Why I hate AT&T Wireless - The worst cel phone company EVER

[SkipNewarkDE]

Well, those who bother to call me on my cel phone are all-too-familiar with just what a crappy bit of service it is that I have. Much of the blame lies in the RF-challenged Sony Ericsson T68i that I carry around with me. This phone has terrible reception. Indeed, I can be sitting there staring sullenly at my phone while someone on the same network with a different piece of hardware has no problems at all making a connection.

It all came to a head last week when frustration drove me to calling AT&T customer service and demanding a phone that actually WORKED with their network. The customer service woman told me that I was only able to get a replacement phone of the same model. I had gone this route. A replacement phone was simply more of the same unreliable doody. I wanted a different model phone.

I was informed that in order to get a different model phone, I would either have to pay full price, OR I could get a discount, if I agreed to extend my contract for another two years. I was already about nine months into my current contract. I was furious. In my mind, AT&T not providing reliable service and replacing a phone of questionable ability was the issue. A quick internet search revealed numerous complaints about the inability of this phone to get a signal or hold onto a signal or provide an audible connection. The woman persisted that this was the only way I could get a different model phone. I demanded the consumer relations department contact information, but agreed to place an order. I reasoned that I would take up the matter of contract extension with customer relations, as this low-level support lackey was not going to do anything for me.

A couple of days go by, and my phone, which was supposed to be FedEx'ed to me is no where to be found. I start calling AT&T. Every time I get through, the customer service drone informs me that he is unable to get into the system at this time, could I please call back. Apparently AT&T is switching their customer service system, and as a result, only limited numbers of their agents are able to access customer accounts at a time. This is rather absurd. Working at MBNA credit card bank, I have distinct memories of them running TWO customer service systems side-by-side when they phased into a new system. That way if one system was unavailable, they could just drill into the old system. You would think that the company that advertises itself on "Networking and Connectivity" would be a bit smarter about that.

Well anyway, I finally get through to someone who can look at my account on Friday morning, and I am assured that my order has been processed, the new phone is en route, and everything is all nice. BUT they are unable to provide me with a tracking number. I call back late Friday afternoon, and am told the system is unavailable, please call back later. Great. Friday evening, no delivery. I am sh*t out of luck for the weekend.

Monday, I call to complain about never receiving the phone, and ask for a tracking number. The customer service rep puts me on hold for fifteen minutes. He then comes back on the line, and says that they contacted FedEx, and that the phone hardware was in Reading, and on the truck for delivery that day to my place of work. I was relieved. That is, until 5:00 PM came along and no delivery was made.

Furious, I called AT&T. Their customer service system was unavailable, and I could not get a tracking number. I called FedEx. They could not tell me anything without a tracking number.

Tuesday morning, no phone. I call AT&T. Guess what? Their customer service system is not completely available. The woman does a search on my account, and determines that an order WAS placed a week ago, but it was never completed. Nothing had actually been shipped to me, that she could see. She talks to her help center, and they confirm this. So the stuff I was told yesterday about the phone "being on the truck and out for delivery" was total utter made-up bullshit.

I was furious. I told this dumb b*tch that I wanted to talk to her manager immediately. She goes away for fifteen minutes, and then comes back on and tells me that her manager will take my name and number, and get back to me within 48 to 72 hours. I was livid. I told her I wanted to be transferred to their consumer relations department. I was informed that unfortunately there was no number that one could contact for this. BUT if I would like, I could write a letter to them, and they would contact me in a couple of weeks. WHAT THE F%CK!?!?!?!?!?

I told her to get a phone out to me immediately, that I wanted something by tomorrow, as I need it for the holiday travel. I told her I would also be dropping my AT&T service, and will NOT pay to get out of my contract. After this bullsh*t, these f@ckers just better let it go, and not try to bill me for breaking the agreement.

I then made a nice call to the Better Business Bureau and filed a complaint.

So, the moral of this rambling rant is to stay the f_ck away from the Sony Ericsson T68i phone, as it proves that miniaturized shit is still shit. And avoid AT&T at all costs, because their customer service is f_cked up, and they are not above lying to customers.

What I really want is a PHONE NUMBER to their corporate office... something that doesn't go through their customer service center. I have been unable to find anything. I want to contact their consumer relations directly, rather than having to email or write a letter to those fuckers.

[GOPisEvil]

1. Wow. That is completely 180 degrees from my experiences.

AT&T has been good to me so far. I have a Nokia phone that is pretty decent, and gets good reception. In fact, they even shipped it WAY faster than promised.

:shrug: Can't help you with the corporate phone number, though. Sorry.

[mmm]

5. They consistently double-billed me 'by accident'...

and they make it very difficult to straighten out their
screw-ups.

[GOPisEvil]

6. I'll watch for that.

Maybe they're lulling me into a false sense of security. :D

[Blue_Chill]

12. I had the same experience as GOPisEvil

My nokia phone while not the coolest phone out there gets great reception and they shipped it next day at no cost to me.

