AT&T Wireless charged me $1881.97! Please help!

Message

compL33Tazn · #1 Post by **compL33Tazn** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 1:55 am

I got my AT&T wireless bill today and I was charged almost $2000 for using the internet. I looked over the bill, and there were occasions where it says I had used 78MB of data at one time. I'm certain I did not use the internet service to that extent (let alone use it at all.)
My leading suspicion to how this happened regards the layout of my phone. I have a Sony Ericsson W580i, which can easily access the internet even in my pocket. Of course I can key lock the phone, but the unlock buttons are close to each other, thus it's likely the phone can accidentally unlock itself, for example, in your pocket. Also near the unlock keys is a button that accesses the internet. So there's a pretty high chance of the phone accessing the internet and using up data without my knowledge. In fact multiple times I've taken my phone out my pocket and noticed the web being displayed. But can this happen to the point of using up 188MB (188197KB) of data, and using 78MB at one time? Supporting my theory are customer reviews I found. Quite a few W580i users have complained about the phone accessing the internet easily.
Obviously I did not use $1882 of internet, so I want the charge canceled. AT&T was called, and I suggested my theory, though they say it's impossible for the phone to access the internet by itself, even though it's happened before to me and other users. What should I do? My first priority is to get my money back.

I7Iz490N · #2 Post by **I7Iz490N** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:57 pm

#3 Post by **palmboy5** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:02 am

LOL but his phone's data transfer log matches the bill.

Directive · #4 Post by **Directive** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 7:08 pm

Sounds like a bit of a pickle your in. Talking to a lawyer may help, even it's just informative. I do want to tell you, if youe knew about how easy it was for the phone to do that, you should have gotten a different phone. Best you can do is try and dispute the charges. Like a fraud report for unauthorized charges, if they have anything like that. If you speak to the right people, and "intelligently" bitch the right way then they may give in a discount or erase the charges. That would be total customer support on there part, not policy. Then again, IMHO, I think using the web on a cell phone is useless. I have an LG VX8300 and I love it. When I lock the phone you need a 4 digit code to unlock it. Which sounds better then what you have. It has an 1100mAh battery so I mostly plug it in about once a week. Not sure how it is on the west coast but here in NY Verizon has the best coverage. Not too many places to go without a signal. I do use the camera rarely and I text message everyday. There is a few leads, hope it helps and walk away minimally damaged. Other then that you may be stuck with a huge bill. Let us know how it turns out for ya.

compL33Tazn · #5 Post by **compL33Tazn** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 6:08 pm

I found out why I was charged that extensively. Although the button layout did charge me small amounts (like 5KB at a time), I was charged 2000$ for tethering. Whenever I charge my phone via USB, and my internet disconnects, my PC would start using my phone's internet without my knowledge. And one occurrence, I was using BT... on my phone's internet.