AT&T "Customer Service"

So, for the last couple of months, I’ve been having some trouble with my phone losing signal. A lot. But not usually for continuous periods of time. Just one or two seconds out of every ten or fifteen seconds, for a few hours or days at a time. Other times, it works fine, no problem. The loss of signal thing seems to occur no matter where I am, and when the problem is occurring, I get continuous signal even where the problem occurred the most. Last month’s phone bill had literally dozens of dropped call credits. That does not count the times (which occur 3 to 1 against the former) that the call was dropped before the number was even dialed by the phone. I spoke to someone at an AT&T store about the problem and they said it couldn’t be their service, it must be the phone, and to call Warranty Exchange to get a new phone.

I’ve been considering options for getting a new phone, and I think I’ve almost decided to forego getting the new phone that is available now in hopes of instead getting the new phones that will be available early next year that instead of having a few more features than my phone, have many, many more features than my phone. (See the phone I am looking forward to here.)

Anyway, I decided that I’d better call Warranty Exchange about getting my phone replaceed, since I’d already made two calls to customer support centers today (see Bowflex post below) and had several dropped calls. As soon as I called and said that I needed an exchange and what my problem was, they told me I needed to call back from a landline. I told them I don’t have a landline (true). They told me that it would be impossible to do a warranty exchange while I was on the mobile phone. I asked why, and they told me that they needed to take the battery off several times, to get some numbers and do some troubleshooting. I suggested that perhaps I get the numbers and call back, since we are likely not going to be able to reproduce my issue or determine if it is fixed anyway. They insisted that it would be impossible, but recommended that I locate a payphone and call them back. I said that that would be impossible (not entirely true, but I am lounging at home in my underpants by now, and don’t want to get dressed and go find a payphone). They say they can’t help me, I say I need to speak to their supervisor.

No problem, they (finally) ask for my mobile number, name, password, and then xfer me to Kevin, employee number 6959, who claims to be a supervisor. As Kevin is coming on the line, my phone begins to break up badly and I am nearly disconnected. After about 45 seconds of “Hello? Can you hear me?”‘s back and forth, my phone switches off encryption (which usually ends the call altogether, but requires less signal strength), and the call actually manages to stay connected. Kevin tells me the same things the first rep did, that they can’t do a warranty exchange while I am on my mobile phone, even if I called back with the information from inside the phone. Kevin agrees that the standard troubleshooting wouldn’t need to be done, since he himself has already witnessed the phone having a problem. I again suggest that since the only thing standing between me and a warranty exchange then is the numbers squeezed between the back of my phone and the phone’s battery, I should reasonably be able to call back with that information and get the exchange done. Kevin advises that is is against policy to do a warranty exchange while speaking to someone on a mobile phone, and that it is therefore impossible.

I tried to get Kevin to understand that it is not in fact, impossible, but that he is simply choosing not to do the warranty exchange because he is choosing to follow his policy to the letter. I trick him, a couple of times, into admitting that it would in fact be possible to initiate the warranty exchange, and that he is simply choosing not to do so. I am unable to get him to agree that this is poor customer service. He explicitly tells me that “the customer is NOT always right.” I ask to speak to his supervisor. He says (get this:) that he can have a supervisor call me back within the next 48 to 72 hours, if I can provide a landline number to call. I remind him that I have already stated (dozens of times by now) that I do not have a landline available. He continues to be unhelpful. Several times during the call, he became sarcastic and rude to me. About halfway through the conversation he basically stopped answering my questions, saying that he “refuses to answer questions that [he doesn’t] consider relevant.” Questions like “do you understand that ‘right now’ is within the next 48 to 72 hours?” and “Are you capable of getting up out of your desk, walking over to Angela, and asking her if she is available to speak to me?” (Angela is his direct supervisor, but insists that he is incapable of guaranteeing that she will call me back, especially if I con’t have a landline.)

The call lasted about 40 minutes (I’m suprized my phone stayed connected the whole time), and basically came to no good, except that I have these (and more) examples of Kevin being rude and refusing to assist customers to give to Angela, when I can get through to her, which I will. As far as the warranty exchange goes, I know how I can get that done (see the next paragraph), but that’s not the point anymore. Now the point is to be sure that Kevin gets re-educated about how to perform Customer Service, and to be sure that AT&T understands the importance of making exceptions for customers.

