AT&T Customer Service

I am so absolutely LIVID with ATT U-Verse right now. I can't even explain how exasperated I am with them and their "customer service."

Last week we got our bill and it was nearly 40 dollars higher than normal. I called to figure out what was going on and was told that the promotion we received was up. "what promotion?" I asked. I was under the impression that when we signed up for our two year contract that we would be receiving this rate until the end of the contract. Long story short, there's no contract, there's no two year promotion, and on top of EVERYTHING, we're not even getting the original rate we had because our service got interrupted last year and when they reconnected AND TOLD ME I'D RECEIVE THE SAME RATE, THEY LIED. So not only had they jacked up our price, they flat out lied to me and essentially stole money from me by telling me I'd get the same rate and then charging me a few dollars more.

So I finally get a resolution from the woman I was speaking to. We'd have to downgrade our cable and get rid of the movie channels we had, but we'd keep every other channel and still have the HD and DVR and everything, and on top of that she would give me a free internet upgrade for a year, plus a fifteen dollar discount on the cable, so our bill would be much lower. Even once the fifteen dollar discount ran out, our bill would be roughly the same as it had been. I guess that's fine.

Yesterday, my girlfriend informs me that we no longer receive a channel that she watches all the time, ID. Hmm, imagine that, something they said wouldn't happen happened.

So I wake up this morning to work on my presentation and the cable/internet isn't working. No big deal, they're probably working on something. I walk to class and work on my presentation there and then after class I return home for a few minutes before having to go to work. I am at work all night and get home roughly at 9:50. Our internet and TV are not working so I call AT&T. Some guy in India answers and I explain what's going on. He tells me my account has been canceled and then puts me on hold and "transfers" me. I wait on hold with the phone on speakerphone for thirty minutes before hanging up and calling back. After another TWENTY minutes of trying to navigate through AT&T's RIDICULOUS STUPID automated system, I finally get a hold of someone. In America, even.

I explain my situation. The woman looks through my records and doesn't know why my account was ever canceled. The last thing on AT&T's records was my phone call on the 28th where I spent nearly an hour trying to figure out why my bill was so screwed up. The icing on the cake? The piece de resistance to my interactions with this wonderful company?

THERE IS NO ONE IN THE CALL CENTER THAT CAN DO ANYTHING ABOUT TURNING YOUR SERVICE BACK ON AFTER 7P.M. SO WHEN AT&T SCREWS UP YOUR ACCOUNT AND YOU'VE BEEN AT WORK ALL DAY AND YOU FINALLY GET A CHANCE TO CALL THEM, TOO DAMN BAD.

Now, I am at a point of not even being able to speak straight with the supervisor I am now on the phone with. She gives me a case number and the direct phone number to their sales and service team so I can call them first thing in the morning and get my service turned back on. I made her fully aware that this is not the way they should be doing things, and that there should at least be ONE person in the call center she's working in who can turn my service back on and reactivate my account after THEY HAVE ERRONEOUSLY DISCONNECTED MY SERVICE.

So, being a man of level head, and having the experience I have gained this semester in my Strategic Analysis and Policy class, I'd like to offer a short Strategic Analysis of AT&T and some suggestions.

Strategic Analysis:
It ****ing sucks.
Suggestions:
Eat a bag of dicks.

funkapottomous said:

Eat a bag of dicks.

Click to expand...

So like all at once? Are they sticking out of the bag like baguettes?

We experienced similar billing issues with u-verse. Our bill total INCREASED when we dumped our home land line.

After multiple calls with customer support, I bitched at them on Twitter and magically got immediate service that fixed the problem. Their Twitter support team is made up of employees who are actually empowered to help. So try that route. Now, if only the rest of the support there actually DID anything, their Twitter team wouldn't be needed.

brewingmeister said:

So like all at once? Are they sticking out of the bag like baguettes?

Click to expand...

LMAO^. OP, that I'll drink a pint to you tonight.

funkapottomous said:

Strategic Analysis:
It ****ing sucks.
Suggestions:
Eat a bag of dicks.

Click to expand...

That's only one suggestion.

AT&T Sucked a** for cell coverage out here...I could not imagine depending upon them for anything else....

Ya, I cancelled AT&T's LD service & they continued to bill me for 3 months after I cancelled... BTW, Centurylink isn't any better.

I didn't have Uverse, but do have regular internet. My wife had opted for their top of the line account, so that we could get the fastest internet. AT&T has closed our account 4 different times without any reason what so ever, no calls from us, no calls from them, no late bills, nothing. We have the worst connection I have ever used. The internet is constantly going down, their customer service said that it was the connection at our house. So I paid for a tech to come out and check the connection, and holy sweet Jesus the connection is just fine. So I called ATT back and told them that the tech said that the connection was good. They had no answer, and for my troubles they closed my account again without telling me. I told them to turn my account back on and I will just deal with their $h!tty service. I might try the Twitter team and see if I get some resolution... I won't be holding my breath.

This is really the typical happenings of a company with a million customers. The way they look at it is that you're just a very small cog in a huge wheel. They don't need you.

I know exactly two people that are happy with any AT&T services. One has uverse, one has cell service. Everybody else hates them.

