Problems with AT&T

I have four items combined into one
bill, handled by one company, AT&T.
I did that to make paying bills easier,
now I have to rethink that.

I have my cell, my satellite service,

my home phone and my internet
with this company that I feel has
bitten off more then they can chew,
at least when it comes to customer
service. There customer service
pretty much sucks. You either
have to call or be transferred to
other people, or you get someone
who acts like they know what
they are doing, or you get one
that try’s to sell you something
else while you are calling to try
and get a problem fixed.

In April, I called about a download

that was done to my cell, that I did
not request and I was being charged
$10.00 for. But now only that,
because the download had
happened, I keep getting message’s
texted over my cell. The woman I
talked with said that either they
could block all text’s coming in,
which I did not want. I don’t text
but I get text’s. Or they could
discontinue the download and
that would stop the texts. I went
with that one. I was then told to
pay the $10.00 and I would be
credited that amount on the next
bill…… Okay, so I don’t have a
college degree, how will I ever
know if I was credited? And that
is what you need to have to be
able to read their bills.

But with that done, the woman

begins to tell me that the price
has been changed on the complete
choice pack I have, it dropped.
Now, I also have a problem with
this, if you have a package or
product with AT&T and the price
goes down, should there not be a
way that everyone that has the
package gets the same deal…..NO,
not with them, you have to call in
for some other reason and when
they notice, they mention. Otherwise
you never know. I have had this
happen once with the price of my
internet also. But anyway, I was
told that I could get the price
change, long distance added,
voice mail added and up my
internet speed and actually
be paying $16.00 less then I
do now. Sounds like a good
deal, so stupid me went with it.

My first bill after the changes was

$100.00 more then what my regular
bill was the month before. I was
being charged for things that I did
not ask for. I don’t know if I was
credited the $10.00 for the download,
I don’t know if it was discontinued
since I still get text messages…..
but I was being charged so much
more for the changes that was
suppose to be cheaper.

The next bill was once again, over

$100.00 more then it should be. I
called. I was not happy. I got this
woman on the phone, I explained
the problem. I pointed out that I
was being charged for some items
under my package that I should
not be charged for. I was told that
they were not included in my pack
and I did not ask for them. She said
she could credit that back and take
that off. I asked then what my bill
would run a month. It was only
going to be $4.00 less then I started
out with. I explained that the woman
before quoted me a price that said
a difference of $16.00. Her reply
was that she was not sure what
the other woman was quoting.
Then she went on to ask me was
I satisfied with my satellite service,
that they could change that with a
cable and my price for all would be
192.00. I told her know and she
asked was the price part of the
reason, I told her part of that was
it. So she comes back with a price
of 179.00. I then told her, trying to
be nice that I would have to think
about it. Then I went back to questions
on the bill I had called about. She
then asked why I had to think about
it…..Okay, I was being nice, but that
rocked the boat. I was pissed now.
I told her to listen, I was only saying
it once: I called to straighten out the
bill at hand, I was not interested in
talking about changing anything
since I had already explained to
her that every time I change something,
they screwed it up and I have to spend
an hour on the phone that I don’t
have to spend to begin with to fix it.
That she better not bring it up again
because I did not want anything else
screwed up. At which point I am
sure she was biting her tongue to
say that she was sorry for the
inconvenience this has caused….
and which at this point, I did not
bite my tongue, I don’t her she
was going to be sorry if I took
everything I had with AT&T and
moved to another company. She
finally quoted me a price for the
bill and it was still not right so I
have to make yet another call to
their fantastic customer service
department to get this all worked
out. When I make this call I will
see what kind of contract I am
under for the internet and the
satellite, my cell is not under
contract. I am going to be working
on getting this stuff fixed or I will
move to another provider even if I
have to split it all up and have all
those bills coming in instead of the one.

Like I said, this is not the first time I

have run into this stuff with them. I
changed my satellite service, quoted
a price, when the bill came I was
paying $10.00 more a month then
what I was told. According to the
provider that handles that for AT&T,
I was quoted the wrong price….
go figure. By the way, Mom did the
same change on her account as I did,
in January, it took her four months
to get her bill fixed correctly……
GREAT customer service for a company

that has gotten to big for its own pants.

Thanks for stopping in,
Pam

Comments

Anonymous said…
OMG..I could 'read' the frustration in your column this morning. Wow sometimes I think they just get people off the street and don't train them properly to handle their Customer Service Dept. For the most part, these individuals are just reading from a manual and don't really understand the workings of the packages they are trying to sell or adjust for you. And this...just makes AT&T look very bad. Not only does it frustrates customers...like you, customers start turning to other venues in the hope of working out their Bill problems, hence, a lost customer for AT&T. In this economy...that is very sad and very bad business. Next time..don't talk to the Customer Service Rep...ask for their Department Supervisor..explain that your time is valuable as well and you don't have the time to explain your situation AGAIN. Document dates, times, names, departments and the problem in question. And…very importantly, document what they say they are going to do for you…have them give you the total amount that will be charged on your bill per month. I know it sounds like a lot of work..but in the end..you have what it takes to back-up what's been said..since it seems they don't log the information to your call and the next rep is just going to set u off again and maybe make matters worse because rep '3' doesn't know what rep '2' said/promised..or what rep '1' originally did to your account. Everyone is clueless and they are not taking your word for it.. If all else fails, contact the Editor of the column in your local newspaper that deals with cases like these and have them fight the case for you. CYA and good luck my friend! Nancy M.; Ohio

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