Incidentally, I called back immediately and got a different 1st level rep (Patrick), who when I asked to speak to a supervisor other than Kevin, politely asked what my situation was. I explained the initial problem, and he told me that if I wrote down every number inside my phone, I could call back and get warranty exchange with no problem. I thanked him, opened my phone, transcribed every little number, even checking behind my SIM chip, and called back to find that they close at 9PM. No problem. I can call from my work phone tomorrow. (*wink*)

Published by

Teel

Author, artist, romantic, insomniac, exorcist, creative visionary, lover, and all-around-crazy-person.

23 thoughts on “AT&T "Customer Service"”

  1. i use to work in warranty exchange for a t & t and i know kevin and i know how very tude he can be. but i have to ask myself, what kind of idiot depends totally on a wireless phone for their only source of communication? it’s wireless for heaven sakes!!!! also, when you dial into warranty, the promt tells you to call from a landline. so, please, humor me and tell me where the logic is in your tale of woe. kevin may be a rude jerk but you are an arrogant idiot! the only relevant question here is “should kevin have chose to lose his job just to accomadate an insignificant stupid jerk like you?”

  2. i use to work in warranty exchange for a t & t and i know kevin and i know how very tude he can be. but i have to ask myself, what kind of idiot depends totally on a wireless phone for their only source of communication? it’s wireless for heaven sakes!!!! also, when you dial into warranty, the promt tells you to call from a landline. so, please, humor me and tell me where the logic is in your tale of woe. kevin may be a rude jerk but you are an arrogant idiot! the only relevant question here is “should kevin have chose to lose his job just to accomadate an insignificant stupid jerk like you?”

  3. i use to work in warranty exchange for a t & t and i know kevin and i know how very tude he can be. but i have to ask myself, what kind of idiot depends totally on a wireless phone for their only source of communication? it’s wireless for heaven sakes!!!! also, when you dial into warranty, the promt tells you to call from a landline. so, please, humor me and tell me where the logic is in your tale of woe. kevin may be a rude jerk but you are an arrogant idiot! the only relevant question here is “should kevin have chose to lose his job just to accomadate an insignificant stupid jerk like you?”

  4. i use to work in warranty exchange for a t & t and i know kevin and i know how very tude he can be. but i have to ask myself, what kind of idiot depends totally on a wireless phone for their only source of communication? it’s wireless for heaven sakes!!!! also, when you dial into warranty, the promt tells you to call from a landline. so, please, humor me and tell me where the logic is in your tale of woe. kevin may be a rude jerk but you are an arrogant idiot! the only relevant question here is “should kevin have chose to lose his job just to accomadate an insignificant stupid jerk like you?”

  5. Well, I don’t remember if I posted about this later or not, but it bears repeating; I didn’t end up calling from work. I called back from my wireless phone again a couple of days later and initiated the warranty exchange successfully without difficulty.

    I wonder what you mean by “it’s wireless for heaven sakes!!!” Even considering the hardware failure of this phone and the difficult customer service experience I had dealing with it, I’ve had less occurrences of lack of service, more satisfaction overall, a more positive customer experience, and less dificulty with hardware in general and with getting problems fixed in particular since I stopped using wired phone services and started using wireless phones exclusively. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to do business with USWest or QWest, but that is the only company that offers local wired telephone service in the city where I live, and if I can avoid it I will never do business with them again.

    As far as your other accusatory statements go, I’m not sure why you and Kevin are sure I’m an idiot, considering everything I said was right and I did manage to get my phone replaced without using a wired phone or getting anyone at AT&T fired. As far as your “relevant question”, Kevin should lose his job for having the same attitude he apparently taught you; that customers are insignificant. If you are no longer an employee of AT&T because you considered customers insignificant and were rude to them and called them stupid idiots, then I have confidence that Kevin will also be removed, and I have even more confidence in AT&T.

  6. Well, I don’t remember if I posted about this later or not, but it bears repeating; I didn’t end up calling from work. I called back from my wireless phone again a couple of days later and initiated the warranty exchange successfully without difficulty.

