A year ago in March, I signed up for the SBCYahoo DSL service. A month ago (no date on the letter), I received a letter from them saying I had until March 31st to decide whether or not to renew. The renewal rate is to be $29.99 a month for a year.

So, my life has been pretty busy. My dad died in February and a lot of other stuff was coming down on my head. Fast forward to this morning. I get the letter out and renew online. Then, this afternoon, I get my telephone bill and they already are charging me the $49.95 rate for the month of March! I called and asked what was up and they informed me that because my year contract was up on March 4th, I was bumped to the higher rate at that time! They will "eventually" give me a year at the $29.95 rate, but it will depend on when the work order gets inputted... I could get charged for 3 months at the higher rate before that is accomplished!!! They will not prorate until the charge change is actually in the system. And, there is nothing I can do about it...since I renewed this morning, I will have a $200 early cancelation fee if I cancel now. Man, they got me coming and going! -mad-

Your renewal is a contract and you have 24 or more hours to recind it depending on your state. Call them and tell them you want to cancel if they do not give you the promotion you were promised.

After reading the SBC/Yahoo TOS you also have two options available to you. You can either call their corporate offices and demand that they honor the written offer that the $29 price for a 1 year contract was valid until 3/31 and you accepted it before that date. Or you can cancel the new service you signed up for today as the $49 price they have charged you means that they have converted you to a month to month service for the month of March and have already charged you for it.Therfore your service you signed up for today does not begin until NEXT month as you have already paid for 1 month of month to month service. If next months bill is still at the $49 cost then they have failed to honor their end of the contract (1 year at $29/month) and you can then cancel with no early termination fee. It could be argued that they would owe you $200 for not honoring their own agreement with you.

I used to work for Ameritech before it became SBC and still have many friends who still work for them. Even though SBC's customer service is terrible compared to Ameritech, they still tell me that if you go corporate they will honor your request. The corporate number is in the SBC phonebook, ask for the office of the president and you'll get one of his administrative assistants.

The guy I got today got a bit flustered. I said the "f" word when I found out I could be paying the $49.95 rate for up to 3 months. He was trying to explain that the FCC and the PUC require them to only have a 1 year contract and if they back dated the contract, the "FUC...now you have me doing it!" I just had to laugh!!

He did put a note in my file and since I signed up online, he felt they "might" be able to backdate to today. We will see. I am planning on writing the company a letter of complaint because the letter I received from them has no date on it at all, including the envelope. It was deceptive for them to allow me to sign up after my year was up and to still call it an 'valued customer offer.' I have another word for it...

Thanks for the ideas.