Hello Kossacks, I need a little help. Four days ago I paid my phone bill thru my cell phone. I had an extension payment of $143.00 which I agreed to pay (my total bill was $525.00). Following the automated prompt, when asked what amount I wanted to pay, I clearly said $143.00. The amount AT&T deducted was $525.00.
I didn’t realize this error until the next day. I immediately called AT&T and spoke to someone telling them they had deducted the wrong amount — that I clearly said I wanted to pay $143.00 but At&T took too much money from my bank account. The person was very helpful and she said no worries — she would cancel that payment right away since it was still “pending” and hadn’t yet been processed by my bank. She told me I still needed to pay the $143.00, which I then did. Whew, disaster averted.
Later that evening, I received an email alert from my bank saying that my account was below $500.00. What???! I went online to check & sure enough it was true. Not only that — but AT&T now had TWO payments pending. They had charged me for both payments. I called my bank and explained the situation and they said no problem — they would put a stop payment on the $525.00 since it was still in the pending category but it would cost me a $30.00 fee to do so. Okay, fine.
The next morning, I checked my bank account — the two payments were still pending. And NOW there was a $30.00 stop payment included as well. Upset, I called the bank and spoke to a different person who told me that whoever I’d spoken to the day before had told me wrong because the bank couldn’t stop a payment that had been made with a debit card. I had never been told that. But you charged me $30.00, I said. He apologized and said he would remove that fee. Okay, but what about the 2 payments? I told him I needed that $525.00 canceled. He told me I’d have to take that up with AT&T. When I told him I’d spoken to them the day before and AT&T said since they could see it was pending & not cashed they canceled it. The guy at the bank put me on hold forever only to come back and tell me that the $525.00 was no longer pending & had been put thru. As well as the $143.00 payment.
I was so frustrated — I told him things were going to bounce if this didn’t get straightened out asap & then I’d have even more fees. He said he would put a note on my account as to what was going on and that they would hold bounce fees for a couple days but he reiterated that I needed to take it up with AT&T, which I did.
AT&T assured me that they had already canceled the $525.00 payment. I even spoke to a supervisor, who told me the same thing. I told them what the bank said and asked if they would hold on while I got my bank on the line because I needed this situation handled immediately. They said yes & I called my bank. Unfortunately, I was in an automated queue and told I had 18 people in front of me. I hung up & went back to the AT&T call and they said try calling them again tomorrow. I asked the agent if I could make an appointment for a specific time so I could call them back with the bank on the line but they said they didn’t make appointments.
Without dragging you back and forth thru more drama, suffice it to say that as of today, the situation has not yet been resolved. I’m sure it eventually will be and I’m not letting up until it does. However, in the meantime, this is really messing me up and putting my finances in a bind.
I am a 70 year old widow living in a senior apartment building. My only income is social security. My rent is $1,650.00 and it’s due in a couple days — July 15th (which I can pay on Monday since the 15th falls on a Sunday). I have only around $1,180.00 in another account which I’m holding onto for my rent & a few groceries. I cannot access money from my main account because of the mess I described above.
So, the amount I need right now is $525.00 to cover the erroneous AT&T charge, $206.00 for 2 automated payments I know are coming in early next week as well as $60.00 for two bounce fees (in case that does actually happen), and $100.00 for groceries until I get my next social security check at the beginning of August. The total needed is $891.00.
Please, please help if you possibly can, no matter how small the amount — every little bit will help. You can send money via PayPal at cheryl@cheryldanielsart.com. The account is in my husband’s name, Sean Devoreaux. THANK YOU very much in advance!
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