Does AT&T have hidden fees?
The object of the current assignment is AT&T Internet which is among the largest telecommunication companies in the US that offers such services as mobile phone, internet service, and television services to millions of clientele. However, many consumers have been dissatisfied in the past with additional charges and service fees not mentioned at the time of agreeing to the contract and some have even claimed that AT&T’s charges contain hidden fees In this blog post I will discuss some of the fees that a customer can come across and if they can be considered as hidden fees.
Administrative Fees
Among all the fees charged by AT&T, another one that continues to attract attention is the administrative fee. This is a monthly fee that AT&T levies to recover certain overhead expenses incurred in rendering and or maintaining your AT&T services. The fee amount can vary but it is usually $1.99 per month, or 3% of the deposit, whichever is higher. While it is true that AT&T does declare the administrative fee in its terms and conditions, there is a feeling of being hoodwinked because the fee is charged as a line item automatically and is not directly related to the services provided. Although it is legal to refer to these compulsory charges as ‘administrative’ when, in fact, they fund more than mere administrative expenses, is misleading.
Activation/Upgrade Fees
There is also a tendency for the firm to charge its consumers the activation fees when one opens a new line of service and the upgrade fees when a new phone is dished out into the market. An activation fee is about $30 per line, and an upgrade fee is $45. AT&T makes it easy to be aware of these fees as they are stated towards the time of ordering a new line or upgrading to a new service. However, some customers think that carriers do advertise low service prices, but they fail to mention that you will be charged another price for it, so they make you think it’s one thing when in actual sense it is something else. They are also mostly minor upgrades where little or no “activation” is done by AT&T to the consumer’s displeasure.
Early Termination Fees
For the wireless service, you may desire to cancel before the contractual term elapses in this case, you will incur early termination fees. This is quite common in the industry to lock the users into long-term contracts and to discourage them from leaving shortly after signing a contract, AT&T’s ETF begins at $180 + any amounts owing on the device. Critics claim this ties customers down too heavily with the contract. And if you bought a device on an installment plan over a couple of years but you decide to switch to another carrier and leave AT&T, you have 30 days to pay the remaining balance or else you continue paying a monthly fee for the device, even at AT&T.
Internet Equipment Fees
In case you decide to use AT&T’s internet services, you do not have to own your modem/router; you will need to lease it from the company. This fee for equipment rental is $10 monthly at the moment. This information is not publicized anywhere because it is well hidden in the detailed and complex conditions that come with the advertisement. Critics have claimed that AT&T does this on purpose in an attempt to mask the actual cost of a service. So even instances where you are allowed to use your modem are limited, much to the chagrin of value-conscious customers.
International Roaming Charges
Among all the fees charged by AT&T, it is possible to distinguish those that are unexpectedly high – these are fees for international roaming while traveling in a foreign country. While AT&T does have plans to avoid these high roaming charges which include international data packages, one can still read daily about travelers who arrive at their home city to find $1000+ bills for a short stay because of international voice, text, and data charges when usage is over the limited amounts included. Looking at the published tariff list of AT&T, it is evident that costs start from $10 per minute for talk time and $20 per MB for unrestricted data. This aspect alone makes monitoring impossible, yet overage warnings by text don’t provide details of the excesses as well. While these may be proclaimed as publicized, most people view such rates and practices as unfair and hidden.
Winding down this analysis of various fees that are either clear or hidden within AT&T’s services, it is clear that they put up the overall real cost of various services, in contrast to the ad gimmick of low monthly recurring charges. This way, AT&T can offer and bill customers the contract prices while at the same time charging them other hidden fees that are lower than the initial advertised prices. While all these charges may be relatively small, customers can incur higher actual bills by the end of the month. Thus, although AT&T can officially disclose the various forms of account fees to the public, mixed signals result in some customers experiencing deceit any time new charges are introduced or the actual cost is more than anticipated. Given how many people experience this, AT&T might help itself and its customers if it looks anew at fee structures and how it announces changes to customers.
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