    I wonder what you mean by “it’s wireless for heaven sakes!!!” Even considering the hardware failure of this phone and the difficult customer service experience I had dealing with it, I’ve had less occurrences of lack of service, more satisfaction overall, a more positive customer experience, and less dificulty with hardware in general and with getting problems fixed in particular since I stopped using wired phone services and started using wireless phones exclusively. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to do business with USWest or QWest, but that is the only company that offers local wired telephone service in the city where I live, and if I can avoid it I will never do business with them again.

    As far as your other accusatory statements go, I’m not sure why you and Kevin are sure I’m an idiot, considering everything I said was right and I did manage to get my phone replaced without using a wired phone or getting anyone at AT&T fired. As far as your “relevant question”, Kevin should lose his job for having the same attitude he apparently taught you; that customers are insignificant. If you are no longer an employee of AT&T because you considered customers insignificant and were rude to them and called them stupid idiots, then I have confidence that Kevin will also be removed, and I have even more confidence in AT&T.

  7. Well, I don’t remember if I posted about this later or not, but it bears repeating; I didn’t end up calling from work. I called back from my wireless phone again a couple of days later and initiated the warranty exchange successfully without difficulty.

    I wonder what you mean by “it’s wireless for heaven sakes!!!” Even considering the hardware failure of this phone and the difficult customer service experience I had dealing with it, I’ve had less occurrences of lack of service, more satisfaction overall, a more positive customer experience, and less dificulty with hardware in general and with getting problems fixed in particular since I stopped using wired phone services and started using wireless phones exclusively. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to do business with USWest or QWest, but that is the only company that offers local wired telephone service in the city where I live, and if I can avoid it I will never do business with them again.

    As far as your other accusatory statements go, I’m not sure why you and Kevin are sure I’m an idiot, considering everything I said was right and I did manage to get my phone replaced without using a wired phone or getting anyone at AT&T fired. As far as your “relevant question”, Kevin should lose his job for having the same attitude he apparently taught you; that customers are insignificant. If you are no longer an employee of AT&T because you considered customers insignificant and were rude to them and called them stupid idiots, then I have confidence that Kevin will also be removed, and I have even more confidence in AT&T.

  8. To Whom It May Concern:

    I am an AT&T customer both from a personal and a business perspective. I am as frustrated as a consumer can be after spending over an hour of my day being transferred from one AT&T department to another for an issue that should have easily been addressed at the account setup.

    Today, I received a letter from AT&T – Receivable Management Departing stating that account # XXXXXX was delinquent in the amount of $$$$. Upon receiving this letter, I called AT&T to inquire about the situation. My first call was to the XXXXXX and it took 33 minutes for the customer rep to tell me that he doesn’t know which of my two cell #s (XXXXX= Corporate Phone) and YYYY= Personal Phone) belong to this delinquent account. He then transferred me to another department and we spend another 25 minutes going through the same Q&A process with the same poor result. I then dialed another AT&T # (1.800.888.7600) and it took another 20 minutes. However, this time the person on the line was able to tell me the following:

    1) This account was assigned to cell # 281.536.6237 (Corp Phone Account)
    2) This account was originally setup with Digital service – Individual Plan and was on an automatic billing via American Express Corp card.
    3) This cell # was then switched from Digital to GMS and then later moved from individual account to a Corporate Pool account.

    When I switched service plan from Digital to GMS, I specifically asked the local AT&T retail store whether I needed to reestablished my automatic payment…and I was informed “No You Do Not Sure!!!!!”. With that advice, I continued using the phone for approximately one more month and then switched to a Corporate Pool account. When this switch took place, I called AT&T to inquire if there’s an outstanding balance on the cell# and I was told “No Sure…and when you get your billing statement, the balance will be ZERO, because you’re now on a Corporate Pool plan”. These activities took place approximately 10 weeks ago, and now I get a letter telling me that my account will be “terminated” if the outstanding balance is not paid immediately. This balance would have been paid, if I were made aware of it!!

