AT&T and DirecTV face thousands of complaints linked to overcharging, promotions

Publishers Notes: This is a very interesting article. If you're an AT&T customer dealing with Dish TV you know exactly what this article is talking about. We have experienced the most incredible situation with them at one of my properties and frankly we are getting ready to cancel them completely. Our rates fluctuate by the month. We pay directly through a credit card, they ignore the payment and then send up a bill for late fees in the hundreds of dollars. They fight you to no end claiming it is our fault, yet they admit they have our direct payment in their records. You spend hours fighting them, taking names and notes only to get another bill the next month where they completely lied and the fees keep piling up. Have you had the same problem?

NEW YORK -- Gary Raia signed up for an AT&T promotion -- internet and DirecTV for around a $100 a month for two years. When his first bill in July was nearly double that, he complained to AT&T.

"Every month you open up your envelope and you go, 'OK, what's the surprise this month?'"

"As I am talking to them, I get on the internet and I look at the special," Raia told CBS News. "Their special is $99.99 and I say, 'can you just look at the internet?'"

Months later, he was still paying a lot more.

"That tells me that they're cheating people," he said.

In an AT&T commercial a voiceover can be heard advertising: The bundle price you sign up for is guaranteed to stay the same price for two years.

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