Comments on: AT&T: Customer Service Fail

By: Mike H

Mike H — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 04:14:51 +0000

hey Mike how are you charging the infuse 4g? if its not on the samsung cable it wont charge (I tried with a 3rd party charger in the car and at home only samsung official chargers will work (its probably to protect it from getting damaged.

By: Mike H

Mike H — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 04:12:00 +0000

I do have a story; my wife and I went into an AT&T store to try to get a new cell phone and plan(s). I tried and was told I had to pay 150 a line for deposit. Fine I understand my credit is slowly getting better; but my wife was able to get without deposit. So we get the phones (iPhone for her, I got a samsung Focus – Windows phone 7). Well we had it for not even a month (about 2 weeks) then decided to help my mother out by getting a new line (before we even asked we had them check to make sure we could get it [without a deposit] they said it was fine and the had an extra number set aside for us. When we went down to VA from CT I found out Radioshack had the samsung infuse 4G for free for a new line. Well I asked a rep at ATT if I was able to get the new phone and give my mom the windows phone since it would easier for her to us instead of the android phone. They said yes and so we went to Radioshack got the phone (the sales person at radioshack couldnt get the phone setup by the computer so he called it in). All in all we knew the phone bill (first one was going to be high – no biggie). Come to find out besides the the first two lines being around 300 bux was ok, but they taked on an extra 500 for security deposit on the 3rd line and racked up the bill to over a grand. I spoke with a customer service rep for over an hour trying to get the issue resolved even trying to make a partial payment to get the service back up (being suspended for not some stupid reason). I spoke to a few people and they said what ATT did was a bait and switch. And what tops it all off since I cant pay it they will do a breach of contract and tack on an extra 250 per line (or however much its going to be). So the bill is going to well almost to 2 grand which I know for sure we are not going to pay. I admit we were not able to pay the 300 on the first payment date but shutting off service not even 30 days after we got the service. Whats got me in a major pissed off mood is now I come to find out with the DSL service there is a cap of 150Gb download so if I go over I have to pay an extra 10 dollars for another 50Gb of download so its possibly going to be instead of 20.00 a month will probably 40.00 not including the fees

AT&T did really screw us.

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 03:17:36 +0000

Got an AT&T Samsung Infuse 4g…big mistake! Now, 2 months into the warranty, the phone won’t charge the battery…. called customer service (in India!)…. can’t understand a d.mn word….called back and got same local….”we are sending you a battery”…it AIN”T the battery…..”thank you, have a good day”…..5 days later, the new battery arrived…but phone wouldn’t charge new battery either (I told you so!) Remotely, the phone was factory reset with the loss of photos….still won’t charge!….waiting a minimum of 24 hours for the AT&T computer to “reset”….If I ever get outta AT&T’s trap, I’m gone…bye,bye, AT&T!

By: ALINA SHEFFI

ALINA SHEFFI — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:18:08 +0000

THIS IS THE WORST SERVICE THAT I EVER HAD I AM IN AN URGENT NEED OF A REPAIR AT MY HOME PHONE IN THE BRONX AND CANT GER A NUMBER WHATS GOING ON I AM REALLY NOT LIKING THIS PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!

By: John

John — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 23:57:02 +0000

I am currently dealing with rebates that I qualified for when I signed up, but now that I have kept my service for more than 30 days, I no longer qualify for. Is it really just a coincidenc that before the end of the 30 day trial I qualified for the rebates, but after the 30 days I now suddenly do not? I realize that they have all the power and will put a mark on my credit since I’ve told them to stop my service because they are in breach of contract. As a consumer I don’t really have a leg to stand on other than not paying them their early cancellatoin fee. Too bad to, because the internet service worked great.

By: John

John — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 23:46:52 +0000

Yes. You have 30 days, and don’t be surprised if they give you the runaround taking you PAST the 30 days in which case you are stuck. Sorry, but you are better off giving them NO days and not getting involved with them in the first place.

By: John Campion

John Campion — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 22:06:34 +0000

I canceled my wireless service from ATT on July 15, 2010. I am still being charged though the wireless part of their service says I can’t get online because my service was canceled.

No email addresses for this company exist

No mailing addesses exist.

Where are the consumer rights attorneys who could force them to deal honestly?

By: Misti Smith

Misti Smith — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 19:30:25 +0000

I was wondering if anyone had an e-mail address for the CEO of this God awful company. I have spent countless hours attempting to get a home line fixed and an entire day off work waiting on a repair guy and they have screwed up yet again. This is by far the wordst company I have dealt with to fix simple issues.

