My AT&T story:
I moved across town and wanted to keep my phone number. I found out that my new place didn't have a landline, so I agreed to pay the hardware installation fee for the new place (around $35). They didn't come out and do the job on the date we had set up. I called them (from my work phone) and they told me that they had tried to come out, but they couldn't find my new home because I hadn't given them the correct address. When I tried to reschedule, they told me that repeat installation attempts would be charged at a higher fee, namely $140.
I freaked out, and told the woman on the line to immediately cancel my AT&T services. I told her I could get a cell phone for 4 months for the same cost as their installation fee. She could hear in my voice how angry I was, and kept telling me not to hang up or my services would not be ended, and I would get another bill. To terminate my AT&T services, she went through my ID info, including my address(s). When she read off my billing address, I asked her why her service guy said I had given them the wrong address, when she had just read off my correct (new) address. She had no answer for that. I believe it was just another corporate shakedown, a lie she was instructed to say.
Steve