    It is frustrating to have to go through multiple loops, which impacts my productivity…especially when the situation could have been professionally addressed 10 weeks ago. I will escalate this issue to our corporate account director and hopefully something can be done about it. And, from a personal perspective, as soon as my personal cell phone contract ends…I WILL TERMINATE MY BUSINESS WITH AT&T, to include all products, i.e. home phone services, Internet services etc. I will also, communicate this unpleasant event to all that I come in contact with so they can take their business elsewhere.

    Very Disappointed,
    M

  9. To Whom It May Concern:

    I am an AT&T customer both from a personal and a business perspective. I am as frustrated as a consumer can be after spending over an hour of my day being transferred from one AT&T department to another for an issue that should have easily been addressed at the account setup.

    Today, I received a letter from AT&T – Receivable Management Departing stating that account # XXXXXX was delinquent in the amount of $$$$. Upon receiving this letter, I called AT&T to inquire about the situation. My first call was to the XXXXXX and it took 33 minutes for the customer rep to tell me that he doesn’t know which of my two cell #s (XXXXX= Corporate Phone) and YYYY= Personal Phone) belong to this delinquent account. He then transferred me to another department and we spend another 25 minutes going through the same Q&A process with the same poor result. I then dialed another AT&T # (1.800.888.7600) and it took another 20 minutes. However, this time the person on the line was able to tell me the following:

    1) This account was assigned to cell # 281.536.6237 (Corp Phone Account)
    2) This account was originally setup with Digital service – Individual Plan and was on an automatic billing via American Express Corp card.
    3) This cell # was then switched from Digital to GMS and then later moved from individual account to a Corporate Pool account.

    When I switched service plan from Digital to GMS, I specifically asked the local AT&T retail store whether I needed to reestablished my automatic payment…and I was informed “No You Do Not Sure!!!!!”. With that advice, I continued using the phone for approximately one more month and then switched to a Corporate Pool account. When this switch took place, I called AT&T to inquire if there’s an outstanding balance on the cell# and I was told “No Sure…and when you get your billing statement, the balance will be ZERO, because you’re now on a Corporate Pool plan”. These activities took place approximately 10 weeks ago, and now I get a letter telling me that my account will be “terminated” if the outstanding balance is not paid immediately. This balance would have been paid, if I were made aware of it!!

    It is frustrating to have to go through multiple loops, which impacts my productivity…especially when the situation could have been professionally addressed 10 weeks ago. I will escalate this issue to our corporate account director and hopefully something can be done about it. And, from a personal perspective, as soon as my personal cell phone contract ends…I WILL TERMINATE MY BUSINESS WITH AT&T, to include all products, i.e. home phone services, Internet services etc. I will also, communicate this unpleasant event to all that I come in contact with so they can take their business elsewhere.

    Very Disappointed,
    M

  10. To Whom It May Concern:

    I am an AT&T customer both from a personal and a business perspective. I am as frustrated as a consumer can be after spending over an hour of my day being transferred from one AT&T department to another for an issue that should have easily been addressed at the account setup.

    Today, I received a letter from AT&T – Receivable Management Departing stating that account # XXXXXX was delinquent in the amount of $$$$. Upon receiving this letter, I called AT&T to inquire about the situation. My first call was to the XXXXXX and it took 33 minutes for the customer rep to tell me that he doesn’t know which of my two cell #s (XXXXX= Corporate Phone) and YYYY= Personal Phone) belong to this delinquent account. He then transferred me to another department and we spend another 25 minutes going through the same Q&A process with the same poor result. I then dialed another AT&T # (1.800.888.7600) and it took another 20 minutes. However, this time the person on the line was able to tell me the following:

    1) This account was assigned to cell # 281.536.6237 (Corp Phone Account)
    2) This account was originally setup with Digital service – Individual Plan and was on an automatic billing via American Express Corp card.
    3) This cell # was then switched from Digital to GMS and then later moved from individual account to a Corporate Pool account.

    When I switched service plan from Digital to GMS, I specifically asked the local AT&T retail store whether I needed to reestablished my automatic payment…and I was informed “No You Do Not Sure!!!!!”. With that advice, I continued using the phone for approximately one more month and then switched to a Corporate Pool account. When this switch took place, I called AT&T to inquire if there’s an outstanding balance on the cell# and I was told “No Sure…and when you get your billing statement, the balance will be ZERO, because you’re now on a Corporate Pool plan”. These activities took place approximately 10 weeks ago, and now I get a letter telling me that my account will be “terminated” if the outstanding balance is not paid immediately. This balance would have been paid, if I were made aware of it!!