Misti

By: Anthony Dull

Anthony Dull — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:52:38 +0000

AT&T fails as a cell service. I am a senior in highschool, working long night hours, going to school, and trying to save every penny for my own place when I move out in eight months. My parents provide little financial help, so I decided I needed a cheap cell phone service. AT&T promised me an unlimited text plan, with little minutes, if I bought a prepaid phone and paid twenty dollars a month.
This sounded good to me, affordable and basically what I needed, so I bought this crappy phone and started texting. Problems instantly arose with texts not sending, losing service randomly, and notifications out of the blue that my last transaction cost me $2.40 something cents. They told me it was my phone. So I bought an eighty dollar phone and upgraded my plan. The problems keep happening. I will randomly, in the middle of my day, lose all service and recieve a EMERGENCY CALL ONLY status where my bars should be. For days I will not have any service no matter where I am. HONESTLY?? I pay monthly fees just to have random half weeks or weeks of my phone literally not working at all? I’ve been calling and complaining only to be told that it’s my SIM card, which I have replaced… Twice now.
I don’t know what the service issue is, but I get little to no coverage, unreliable service, and have dumped a crap ton of money into replacing phones and cards that are turning out to be functioning completely.

If anyone else knows of a cheap service that provides unlimited text(that’s really all I need) and is RELIABLE, please let me know!!!

By: Dr. George Mason

Dr. George Mason — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 13:00:22 +0000

I too have been ‘victimized’ recently by AT&T and their TERRIBLE Customer Service. As others have pointed out, it is nearly impossible to receive any sort of satisfaction when dealing with CSRs. I try to understand that it is not THEIR fault, but at the same time I have been treated to repeated episodes of condescending behavior from CSRs that leads me to believe this is a systemic problem with AT&T. I was glad to find the address of the CEO, and I will be sending copies of all the letters of dissatisfaction I have sent to other AT&T entities that I have received no response to. It is very evident that AT&T does NOT care about Customer satisfaction.

By: Derek Markham

Derek Markham — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:56:20 +0000

Dear Mr. or Mrs. CSR:

Thanks for reading and commenting. Allow me to respond.

1. Yes, I’m well aware that the CSR is human, as I have quite a bit of experience in both phone support and in-store service. Notice I didn’t call them out by name – it’s the training that’s at fault.
2. Again, faulty training process.
3. If a CSR informs me that they don’t know the answer, and can get the answer while I wait, I’m fine with that. It’s the insistence that I’m wrong that I take issue with, as well as not being willing to find out the facts.
4. Yes, really. Like I said in the post, I don’t do a lot of high-data usage tasks, and was taken aback by how quickly the data limit was reached. And l did ask the store personnel quite a few questions before purchasing the plan, as they assured me it would be fine. Again, faulty training.
5. AT&T doesn’t explain the difference, nor do they make a point of training their personnel to know.
6. True.
7. I was the epitome of niceness to the CSR. In fact, I might have gotten a better resolution if I wasn’t as nice, unfortunately. The old ‘squeaky wheel’ getting the attention, ya know?

I canceled my AT&T plan as soon as I could, and won’t be back.

Cheers-

By: CSR

CSR — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:32:12 +0000

Some things to keep in mind when dealing with a CSR, regardless of what carrier your with; or even what industry your dealing with.
1)The CSR on the phone is a human being. They have huge pressure on them to perform as fast as possible, all while trying to make the Caller feel like we have all the time in the world.
2)There are many, many, many systems that must be accessed to handle and maintain a customers account. We must become experts at some very complex systems.
3)We have lots of plans, and lots of phones, and lots of rules. These plans, phones, and rules are in constant flux. We sometimes are unaware of a new change. We are researching your issues while you are talking, sometimes the research tools are not adequate. It’s okay for you to know something the CSR does not, it’s not okay to assume the CSR is an idiot because of it. We collect information just like any other human does, as we become aware of it.
4)You blog and maintain Websites, and you didn’t know that 5gb of data would get eaten very quickly? Really?
5)There is a difference in types of 3g coverage. There is 3g for voice, and there is 3g for data, and yes, they are different. My guess is you were looking at a 3g voice map overlay when you were checking coverage.
6)The people in the store are under huge pressure to sell you something. If they don’t they don’t stay employed; this is true in all sales industries.
7)Keep in mind, regardless of what service industry your working with, that the people you interact with are often making less than $15,000.00 a year, and trying to feed families on that. Often they are required to work 2 jobs. Be nice, they are often times having a very stressful day just wondering how they are going to make rent, or buy diapers.

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:46:38 +0000

I too have a horror story. I live in a rural area along the border with Canada so for internet it’s dial up, satellite or cellular. I talked to a sales rep who sold me the $119.00 USB wireless internet card. He said this was a global service and I could travel and not be charged extra for internet use. At $60.00 this sounded like a great deal compared to satellite. I live near Canada and would be most likely be using Canadian cell towers so this sounded like a great deal. I was clear to the salesman that I live along the border and I would be using Canadian towers, he said its “no problem.”

Anyway life was great…5 bars of 3G of of Roger’s Wireless in Canada through AT&T until I was shut down for high international usage.
Well, I thought, there is some mistake. I will simply call and tell them my situation. Three hours later and still on the phone with customer servicer they threatened to shut my cell phone off, as well as my internet and still charge me for past fees.

I eventually found asked for a manager and she helped me out with some kind of data code that is good for 15 days but now I I have a bill for,are you ready….$3,551.07;a real stinger and a gut punch. So much for that $60.00 bill.

