The telephone solicitors for AT&T may lie to you either directly or by omission.

An example of this is a call I received on December 31, 2002 about an overseas calling plan. The representative told me that all calls to Australia would be at a fixed rate of 0.12 cents a minute with no additional charges.

What the representative failed to disclose is if I talked less than 158 minutes a month that I would be billed $19.00 and this $19.00 charge would apply even if I made no calls during the month.

Unfortunately AT&T is not the only company to play with the truth. I recommend that whenever you enter into an agreement over the telephone even if you initiated the call, the agreement should be recorded.

Beware it is not legal to record telephone calls without the permission of all party's.

What you should do is explain that you would like to record the agreement so there is no misunderstanding at a latter date. If the other party agrees to be recorded start your recorder and ask them again if it is okay to record them. That way you will not only have taped proof of any agreements but also taped permission to record the call.

If the other party has nothing to hide they will give you permission to record. If they deny permission than tell them to have a nice day and promptly hang up.