being sick), but if he wanted to resolve the complaint I made, they could issue me the refund. However, they were not interested in meeting my request. My complaint is really not about the money, but the principle by which Bellsouth/AT&T has chosen to operate their business. Businesses (and their practices) must be transparent.