My Really Bad Service From AT&T Won't Stop

Yes, the bad service continues but obviously based on AT&T's last earnings call which featured a 74% increase in profit they obviously don't care.  You know why they don't care?  Simple, they are in acquisition mode and buying up all of the competition.  According to this article in the Wall Street Journal, voice revenue was way up and data almost doubled in revenue; heck even directory assistance revenue stayed flat.  You know why you can keep revenues like DA flat?  It is because there is no competition. 

Sure, the FCC and the Justice Department are betting that eventually there will be this all out battle for your TV set, wireless, and phone but that's a long way off.  For example, according to the article, AT&T has about 3,000 subscribers for its high-end TV/internet service - wahoo.  In the meantime, they get monopoly style pricing as they squeeze everything out of their wireline business including decent service.

Back in the good old days when a customer like me called into complain about why they were still receiving a bill, that was a sign to try to win me back with promises of good service and an offer or two.  Nope, not anymore. 

When I called in, the rep "tried to explain to me" why I'm getting an error message (see this link) when I call.  When I tell him AT&T already admitted their mistake, he put me on hold for a second.  Then the uncustomer service rep goes through his "save pitch"...

Bad Offer #1: "How would you like dial-up service?"  My answer:  You still actually sell that piece of garbage?

Bad Offer #2: "Well how would you like AT&T Call Advantage?" My answer:  You treat me like crap for wireline, why would I think the service or product would be better for VOIP?

Bad and Final Offer #3: "How about $3 off your local toll calls?"

That's it.  That's their script for a long time AT&T customer.  Of course, I used to also have AT&T WorldNet for dial-up and AT&T Wireless Service. Heck, I launched the bundling of wireless and wireline services while I was with the old and better AT&T. 

The amount of wireless, mobile web, internet, TiVo, and wireline usage I have would make Bill Gates salivate, but all I'm worth to the New, New, New, Trust Us It Is New AT&T is $3 off my monthly toll.

This is the first and only customer service call I've made to AT&T for as long as I can remember.  I paid all of my bills via credit card and used e-customer care from the day it was launched via AT&T One Rate Online.  In fact, the very last pricing plan I built for AT&T is still being promoted.  The plan AT&T 5 cent eWeekends is available and obviously must be popular.  I remember fighting to get that offer through the Pricing Department.

Hopefully, that's my last call into AT&T forever.  I'm obviously not worth anything to them over the long term because I'll never be in their footprint unless the government lets them buy up all phone lines in the US.  Think of the net neutrality problems when that day arrives.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

Comments

[Michael Carnahan]

Whatever you do try not to deal with AT &T at all. I want to tell you about my experience. I had a charge on my bill for $8.78 "AT & T Corp". I called AT&T 800-222-0300 for an explanation of these charges. I first get a computer and answer a bunch of questions for at least 15 minutes, when I finally have an option to talk to a representative. I then hear another computer voice tell me my expected wait time is 2 minutes. Twenty minutes later a person comes on the phone. They are foreigners who I asume AT &T contracted with for some obscenely ridiculous low-cut wage from some island. I am then asked for the same information that I just got done giving the computer. When I get frustrated enough I ask for a supervisor(BIG MISTAKE) I hold another 30 minutes get frustrated because noone comes to the phone and I hang up. I'm a gluton for punishment so I call back and find out that I am being charged $8.78 cents a month for the privelage of being able to make a long distance phone call from my phone for which there is another per minute charge. I cancdelled it, but I have been paying this for 14 years. I definately hate AT & T. Their service is non-existant.

[DON'T TRUST AT&T]

I use to work for AT&T and have seen first hand how bad of a company it truly is, even to its own employes. They start off with nothing but lies and it leads to hundreds of headaches. When i first went to apply they made it sound like the greatest company in the world, promising things like tuition reimbursement, great chances to move up, and all kinds of employee disconnects and what not. Of coarse, like any other job i have applied for in the past, they stated all the pros and none of the cons. To be honest i only signed up for the tuition reimbursement. Shortly after leaving my other job and starting at AT&T i found out that nothing they had stated was true. They informed us that the tuition reimbursement, which we had been told we would get, was only for employees who had been with the company for over 6 months. Then we were told that due to contracts they did not offer tuition reimbursement to our department. Everyone who had gone to their job fairs and read about the job online had seen that they posted tuition reimbursement as one of they're selling points. Well we got fu**ed on that one.
To make things worst I had already gone to apply for a cellphone line due to we had been told we would receive 15% off the monthly bill. For the first few months i did see a some what discount, but then about 3 months into the contract i started noticing all kinds of charges. I called in to investigate and was told that since i lived near a U.S./Mexico boarder that if i drove too close to the boarder that at times my cell phone would start using towers from mexican providers. They gave me a $30 credit and i was informed to call if i ever noticed it again. Well.. the credit never applied to my bill and the charges continued. I called back and ever time i tried to fight it they told me that their systems told them i was within mexico and that they would not fix the charges. Now i haven't even paid my bill to protest the damn charges, if they want the money that bad then maybe they should use that extra money i'm paying to fix this issue. After all, in a city with over a million people, i bet i'm not the only one who has had this issue.
Not only is their wireless service shitty but i know first hand that both their dish and internet services are shit as well. I worked for the DSL department and saw how bad it truly is. THe sales department would sell customers anything without asking a question or even listing to the customer.
Once i had a customer who had been sold the highest dsl speed and all the bells and what not that they could throw in. THe 1st thing the customer asked me was if she needed a phone jack because she had told the sales rep several times that she had just bought this home and it didn't have any phone jacks in it. The sales rep told her she could do it wirelessly and sent her all the equipment. Everyday i would get at least 4 or 5 customers whom had been lied or cheated in some way.
IF they weren't cheated they would be told that their service would be up and running a week or two after ordering it. If this were true then i don't think i would have had a job their. The company would tell us that 90% of orders where completed on time and only 10% had to get additional work done. I seriously got hundreds of thousands of customers who'd been told such a lie and ended up having to wait up to a month or a month and a half to get service. At times they would even be told that the issue was been worked on and then after weeks of nothing being done they would inform the customer that service was avaliable in their area. My uncle was on of those people. I as an employee had to have 3 techs come out to try to fix my internet, it to them 4 weeks to set it up.
I bet i could go on for hours about things all the things i have seen first hand from this company, but to save you time and headaches all you should know is that AT&T cares more about getting your money than getting you any kind of service. DO NOT and i repeat DO NOT TRUST THEM!

