BellSouth: Deceiving Their Customers?

I have a complaint about BellSouth. Whenever you have services added to your bill, it should be mandatory that the additional fees and charges outside of their package costs be quoted with the package costs. Representitives (telemarketers) for BellSouth have contacted my parents and recently an aunt, advertising "specials" for service packages like Complete Choice or their new unlimited long distance service. With BellSouth being a legitimate company, the service packages sound reasonable. What these "representatives" fail to mention is that there are access and service fees added afterward. My parents and aunt were quoted package prices like $34.00 or $49.95. My parents got sticker shock when they received their phone bill and called BellSouth to have the new service package removed from their bill. They were so angry by what happened that they demanded that no one representing BellSouth was to ever call them again about new special features. As for my aunt, I explained to her about how much her bill would really be after all the other fees, and she told me she was calling BellSouth to cancel her order.

This has happened to me as well when I have called a customer service representative of BellSouth to have services added to phone and was informed about special service group packages available to save me money. That's all well and good, but the representative alluded that my final cost would be the cost of the package. These representatives have access to my account, so I should be truthfully quoted a final cost what my bill will be after the upgrade. How bad can the difference be? For example, I have the Complete Choice plan, advertised at $34.00 a month. Sounds reasonable. So why is my monthly bill around $57.00 a month without long distance calls? Well, factor in Federal Universal Service charges ($.67), FCC Local Number Portability Line Charges ($.35), FCC Charge for Network Access for Additional Line ($7.00), unlisted phone fee ($3.50), Emergency 911 Charge ($1.50), Telecommunications Relay Service Fund ($.15), and Equipment Maintenance Fee ($4.75). Even though two of the fees are optional (unlisted phone number and equipment maintenance fees), you get the idea.

As far as I'm concerned, that is a deceptive business practice, and it would be in BellSouth's best interest to rethink their tactics. At one time, they were the only local phone service available in our area, but new companies are expanding their service areas and could give BellSouth (and the other Baby Bell companies) a run for their money.