"The same old New AT&T, little has changed" followup

This is a follow up to "The same old New AT&T, little has changed" muttering I posted here in early February, exactly a lunar cycle ago. Since my last muttering on this subject, I reluctantly paid the AT&T - Cingular overcharges, but I am not quite willing put this incident to rest yet. It should be noted that the new statement from AT&T did not reflect any credits, not even the $50 disgruntled customer credit that had been offered.

On the way home the other day, I went by the Cingular shop where this all began, only to find it is now a T-Mobile shop. I stopped in to find the same owner operator, and asked him what happened to Cingular. He told me that when AT&T took over he dropped them like a rock. When I pushed him for a reason, he would only say that he did not agree with the New AT&T quota system that expected him to push extra services and packages that the customer often did not need or want. He refused to treat his customers that way. When I dropped the line "We don't card, we don't have to care, we are the phone company", he chuckled and said exactly.

Last night on the TV news I saw a piece about AT&T raising the rates on directory assistance to $1.75 per number. If you call 411 (directory assistance) and ask about more than one number, then each number will be charged separately. So the old rule of a 3 number limit per call seems to have been raised, now asking about 4 numbers will now cost you $7 on your phone bill for the single 411 call.