Admittedly this belongs in a consumer watchdog type forum. Arguably this appears to be a truth that needs to be known.
A Southwestern Bell retired employee told me that SW Bell's billing department personnel cannot remove erroneous charges against subscribers because
the capability to do so is omitted from their computer software at the billing department employee workstations. Instead (as I found out
while "fighting" with them for over a year) they simply wear down the caller by passing his call from employee to employee.
The only ways to resolve erroneous billing is to either write to the CEO of SBC Com or go to small claims court. The incident I described happened a
few years ago.
Having worked at a call center for a telecom company I can back up your claim. Although the ability to refund fees assed to an account is not
something my company disabled for reps such as myself (although it did monitor them), the ability to remove that feature would have been very
useful.
I'm sorry you had to deal with so much strife just to get your money back.
Interesting. I beleive it. They are masters at giving you the run-around and making you wish you never called, or making you want to absorb the
losses just to be rid of the problem.