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<\/p>\nA Chula Vista family expecting to save money by bundling home internet and cellphone service with AT&T instead found themselves with nearly $3,000 in charges. <\/p>\n
These charges came even after the family said they canceled the deal and returned the equipment within the allowed period.<\/p>\n
After months of trying to resolve the billing dispute, the family turned to NBC 7 Responds for help. AT&T eventually removed the charges and stopped collection proceedings.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jesus Cendejas from Chula Vista describes his frustration when he was unable to resolve a billing issue for a bundle service he no longer had. (NBC 7)<\/p>\n
From a graduation party to a bundle deal<\/p>\n
For Jesus Cendejas, the trouble began in late May, when his family was preparing to celebrate his daughter’s college graduation.<\/p>\n
The tables were set, the buffet was ready, and everything was in place for the celebration. But they encountered a problem, their home internet wasn’t working. <\/p>\n
This left them without access to the projector and music library they planned to use for the party.<\/p>\n
“We didn\u2019t have internet for whatever reason,” Cendejas said. “I thought, maybe I forgot to make the payment because I\u2019m sometimes busy.”<\/p>\n
He visited an AT&T store near his home, where he says an employee explained that the outage was related to a system upgrade in his area.<\/p>\n
The family’s internet service was restored that day, allowing the graduation celebration to go ahead as planned.<\/p>\n
About a week later, an AT&T crew arrived at the family’s home for a scheduled internet upgrade.<\/p>\n
When an AT&T salesperson learned that the family used another company for cellphone service, Cendejas said he was offered a deal to combine the services into one account.<\/p>\n
“I could put a bundle together for your house internet and your cell phones together into one account,” Cendejas said the AT&T salesperson told him. “And then it would be cheaper than $180. And on top of that, I can offer you brand new cell phones for you and the whole family.”<\/p>\n
Cendejas said he understood the offer would save his family about $60 a month while providing new cellphones for everyone.<\/p>\n
He agreed to the deal and paid approximately $230 in sales tax on the phones.<\/p>\n
Unexpected fees and a higher monthly bill<\/p>\n
About a week later, Cendejas discovered the bundle wasn’t costing what he expected.<\/p>\n
In addition to $200 in activation fees, he was facing monthly charges of $236 for cellphone service and $60 for home internet.<\/p>\n
That brought his monthly bill to $296, approximately $116 more than the $180 he believed he had agreed to pay.<\/p>\n
Cendejas contacted the AT&T salesperson who had arranged the deal for clarification.<\/p>\n
“And he said, ‘Oh, it happens all the time. It happens when you open a new account. The new adjustment doesn’t kick in yet. You need to be patient. Give me about a month.'” Cendejas said.<\/p>\n
However, Cendejas said he never received the written confirmation he requested about the promised adjustments.<\/p>\n
Concerned about the unexpected costs, he decided to cancel the bundle and return the phones.<\/p>\n
A race to cancel before the deadline<\/p>\n
Cendejas returned to the AT&T store, where he says he was told he had 14 days to return the equipment and cancel the agreement. He was on the final day of that period.<\/p>\n
“So I called my wife. I called my kids. I called everybody. We had like four hours to return these phones back.” Cendejas said.<\/p>\n
According to Cendejas, an AT&T representative told him the phones could not be returned at the store.<\/p>\n
Instead, he printed a shipping label that he understood would document his cancellation within the allowed period. He shipped the phones two days later.<\/p>\n
Cendejas thought the matter was resolved, but the bills kept coming.<\/p>\n
He said he repeatedly contacted AT&T to dispute the charges, only to find himself having the same conversations with representatives without reaching a resolution.<\/p>\n
“Why are you charging me? Oh, let me make a note right here. Let me talk to somebody. Okay. Thank you very much. All right. And then a week later, guess what? The same phone call,” Cendejas said.<\/p>\n
By August, the amount AT&T was seeking had climbed to $2,963.94.<\/p>\n
Frustrated by the growing balance and lack of resolution on the dispute, Cendejas said he needed help to resolve the matter and called NBC 7 and T20 Responds. <\/p>\n
NBC 7 Responds contacts AT&T<\/p>\n
NBC 7 Responds reached out to AT&T to ask why Cendejas continued to face charges for the phones and bundled services despite his attempts to cancel.<\/p>\n
The company did not explain what caused the billing problem but provided a statement acknowledging the customer’s experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe strive to put customers first and regret the inconvenience this customer experienced. After reviewing the matter, we stopped the collection proceedings and worked directly with him to resolve the matter,” AT&T said.<\/p>\n
Cendejas subsequently received confirmation from AT&T that he had returned the equipment and canceled his services within the company’s buyer’s remorse period.<\/p>\n
As a result, all charges were removed from his account.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
For Cendejas, the resolution brought an end to months of frustration over a bundle that was supposed to save his family money.<\/p>\n
What consumers should know before signing up for a bundle<\/p>\n
Bundling internet, cable and cellphone services can help consumers reduce their monthly bills, but promotional offers may come with conditions, fees and deadlines that aren’t immediately clear.<\/p>\n
The NBC 7 Responds team recommends asking questions and getting the full terms of any promotional offer in writing before agreeing to a new service plan.<\/p>\n
That includes confirming the total monthly cost, any activation fees, the timing of promotional discounts and whether additional charges apply.<\/p>\n
Consumers should also ask about the provider’s buyer’s remorse period, including how long they have to cancel and the required process for returning equipment.<\/p>\n
Keeping written documentation through email or text messages can help establish what was promised if a billing dispute arises.<\/p>\n
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Chula Vista family expecting to save money by bundling home internet and cellphone service with AT&T instead…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[2585,16098,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-494968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-internet","tag-nbc-7-responds","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}