    It is frustrating to have to go through multiple loops, which impacts my productivity…especially when the situation could have been professionally addressed 10 weeks ago. I will escalate this issue to our corporate account director and hopefully something can be done about it. And, from a personal perspective, as soon as my personal cell phone contract ends…I WILL TERMINATE MY BUSINESS WITH AT&T, to include all products, i.e. home phone services, Internet services etc. I will also, communicate this unpleasant event to all that I come in contact with so they can take their business elsewhere.

    Very Disappointed,
    M

  11. To Whom It May Concern:

    I am an AT&T customer both from a personal and a business perspective. I am as frustrated as a consumer can be after spending over an hour of my day being transferred from one AT&T department to another for an issue that should have easily been addressed at the account setup.

    Today, I received a letter from AT&T – Receivable Management Departing stating that account # XXXXXX was delinquent in the amount of $$$$. Upon receiving this letter, I called AT&T to inquire about the situation. My first call was to the XXXXXX and it took 33 minutes for the customer rep to tell me that he doesn’t know which of my two cell #s (XXXXX= Corporate Phone) and YYYY= Personal Phone) belong to this delinquent account. He then transferred me to another department and we spend another 25 minutes going through the same Q&A process with the same poor result. I then dialed another AT&T # (1.800.888.7600) and it took another 20 minutes. However, this time the person on the line was able to tell me the following:

    1) This account was assigned to cell # 281.536.6237 (Corp Phone Account)
    2) This account was originally setup with Digital service – Individual Plan and was on an automatic billing via American Express Corp card.
    3) This cell # was then switched from Digital to GMS and then later moved from individual account to a Corporate Pool account.

    When I switched service plan from Digital to GMS, I specifically asked the local AT&T retail store whether I needed to reestablished my automatic payment…and I was informed “No You Do Not Sure!!!!!”. With that advice, I continued using the phone for approximately one more month and then switched to a Corporate Pool account. When this switch took place, I called AT&T to inquire if there’s an outstanding balance on the cell# and I was told “No Sure…and when you get your billing statement, the balance will be ZERO, because you’re now on a Corporate Pool plan”. These activities took place approximately 10 weeks ago, and now I get a letter telling me that my account will be “terminated” if the outstanding balance is not paid immediately. This balance would have been paid, if I were made aware of it!!

    It is frustrating to have to go through multiple loops, which impacts my productivity…especially when the situation could have been professionally addressed 10 weeks ago. I will escalate this issue to our corporate account director and hopefully something can be done about it. And, from a personal perspective, as soon as my personal cell phone contract ends…I WILL TERMINATE MY BUSINESS WITH AT&T, to include all products, i.e. home phone services, Internet services etc. I will also, communicate this unpleasant event to all that I come in contact with so they can take their business elsewhere.

    Very Disappointed,
    M

  12. To Whom It May Concern:

    I am an AT&T customer both from a personal and a business perspective. I am as frustrated as a consumer can be after spending over an hour of my day being transferred from one AT&T department to another for an issue that should have easily been addressed at the account setup.

    Today, I received a letter from AT&T – Receivable Management Departing stating that account # XXXXXX was delinquent in the amount of $$$$. Upon receiving this letter, I called AT&T to inquire about the situation. My first call was to the XXXXXX and it took 33 minutes for the customer rep to tell me that he doesn’t know which of my two cell #s (XXXXX= Corporate Phone) and YYYY= Personal Phone) belong to this delinquent account. He then transferred me to another department and we spend another 25 minutes going through the same Q&A process with the same poor result. I then dialed another AT&T # (1.800.888.7600) and it took another 20 minutes. However, this time the person on the line was able to tell me the following:

    1) This account was assigned to cell # 281.536.6237 (Corp Phone Account)
    2) This account was originally setup with Digital service – Individual Plan and was on an automatic billing via American Express Corp card.
    3) This cell # was then switched from Digital to GMS and then later moved from individual account to a Corporate Pool account.

