Subject: AT&T and MCI long distance rates -- special rates for me.
James Love (love@cptech.org)
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 15:34:00 -0400
Message-Id: <35D885A8.EB993025@cptech.org> Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 15:34:00 -0400 From: James Love <love@cptech.org> To: Roundtable <roundtable@cni.org> Subject: AT&T and MCI long distance rates -- special rates for me.
One reason not to permit mergers of long distance companies is to give
consumers some practical choice when the telephone company can't get its
bills right. Here are the charges on my July 26, 1998 Bell Atlantic
bill for long distance calls.
Long distance rates....
MCI - my primary carrier. I had contracted for MCI's best calling plans
for domestic and internatinal calls. My calls to Switzerland and France
should have been billed at $.29 per minute.
Minutes Charge $ per Min
Switzerland 15 $26.74 $ 1.78
1 5.04 5.04
1 5.04 5.04
2 6.59 2.52
1 5.04 5.04
1 5.04 5.04
France 1 4.96 4.96
25 40.24 1.61
NYC 1 2.87 2.87
Bellevue 10 6.30 .630
2 3.25 1.625
On a July trip around the world, I used my AT&T calling card a few
times. These were my charges, after I called the local AT&T number, to
prevent being ripped off.
Calling From Minutes $ $ per min
Australia 3 10.19 $3.40
New Zealand 2 9.40 $4.70
20 42.52 $2.16
AT&T has agreed to re-rate the calls and credit my account on my next
bill. MCI said Bell Atlantic would "recourse" my MCI calls at the
correct rate. Bell Atlantic instead simply offered a 67 percent credit
on my MCI cards, for a credit of $79.80. I accepted this, rather than
spend several more hours talking with billing staffers and listening to
voice mail.
jamie
-- James Love, Consumer Project on Technology P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036 202.387.8030; f 202.234.5176 http://www.cptech.org/, mailto:love@cptech.org
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