I had Sprint before and if you think AT&T sucks......

[joeybee12]

2. Dump AT&T Wireless! They're going to start out-sourcing to India!

Screw them!

[mmm]

3. they are nasty and crooked as all get out

[meegbear]

4. Also remember ...

with the "ablilty" to switch service providers but keep numbers, they're getting slammed.

[Kookaburra]

8. Number switching aside, they're still horrible

I had similar problems with them about 3 - 4 years ago -- vowed to never do business with them again. I now handle our corporate land lines and mobile phones. It's all I can do to keep from laughing in their faces when they request a meeting to go over their services. Never again.

[On the Road]

7. Hey, Try Verizon

They have pretty good coverage, and Delaware's right in the heart of the network. A lot depends on the specific location -- for some reason, I have difficulty in parts of College Park and Chevy Chase that you would think would be well covered.

I changed from a Motorola to a Qualcom -- both are OK but none are completely reliable. Too bad about the Ericsson.

[classics]

9. AT&T has done this before.

They sold tens of thousands of Nokia 8260's they knew were only semi-compatible with thier TDMA network, and then stuck the customers with them. Even after they knew the phones didnt work right in many of thier TDMA markets they kept selling them.

No replacement except the same broken model of phone. Customers stuck in 2-years contacts with phones that hardly worked at all, many suckered into 2-year extensions just to get another phone.

IMHO doing business with ATTWS is like strolling though a mine field. When things go bad, they really really go bad.

[CPschem]

10. They're the worst!

EVERY month i write my new address down on the back of my bill where new mailing addresses are supposed to be placed. It's been 4 months since i moved and they still send my bill to my old address (and they don't even get that right- but they're close enough for it to be delivered). Now, since they're seriously delayed in getting to me, i keep sending my bills back to them late... and they try to charge me a late fee! arrrrrgggggg!

[demon67]

11. Trust me. Verizon is much better.

I used to have ATT Wireless. I would lose signal and have dropped calls all the time -- most ironically every time I drove by ATT's then-world headquarters in Basking Ridge, NJ.

Finally, I dumped ATT and went with Verizon. The difference is night and day. In my part of the world, Verizon has a much better network. Moreover, their customer service people are simply the best. Quit banging your head against the wall and make the switch. It will make a huge difference.

[AmandaRuth]

13. Go aheld and yell at her, she is used to it. Won't get ya anywhere.

"I was furious. I told this dumb b*tch that I wanted to talk to her manager immediately."




I work for a big corporation doing customer service in a call center and I really wanted to comment on the above. I can only talk about my experiences which you may or may not find enlightening. I sit in front of a computer for 8 hours, and I am hooked up to a phone. You cannot get up for any reason, no going to the bathroom or getting a cup of joe. Too bad if you have to pee, you just hope you can last.

You talk to customers all day, one right after another, with no break in between, you are expected to complete your paperwork while on the call as well as record in calltrack all the details (who what where why when) of the call. You are expected to talk to the customer, while trying to read information on the computer and typing something completely different at the same time. The customers are openly aggressive and hostile, often taking it out of the csr. The calls never stop coming one right after another, as soon as you hang up, it rings again. This is by far, the most stressful job I have ever had, it is usually about midnight before I can calm down enough to go to sleep. My wrists hurt from typing for 8 hours straight , and my back hurts from being tense all day. Your employee evaluations have nothing to do with problems solved but rather with the number of calls you take and the length of the call, the first number should be high, the second low.

Since you are the "voice" of the company, you are expected to cure all the customers problems, however on most of them you have no resources or authority to do anything about. Eventually the calls melt into sort of a sameness, just another pissed off person. It is unusual that a person is kind, or friendly, those I remember and get the best service. I usually go out of my way for these people, often taking care of them while I am untethered, on my own breaks or lunch, when I can get up and go talk to someone face to face. I know you are not going to like to read this, but this is the reality of anyone who takes calls in a customer service center.

[SkipNewarkDE]

15. For this reason, I asked for a manager

I have worked in a call center, for MBNA America. I know what it is like. Believe me, I try very hard to be extremely nice to these people.

HOWEVER I had called AT&T wireless probably twenty times about this issue. The ONLY way the sameness of calls is going to make a dent and motivate a customer service rep to approach their manager and say "HEY, THERE'S A PROBLEM HERE!" IS to make it very clear that the problem needs escalated. My issue with their reps is that they will not escalate the problem, but merely either a) Lie, or b) Refuse to do anything. It's bullshit, it is poor training.

Quite frankly, I could give a flying f about how awful the job is for these people. It is NO EXCUSE to NOT put a good face on the company. Were I to have done any of the shit these people pulled on me, my ass would have been unemployed very quickly at MBNA.

[AlabamaYankee]

14. Try goiing to an AT&T store

There you can at least talk to somebody face to face.

My son actually gotr them to reduce some cahrges that he thought were out of line. It's harder for clerks to tell you "no" when you are phuysically in front of them