I used to work for a company that provided customer servi ce to AT&T for some of their benefits. In spite of being "customer service" employees themselves, they were the dumbest and rudest people, second only to Time Warner/Time Warner Cable employees. Nobody is worse than TW/TWC. AT&T's business model doesn't include treating their customers well so they hire garbage customer service employees and train them poorly. I suspect, as is true of Verizon, that they outsource a lot of their phone service to third parties who have even less of a stake in the company's name.

The only thing I could say about the evening issue that may not be their fault is some companies begin processing updates in their computer systems early in the evening and the service reps lose access to certain parts of the system once the update cycles begin. I don't know if that's true of AT&T but that might be why nobody could make the change. On the other hand, it is equally likely the people who have access to turn on service only work 8-5.

ReverseApacheMaster said:

I know exactly two people that are happy with any AT&T services. One has uverse, one has cell service. Everybody else hates them.

I used to work for a company that provided customer servi ce to AT&T for some of their benefits. In spite of being "customer service" employees themselves, they were the dumbest and rudest people, second only to Time Warner/Time Warner Cable employees. Nobody is worse than TW/TWC. AT&T's business model doesn't include treating their customers well so they hire garbage customer service employees and train them poorly. I suspect, as is true of Verizon, that they outsource a lot of their phone service to third parties who have even less of a stake in the company's name.

The only thing I could say about the evening issue that may not be their fault is some companies begin processing updates in their computer systems early in the evening and the service reps lose access to certain parts of the system once the update cycles begin. I don't know if that's true of AT&T but that might be why nobody could make the change. On the other hand, it is equally likely the people who have access to turn on service only work 8-5.

Click to expand...

i was told that because the sales and service office was closed I would have to call back tomorrow, which is now today, but I've been in class all day and am enjoying a twenty minute break right now.

I just don't understand how not a SINGLE person in the call center I was dealing with is able to undo AT&T's screw up. You'd think at least one of the managers or supervisors would have access to whatever program or computer they needed to click the button that turns my internet back on. Bunch of damn monkeys.

i thought this post was about star wars. i don't read well.

Dish network.

Sounds about the same as my experience with Comcast.

When I have had ridiculous experience with faceless corporations, emailing the executives (CEO, CFO, COO, VP Public Relations, VP Regulatory, VP Marketing, etc.) has worked (n=1). Also, don't sound threatening, but telling you one thing and billing you differently is something the FCC and your state's Attorney General's Office would be interested in hearing about.

In general, if you annoy them enough, they will give in, but in many cases it takes more work than it is worth.

Got a phone call this morning while on campus and finally got someone who was competent at their job.

I am happy with the outcome that we got but absolutely disgusted with everything we had to go through to get there, and I straight up told the woman that she's the only person I've talked to over the last couple of weeks who even seemed to know what they were talking about.

Is that a standard bag of dicks, or a metric bag?

Sounds like they saved you a step in the process.

I turned off Cox cable after nearly 10 years of service because the prices always went up. My bill was coming in at $250 a month. $300+ if we had a lot of LD calls.

I attempted to reduce the expense by asking them what my bill would be if I dropped 75% of the services I was getting.

They said I'd save $10.

Have been OTA for local. IPTV for series, childrens, and movie nights. VOIP for telephone.

Now I pay $75 a month. And the household misses nothing.

Sooo... Can anyone suggest an alternative... This post scares be (besides the dicks thing...) as I am about to pony up for cable (need it for Le Tour) and Uverse just seems the cheapest option for the channels I want (which are NBC sports, BBC America, Discovery, Comedy channel and local content including PBS)

i need a bag of wrist thick rippers to complete my dirty santa costume for cinco de mayo. is there somewhere i can get them that doesn't entail parking behind a highway blind?

DirecTV. Couldn't be happier with the service.

gratus fermentatio said:

Ya, I cancelled AT&T's LD service & they continued to bill me for 3 months after I cancelled... BTW, Centurylink isn't any better.

Click to expand...

I had AT&T (landlines) for both my home and cottage. I am away from both when I leave for the winter, but "they" told me I had to pay my bill while I was gone or pay $40 reconnection fee on both.

Last winter, I paid my bills online. They had a $5 charge I didn't recognize on both. (I paid $60/month for both landlines). I called, waited on hold for 30 minutes or so, and they removed those charges.

A month later, still in Texas, I saw two $10 charges on each line.

I called (during business hours, because you have to call before 6PM for residential service) using a neighbor's phone. After a 30 minute wait, it was explained to me that those 2 $10 charges on each line were to make a change in my "plan". Um, those are home landlines. What plan? "Oh, to remove the $5 long distance "one rate plan".

Wait. You charged me $20 each to remove a $5 charge that you added to my account in error?

Well, in short, yes.

Bye Bye AT&T!

If you want to cause them as much grief as they've caused you - file a formal complaint with the FCC.

You can call until you're blue in the face - but once the FCC is involved - you're usually handled by someone in the corporate office who can actually make things happen (and stick.)

Just make sure you're right, reasonable, and polite.

www.fcc.gov

I had a horrible stay at a Destination Resort Hotel in a very nice city in Nevada & said so on the INTERNET. Simply hit a major review site. Just kept it a matter-of-fact detail of my experience. No emotion. Had the Hotel CEO email me the next day & ask me to call him ASAP!

To resolve the situation he gave me a nights stay in a TOP FLOOR Suite! His exact words to me, "We live and die by what is said on the INTERNET!"