So I get a shut off notice in the mail for my Cingular phone (formerly AT&T) today. Makes no sense, there is no way i owe them $341, that's like seven months, and I paid it last month.

Go look at the bill, and on May first, at lunch time, there are two calls. One to my house for 6 hours and one minute, and at the same time one to my office for six hours and four minutes. Half of the first one put me over the minutes for the billing period, so on that bill there were $237.43 in extra charges.

I call, and I'm batted around like a tennis ball. Over an hour later I've been told the calls are legitimate. I try explaining I can't make a six hour call with my phone, the battery doesn't last that long. I'm told it will if it's charged, or if I have it plugged in. I explain to them I use a desk charger, and I'm not going to call my desk from my desk for six hours, and if I was calling home the answering machine would hang up after 5 minutes.

I'm told I'm lying, they will credit me $100. Back and forth. Off to a supervisor, to tell me I'm lying, I did in fact make both calls (never mind there were other calls within the next six hours, and I can't make four calls at once to the same number, I don't even have call waiting at home, all I would get is a busy signal).

Off to customer service, who again tells me I'm lying.

I've never gone over my minutes. I've never had any call over ten minutes. all of a sudden I take to six hour calls to an empty house? I'm told I can accept the measly credit they are offering, or pay it in full. We are still over $100 different in where I think the bill should be and where they think it should be.

I insist to speak to somebody else, and I'm bounced to the resolution department. I'm thinking, that's getting someplace, they resolve things. We start off the same way because before they transfer you they make you wait five minutes and tell the next person that you are a liar and to screw you over good. I get on the phone with them, and they go off for a few minutes and come back all appologetic. Apparently, on May 1, there was a billing issue from within my calling area (would have been manhattan) and many people were billed for six hour calls that they didn't make.

They will issue me a credit. For how much? We don't know it will be on your next bill. Will it stop the shut off? Sure, ignore that don't worry about it.

I call the shut off people in the Receivables Managment area, and I'm told no, it won't stop the shut off, that the customer service side says that just to get you to hang up, I have to file a dispute with them too, and I'll get another ten days for the credits to come through. And no, you can't do that tonight, our system is down, so can you call back tomorrow?

So check your bills if you were in the area for that day, you don't want 12 hours of calls at 45 cents per minute.