Disputing your cell phone bill can be one big hassle of a procedure and can interrupt an entire morning or afternoon trying to get everything squared away to your liking. There are quite a few ways to go about this, and I want to show you the ways to do it that will hopefully help you get everything you want without having to jump through hoops of fire to get it.
Your initial two choices are calling customer service or walking into the local cell phone store. Whichever you decide you must at all costs remain calm the entire time this is especially true if you are face to face with an employee. Please remember this employee did not mess up your bill, did not make those calls, download those songs, or message anyone from your phone. They simply work at the cell phone store. For the most part going to the cell phone store is the least recommended way to get your bill squared away. Due to privacy provisions within many of the major cell phone carriers, sale associates can usually see a lot less than what you can see on a normal bill and sometimes can not see anything at all related to billing.
Now depending on your situation, it may have been a computer mix-up which leaves no one at fault. These situations are usually handled rather quickly and without incident when calling customer service. Those problems are the easiest such as suddenly seeing an entirely different account on your bill that’s a computer mix up.
Though, from my experience, most disputed bills are caused by someone within the account doing stuff they shouldn’t be doing. Like text messaging, downloading ringtones, etc. This is not a computer problem. It’s also not the customer service representatives’ fault. This is your fault. Yes, I dare say you are at fault for this billing discrepancy. Which is why I say remain calm at all times.
It is not the responsibility of the cell phone provider to alert you that one of your phones is downloading ringtones at an alarming rate; they assume you are aware of this activity. The same goes for text messaging. They assume you know it’s happening and with good reason. It is your responsibility to know what features charge a fee. It is also your responsibility to tell everyone on your account what they can and can not do. Your cell phone provider can not punish your teenage children because they text day and night.
With that said when you call customer service. Remain calm and tell them everything that has happened and how you were unaware of the activity on your account. Let them know the situation has been dealt with at home, if this was someone else causing such charges and not you. Make sure to have them block such features from the offending phone or the entire account. At this point is when you should question about a full or partial credit on your bill due to the circumstances. Be sure to stress that you were unaware of such activity for the length of the billing cycle and that you could and would have done something to prevent any more charges from occurring weeks ago had you known what was happening prior to the billing cycle ending.
Most of the time, something can be worked out where they will grant you some sort of credit on your bill because you are a customer in good standing and have been very calm and understanding regarding the procedures needed to educate yourself on these features and how to block them. You being calm will make the customer service representative calm and happy to help you out anyway they can.
Should they be unwilling to assist you in providing a credit on your next bill, feel free at this point to thank them for helping you out and ask to speak to a supervisor. When you are transferred be sure to praise the representative that you just spoke with. This will build rapport and make your chances that much greater of receiving a credit on your next bill.
On top of everything, everyone will walk away happy and you won’t turn into one of those horror stories you hear about where someone called screaming, threatening everyone they talked to. You’ll be one of the good guys or girls and still have gotten what you wanted.