AT&T Phone Upgrading?

Can a Phone Company Charge You for Upgrading your Phone Box Because the Phone was Not Working?

• My father received a $200 charge on his credit card from the phone company Frontier. Frontier said that the charge was the result of an upgrade to our phone box at the request of the user. We did not call to have the phone box upgraded. We did make a call to report that our home phones did not have service. Can they make this upgrade & charge us without telling us this was going to happen? We didn't even know they had made an upgrade until my dad saw the charge and inquired about it. Also, isn't it up to them to upgrade the phone box at their expense since we are using their service? Thanks for any help!

• Answer:

  when you called repair, the rep on the phone stated any possible charges that would occur if the trouble was inside your home.. they have to, they all do it... if the tech made any repairs on the inside of your home - or if something inside of your home is what was causing the trouble - even if the tech did not make repairs, you would be responsible for any charges related to dispatching the tech out to your home... if the trouble was outside your home then there should be no charges associated with the visit or repair... if the "phone box" that you are talking about is a jack inside your home, then charges would apply.. if the "phone box" that you are referring to is the NID/DEMARC/TNI or whatever else your phone company calls it (the main box where the phone service comes to your home - this is telephone company equipment, and is the responsibility of the phone company to repair or replace, and you should not be charged for the repairs. if it is some kind of hardware inside your home bought from your phone company (a VoIP adapter, modem, etc.) that is out of warranty then you would be responsible for any replacement costs and the tech visit... if however this equipment was rented or leased from the phone company for an additional monthly fee, then it should be the phone companies responsibility to replace the defective equipment.. what exactly was fixed or repaired? was it inside or outside of your home? Edit If that is the case then I would dispute the charges and possibly file a complaint with the psc.