    When I switched service plan from Digital to GMS, I specifically asked the local AT&T retail store whether I needed to reestablished my automatic payment…and I was informed “No You Do Not Sure!!!!!”. With that advice, I continued using the phone for approximately one more month and then switched to a Corporate Pool account. When this switch took place, I called AT&T to inquire if there’s an outstanding balance on the cell# and I was told “No Sure…and when you get your billing statement, the balance will be ZERO, because you’re now on a Corporate Pool plan”. These activities took place approximately 10 weeks ago, and now I get a letter telling me that my account will be “terminated” if the outstanding balance is not paid immediately. This balance would have been paid, if I were made aware of it!!

    It is frustrating to have to go through multiple loops, which impacts my productivity…especially when the situation could have been professionally addressed 10 weeks ago. I will escalate this issue to our corporate account director and hopefully something can be done about it. And, from a personal perspective, as soon as my personal cell phone contract ends…I WILL TERMINATE MY BUSINESS WITH AT&T, to include all products, i.e. home phone services, Internet services etc. I will also, communicate this unpleasant event to all that I come in contact with so they can take their business elsewhere.

    Very Disappointed,
    M

  13. To Whom It May Concern:

    I am an AT&T customer both from a personal and a business perspective. I am as frustrated as a consumer can be after spending over an hour of my day being transferred from one AT&T department to another for an issue that should have easily been addressed at the account setup.

    Today, I received a letter from AT&T – Receivable Management Departing stating that account # XXXXXX was delinquent in the amount of $$$$. Upon receiving this letter, I called AT&T to inquire about the situation. My first call was to the XXXXXX and it took 33 minutes for the customer rep to tell me that he doesn’t know which of my two cell #s (XXXXX= Corporate Phone) and YYYY= Personal Phone) belong to this delinquent account. He then transferred me to another department and we spend another 25 minutes going through the same Q&A process with the same poor result. I then dialed another AT&T # (1.800.888.7600) and it took another 20 minutes. However, this time the person on the line was able to tell me the following:

    1) This account was assigned to cell # 281.536.6237 (Corp Phone Account)
    2) This account was originally setup with Digital service – Individual Plan and was on an automatic billing via American Express Corp card.
    3) This cell # was then switched from Digital to GMS and then later moved from individual account to a Corporate Pool account.

    When I switched service plan from Digital to GMS, I specifically asked the local AT&T retail store whether I needed to reestablished my automatic payment…and I was informed “No You Do Not Sure!!!!!”. With that advice, I continued using the phone for approximately one more month and then switched to a Corporate Pool account. When this switch took place, I called AT&T to inquire if there’s an outstanding balance on the cell# and I was told “No Sure…and when you get your billing statement, the balance will be ZERO, because you’re now on a Corporate Pool plan”. These activities took place approximately 10 weeks ago, and now I get a letter telling me that my account will be “terminated” if the outstanding balance is not paid immediately. This balance would have been paid, if I were made aware of it!!

    It is frustrating to have to go through multiple loops, which impacts my productivity…especially when the situation could have been professionally addressed 10 weeks ago. I will escalate this issue to our corporate account director and hopefully something can be done about it. And, from a personal perspective, as soon as my personal cell phone contract ends…I WILL TERMINATE MY BUSINESS WITH AT&T, to include all products, i.e. home phone services, Internet services etc. I will also, communicate this unpleasant event to all that I come in contact with so they can take their business elsewhere.

    Very Disappointed,
    M

  14. Okay, so Iain got a leter from who the other day who had it all wrong. And then one about his Tortilla Machine. He’s in charge of RealPlayer and now Teel works for A T & T? Good grief are people retarded. 😐

  15. Okay, so Iain got a leter from who the other day who had it all wrong. And then one about his Tortilla Machine. He’s in charge of RealPlayer and now Teel works for A T & T? Good grief are people retarded. 😐

  16. Okay, so Iain got a leter from who the other day who had it all wrong. And then one about his Tortilla Machine. He’s in charge of RealPlayer and now Teel works for A T & T? Good grief are people retarded. 😐

  17. Okay, so Iain got a leter from who the other day who had it all wrong. And then one about his Tortilla Machine. He’s in charge of RealPlayer and now Teel works for A T & T? Good grief are people retarded. 😐

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