I must say everyone at At&t has been nice but the first line of operators are pretty useless when it comes to direct action. The managers seem to wield the power but weaving through the matrix of At&T is frustrating.

As of today my struggle with them continues and my huge bill is under review.
Bottom line here is “do not trust the salesmen at AT&T.”

By: Mellissa

Mellissa — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:00:36 +0000

Watch out for your tax rate with them as well, they are known for charging the inappropriate rates and most never even notice.

By: W H

W H — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:19:22 +0000

I an yet again disappointed with AT&T. Have been with the system since 1968. Do they care NO. Wanted wireless internet connection. Talk to several, ended up with AT&T. Told all was going to be great. Bundleling would save me money. Wrong, they figured out how to make it cost more. Basic costs I mean. No 3G, most of the time no service period. Called to complain, no one knew who to send me to for help, after they found I was already signed up for service. Finally sent to tech support to find out why no service. Was told they would get back to me in less then a week. I waited, waited, and then I get a very nasty from hello on man who nastily and obscenely informed me he represented AT&T and they had cancelled my service. I responded They are calling me back with a customer complain on service. His responce was, are you dumb enough to believe that. They tell everybody that. You’re stupid. We got into a shouting match. He said he didn’t use AT&T and that anybody that did was stupid. This went on to long. He said that I was going to pay the nearly $600.00 or else they would sue me. He said I should have read all the fine print on the back of contract, that I never got. This is also a Bait and Switch deal. My first interest was merely for home service at $19.95, laptop is WIFI. Was told they only had a few of those available, but for a little more I could have wireless service anywhere in the World. AT&T does not know how to tell the truth, and they certainly do not know how to make their customers happy with even minimum service. But they do know all to well how to sick collectors on you even when they don’t provide service. Sorry, I think I passed up comment.

By: Luc J

Luc J — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:46:58 +0000

I’ve read similar stories before (not only AT&T). Easy to get through to sales call center, but no answer on technical support lines afterwards.
Sometimes it works to call sales number and then insist to be transferred to tech support, or at least stalk them until something moves. But the best lesson for them is to switch operator.
.-= Luc J´s last blog ..Cell Boosters Improve Your Indoor Cell Phone Reception =-.

By: LTiberi

LTiberi — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 22:14:59 +0000

At & t uses a third party vendor to conduct sales online, and you don’t even know you’re not talking directly to one of their agents. These are just kids in a call center who do not care about you or your problems.
I have been disputing a relatively small debt incurred when their sales agents made a mistake and set up an extra account in my name for home phone and DSL service. I was told everything was cancelled and now, two years later, I am still receiving collections notices. It is very difficult to navigate their customer service set-up in order to get issues such as these resolved. I expect to find a better company to deal with soon.

By: Maria

Maria — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:43:51 +0000

I have an update – I got a call later today saying that they would refund me $100 if I choose to upgrade, so either they pay the difference or if I get the 32GB phone (which I will as thats what my neighbor has whose works fine), they split the difference with me. I’m not sure what led to the change of heart, although the man who called me back said that they had brought the issue up to thier boss and this was what they could offer. So while its not perfect, it does seem reasonable to me, and its the first time I have gotten any kind of response other than “we cant help you”, so I’m feeling better about this. Not perfect, but better.

By: Maria

Maria — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:26:40 +0000

I am on the phone with my 5th AT&T customer service person, the second manager I have spoken to (the first told me last night I could cancel my service – soooo helpful). I bought into the 3G and IPhone Dec 2008. I had a DETAILED conversation first with an AT&T rep before i bought it to make sure I would have coverage in the areas I spend alot of time in, including NYC and my weekend home in the Hudson Valley, as well as many other places I spend alot of time. In my conversation I confirmed I would have good coverage in all those areas, he said he was looking at a map of cell phone towers and I should not have an issue etc. This was a 45 minute conversation as I had alot of questions, I was changing from Verizon after 10 years cell phone service so I wnated me make sure I would get what I needed from AT&T and the IPhone. So come to find out that the service in the Hudson Valley is not very good, and I call to discuss with them the chance to upgrade to the more powerful phone, which I learned from a neighbor here was MUCH better out here as the phone would work. They said I cannot upgrade at the $299 rate, but that it would be the 499 rate based on when I bought the phone. I explain I’m not someone who upgrades to the newest thing all the time, but in this case I feel I need to to have reliable coverage, but that since they told me the service etc would be fine here (where I now spend 80% of my tme instead of the 20% I was before) I felt that should let me pay 200 less to upgrade. They say they cant do that. I am going round and round with them. I cannot believe they wont just own up to the fact that they mis represented the product and coverage etc. and get me a phone (which I would STILL have to pay for) that will get me the service I was sold on and that I pay alot of money for monthly. I have much more I could say, but I’ll stop here. Suffice it to say, they have let me down. I am interested in finding the name and contact number of the Head of Customer Service for AT&T if anyone knows it. Thank you.

By: m.f.

m.f. — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:57:03 +0000

I wish I could help you (I can’t) but I can sympathize! I’m looking for an email too, and there’s nada! Bastards.