Posted 9/10:
I'm a long-time DirecTV and AT&T wireless customer. Thought I "save time and money" and add "convenience" by combining my accounts. BIG MISTAKE!!! Imagine my surprise when I saw that what I previously paid $220 a month for (combined), I now was being billed $510!!!!! And, to add insult to injury, I was informed that I was $450 past due!!!! I wasted two (2) hours on the phone with "custmer service" (located in the Phillipines), wasted another hour in one AT&T store, and then spent an additional two (2) hours in an AT&T corporate store trying to sort this all out. Bottom line: Although I am being told the supposed amounts that I owe to DirecTV and AT&T (and these amounts are questionable), there are no printed bills available to support this information. What's more, no one seems to know when these bills will be available for viewing and validation!!!
So, I requested that my accounts be "ununified". That was completed more than an hour ago. Since then, I've been on the phone with the Digital Assistance Center trying to restore my online accounts. But it seems that they're experiencing technical difficulties that are preventing me from re-establishing my DirecTV account. And on, and on, and on.
Take my advice: DO NOT UNIFY ANY ACCOUNTS. THE $120/YEAR SAVINGS IS JUST NOT WORTH THE PAIN AND AGGREVATION.
And here's my message to AT&T: Shame on you for causing a loyal customer all of this unnecessary anguish!!!!
Update, 9/17:
And the saga continues. In trying to resolve my particular de-unification situation, it literally took me five (5) days, visits to two different AT&T stores, a minimum of 50 phone calls, and at least 15 hours on the phone before I reached someone (Sunday night) who understood what had happened (bless you, Krista), and was able to annotate the details of the problem, and then submit an escalated and urgent support ticket.
Apparently, rather than restore my existing wireless-account number, the "tech" in the Phillipines who separated my accounts created a new wireless account and neglected to remove the "anchor" (unified) account. As a result, I now have four (4) active accounts: three (3) for wireless and one (1) for DirecTV. While I was able to pay my most recent wireless bill while on the phone with Krista, I still have no DirecTV bill (which is theoretically due next week) and no way to access it if, indeed, there was one to view. And, I was just notified that I have bill for the second wireless account!!!!
In the meantime, someone called me Tuesday evening to ask if I now was able to access my AT&T account -- which, of course, was never the problem. I gave her my case number and told her to go read all the notes.
Krista said it would take about five (5) days for everything to be fixed, but it's now day #4, and really have little confidence that this will happen. I'll probably have to spend yet another 10 hours on the phone trying to find out what the current status is. Fortunately, I have Krista's employee ID numbers -- two of them, of course -- one for AT&T and one for DirecTV!!!!
I think it's time to file a class-action suit.