Rethink!!

Rethink the possibilities! AT&T. Rethink the impossibilities! This company represents the absolute worst in customer care. Perhaps it's just part of their DNA, left over from the days when they were a government-protected monopoly.

I've had phone service with them for pretty much the entire 30 plus years I've lived here. I've had DSL with them for over 10 years. I tried leaving them once. A new company was offering service in the area - SuddenLink. It was more like SuddenDeath. The internet connection went down at least once a day and took the phone with it. I worked from home and had to upload and download files on a daily basis. I just couldn't have unreliable service. And as much as I disliked AT&T's lousy customer service, the phone and internet service is highly reliable.

So what made me dislike them so much? It's been more than a few years now, but we had all our cell phones and mobile devices with them. Mark had a personal phone, I had a personal phone, we had a business phone, we had an air card (which almost never worked, by the way) and then we started a new business with a partner and we got a phone for that. After about two months, the partner decided he didn't want to be in that business and we decided that we could continue the business but keep it within our existing business rather than have a separate entity. Consequently, we no longer needed or wanted that phone. Silly me, I thought that since I'd been a loyal AT&T customer for 23 years and that we still had four other contracts with them that they'd cancel the contract on the fifth phone. Boy was I wrong! They would be happy to cancel the contract but I would have to pay out the balance. Keep in mind that we're talking about less than $20 per month on this phone. But in principal, I don't like to pay for things that I'm not using. But everyone I talked to at AT&T reminded me that I had "signed a contract". So I had. And I determined that as soon as each contract expired, I would port the phone over to Verizon. That's when I started getting calls from the customer retention department.

"But Mrs. Elliott, you've been with us for 23 years! We sure hate to lose you as a customer."

"Yes, and I'd still be with you if you hadn't jerked me around. I hope the $200 remaining on that contract was worth the business you're losing now." (Our bill with Verizon averages between $300 and $500 per MONTH, but AT&T couldn't see past their $20 per month to the bigger picture.)

And then they wanted to ask me some customer service survey questions. "Yes, you were polite. Yes, you were sympathetic to my problem." The fact that they were collecting this type of data indicated that some suit in some office was going to sit back and point to what a great customer service organization they have. The fact is that just because someone is sympathetic and polite while they're NOT helping you is irrelevant. They listen to the problem, repeat it back, and then say they understand. They don't solve it. It's not helpful. Because AT&T isn't actually concerned with solving customer problems. They just want to appear to be helpful.

So that's the history. What's happening now? The DSL connection kept getting slower and slower (deliberate on their part, I'm sure) and then one day last week we got a letter offering their super high speed u-verse. Mark talked to them and set it up. They were supposed to install it yesterday. They warned us that they would need to turn off the DSL prior to installing the u-verse. An inconvenience, but it was only for one day. They gave us a 12 hour window. A 12 HOUR WINDOW?? Someone would come to install it between 8 AM and 8 PM. This is the best time estimate they can give us? I can be on another continent in 12 hours. They cut off our DSL connection as promised, and that's where their end of the bargain stopped. I phoned them at 7 PM to find out what happens when they don't actually turn up. I was assured that they still had an hour to get there and they would be there. No sooner had I hung up the phone than the land line rang. It was someone from AT&T informing me that no one would be coming until the next day. (Do you think perhaps the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing?) I had shifted around an important appointment so I could be home for them and they don't even turn up. Great! I get to sit around the house without an internet connection for another 12 hours. Who is going to take these checks to the bank? Who is going to go to the post office? Who is going to pick up prescriptions? Not me. I'll be sitting here waiting for them to turn up. Again.

But I need the internet connection to schedule Mark's appointments. I need it to work. I need to get someone to turn the DSL back on until they're actually going to install the u-verse. I called them back to see if they could do that. What a waste of my time. No one can do that. All they can do is say they are sorry for my inconvenience and assure me that tomorrow everything will be made right. I have Irene's personal guarantee. Irene gave me a number to call this morning. After 45 minutes on the phone with them, I'm really no closer to a solution than I was last night.

My efforts to speak with a supervisor were resisted until I became insistent. This is what I learned from the "Manager" of the u-verse scheduling center:

• My priority is 80%. (What does that mean? Why isn't it 100%?)
• The scheduling manager does not know how many jobs are scheduled for an individual installer in a day. (How can you be the scheduling manager if you don't know what's being scheduled?)
• We have to allow for delays like traffic and installers not being able to find the house. (I understand traffic, but unless you're in England it's not going to cause a four hour delay. As for getting lost, don't these guys have GPS systems or smart phones? Come on AT&T you're a communications/technology company. Communicate! Embrace technology!)

This manager has promised to phone me when the technician has been assigned. Not when he's on his way, mind you, but assigned. I suspect that the scheduling center is in China, which probably has something to do with why they don't know what's going on here. 

"I will call you when the technician has been assigned. Do you have any other concerns?"

"Believe me, I have a lot of concerns."

"Anything I can help you with?"

"It would seem not."

"Thank you for choosing AT&T."

"Let me be clear. I did not choose AT&T. Where I live, I have no other option."

"Thank you for calling AT&T."

It's now after 10 AM and I'm still waiting.

Posted using Mark's Verizon hot spot. And Verizon, if you're paying attention, please bring FiOS this way. We're beyond ready.