When my special lady friend and I bought our townhouse in scenic Maynard, MA my phone company of choice was Verizon. I had the whole package: local, toll, long distance, wireless and DSL. I talk on the phone maybe three times a week, and I was paying out various orifices for all this service. I spoke with Verizon and asked them to find me a cheaper way to do all this stuff and they failed. So when cable internet service arrived in my neighborhood I signed up, switched my wireless to AT&T, and canceled all Verizon service.
This turns out to have been a huge mistake, as in the past week I have 2 horrendous experiences with AT&T Wireless. The first involves the billing department. I pay my bill via my bank’s online service. My June 1 payment was not received by AT&T. I know this because the amount kept showing up. After calling and finding out that they did not receive payment I had the bank fax a copy of the check. The amount did not go away so I called and found out they could not read the fax. The bank faxed again; AT&T could not read again. I had the bank mail a copy of the check. This has been received and is under deliberation. 5 months and counting to resolve this. Oh and I was forced to pay the disputed amount over the phone under threat of discontinued service.
My second incident involves a new phone I purchased on the AT&T website. I got the phone in the mail and it wouldn’t charge. I had a conversation with tech support who told me to go to an AT&T store and see if they could charge it. They could not so I called back. Here is the abbreviated transcript:
AT&T phone menu: Please tell me how I can help you.
Brian: 00000000000000000000000
AT&T phone menu: Please tell me how I can help you.
Brian: 00000000000000000000000
AT&T phone menu: Press 1 for customer service.
Brian: 111111111111111111111111
AT&T phone menu: Please enter your phone number. Please enter the last 4 digits of your ssn. Please enter your zip code.
Brian: 29802982847187710487028745028973408720
BAD MUSIC MIXED WITH ADVERTISING
AT&T Customer Service: What is your phone number. What are last 4 digits of your ssn. What is your zip code. Tell me your problem.
Brian: My new phone doesn’t work. This has been verified by tech support and a local store. Please send me a new phone.
AT&T Customer Service: Please wait while I transfer you to tech support. Call back if the call drops.
BAD MUSIC MIXED WITH ADVERTISING
AT&T Tech Support: What is your phone number. What are last 4 digits of your ssn. What is your zip code. Tell me your problem.
Brian: My new phone doesn’t work. This has been verified by tech support and a local store. Please send me a new phone.
AT&T Tech Support: Please try this and this and this other thing. Huh, looks like your phone doesn’t work. Please wait while I transfer you to warranty service. Call back if the call drops.
BAD MUSIC MIXED WITH ADVERTISING
AT&T Warranty Service: What is your phone number. What are last 4 digits of your ssn. What is your zip code. Tell me your problem.
Brian: My new phone doesn’t work. This has been verified by tech support and a local store. Please send me a new phone.
AT&T Warranty Service: Ok I have verified that your phone doesn’t work and that we can send you a new one. Please give me a bunch of information I already have. Ok, I just need to verify one thing and then we will send out the phone. Please hold.
45 MINUTES OF BAD MUSIC MIXED WITH ADVERTISING
Brian hangs up after a total call time of 3:14:22 and gets a very large drink to calm his rage.
Turns out that because the call dropped (I hung up, but they don’t need to know that) warranty service guy scrapped the whole order. YOU F***ING A**HOLE! And you are the F***ING PHONE COMPANY! CAN’T YOU TRANSFER A CALL? Unbelievable. No company should be in business with this kind of service. I need another drink after reliving this.