[s to the b]

i get really poor service from these jokers and i own two phones

[Unhappy!!]

I wish that I had read these before I set up my service through them, would have saved me a lot of time and money. But I would appreciate your guys' help, see if there is some way I don't have to pay the bill...here's my story.

I have been a Comcast customer for a few years, we were leaving them because of their awful customer service. I called AT&T was shocked that the customer service was great, I will give them that, through out all of this, they've done well with customer service. I set up my services on March 3, they didn't come out to install until March 11, the phone line was all static, I couldn't even understand what anyone was saying on the phone. That night we went out and paid $90 for a modem for our DSL service. We go home to set it up and there is no connection. We spent the next two days being transferred like 30 times (seriously a total of 5.5 hours on the phone) to find out that someone had messed up on our address and they showed that service couldn't be had there. Strange considering the install guy found us fine for the phone line. They had never even called us.

We finally talked to someone who seemed to have it all worked out, she said that I would only have to pay 1/2 for 6 months, on phone and DSL and they would come out and install the DSL. Well we got a call on the 24th saying that DSL was installed, we kept trying to get it connected to no avail, we still didn't have DSL. Then I recieve a bill for 92.00!!! It was supposed to be 37.00. I called them again, for an hour and a half was bounced around from person to person. As a result we canceled our services, they credited the DSL (how nice of them) since they showed it had never been hooked up, BUT they say we are required to pay the full amount on the phone line, which as I said, was total static, the lady couldn't even understand what I was say half the time. I've tried to be patient with them, calling repeatedly to have the phone line fixed (to no avail) and calling about the lack of dsl.

I just don't think I should have to pay for the phone line, when it never worked properly. I plan to complain to everyone in that company until they finally do something about it, but if the above stories aren't enough for you, please don't get AT&T, it is just one big hassle on terrible service!!

[Bradley0]

my internet service sucks at degrees i cannot even desribe. it is like at&t is trying to suck & make me pay for it. i would appreciate an alternative sent to the above address by ANYONE reading this.

Brad

[Liisa]

I've literally lost sleep and missed business meetings over my iphone troubles with AT&T.

I have my cell , my home and my business DSL with them. My DSL is sketchy and has been since they hooked it up...in both locations.
The customer service used to be great. A real guy in a real office who knew my name and who could actually fix problems. No mystery charges on bills- no crazy high odd taxes charges.

No more.

My 2G was stolen a week ago. To date I am on my third 3G and we'll see if this one works. I am also into hour 14 of tech support trying to get the first two to work unsuccessfully.

I have been hung up on three times and given false tech info most of the way through this process.

When I asked Apple what could they do for me for my troubles - they said we'll give you a cover for the phone. Really? One of your nerd-tastic covers that don't do what I need them to do? No thank you. I got a 25 $ gift certificate instead. The covers cost 34.95.

When I asked for a month of free service for all this aggravation from AT&T they said no.... I asked to escalate to a manager. They had me on hold for ever - and before that the infuriatingly long computer automated hoops you jump through that get you nowhere and then you must give the information all over again to a live rep.
The "manager" sounded like she was 12. She sounded like a typical bored teenager as well- not at all capable or professional. She offered me 25$ off my bill. I said I wanted more than that or escalate me to a higher manager.
She quipped at me " well if I escalate you I'm taking this off off the table" I was aghast. A threat from a manager?? I hung up.

Last night as phone number 3 started giving me error messages I ask for a manager again. AGAIN this manager offers me 25$. I ask to be escalated...and AGAIN she says if I don't take this offer and want to be escalated she'll cancel the discount. She said "that's policy". POLICY???

I tell her cancel the escalation. I want compensation from ATT and I want it right now. She spoke to me with a bored snide attitude and told me my options were to get another phone or to get another service.

I asked her if this phone call was being recorded. She said it was. I demanded a copy of the call. She said she wouldn't do that.

With all the technology these companies have.......nothing should be this difficult. There should BE accountability and consequences for bad behavior and unprofessionalism.

My level of frustration has effected my health.

There MUST be a way to reach a corporate supervisor and get some justice or at least reasonable compensation.

At my hourly rate....this is more than $7,600.00 in my time wasted with tech support and "ask your mother- ask your father" runaround.

It has to be easier than this.

[PardonMyFrench]

That is horrible.

[ledman]

stay away from at&t bad service they no good lots miss call's

[JB]

The incompetence of AT&T customer service is mind boggling. Every month the bill arrives with some mistake that, statistical marvel, is always -- always -- an overcharge (a random error would have under- and over-charges at similar frequencies). Every conceivable barier is created to keep the customer from reaching a live representative; getting a charge cacncelled takes 30-60 minutes wasted on the phone. Most of the phone attendants are nice people but they clearly are slaves to a system that has been carefully engineered to prevent them from actually helping anyone. MY ADVICE: Do not sign up for AT&T service.

[Jimmy Smith]

I have the worst problems with my DSL where I am. They keep coming out and working but nothing seems to fix the problem of it going out randomly.