I ordered a new telephone line on January 14, 2004 from SBC California for my apartment in Los Angeles, using a public phone. During the call, after being questioned and found eligible, I was suggested by the operator to apply for Universal Lifeline service in order to have discounted rates, which I did.

In February, when I received my first bill from SBC California, I also received a letter dated February 24, 2004 saying that, since SBC did not receive my response to their recent mailing asking to confirm eligibility for Universal Lifeline service, they changed my service to a non-discounted type of service and they also charged me for all the related installation costs, re-rating fees and taxes on the following bill.   I NEVER received such a mailing from SBC California.  So I called SBC California and explained the situation, but they said it appeared to them that their mailing had been sent.

Since obviously I could not prove the contrary, I had to re-order the convenient Universal Lifeline service again paying for that and for the above mentioned charges -- a total of $53.39 in addition to the other phone services and traffic costs on my second bill.

On March, 2004 I received a confirmation letter dated March 1, 2004 saying that the service had been changed as ordered.  This time I also received the 'mailing', which is the pre-printed post card to confirm the eligibility for Universal Lifeline Service.  I filled in the card, signed it and mailed back to SBC California on March 5, 2004 (the 'respond by' time was April 1st 2004.)

On April 13, 2004 I received another letter, dated April 9, 2004 saying that my Universal Lifeline Service had been changed to normal service because SBC did not receive my confirmation and I have been charged again for the associated costs (about $22) in addition to the augmented rates!

I complained again with SBC and ordered -- for the third time -- Universal Lifeline service.  Now I will send back the confirmation card using registered mail with return receipt, IF I do receive that card!

Now, I believe that errors do happen sometimes with the US postal service but I start to suspect that these continuos 'disappearing' are just an excuse SBC uses to rip off people's money in a 'legal' way.

Unfortunately I purchased the SBC/Yahoo internet service bundle linked with the phone line and I cannot change service provider for 12 months or I will have to pay penalties.

If the same thing happened to you and you know exactly what to do, please let me know how or where or with whom can I effectively act to stop this from happening again to anybody.

Thank you,

David Tamagni, davtamag@hotmail.com