Contacted AT&T today about service interruption. The customer support rep told me that I would need to pay the past due balance was $76 and then they would be able to restore services. After going and making an $80 deposit I called them back on the direct line to the department that the rep works. I was then advised that they could not restore services for the $76, instead I would need to pay $135. Come on AT&T! I know that you are a large company and it is hard for everyone to get on the same page but where is the line drawn? When do you hold your reps accountable for what they advise customers? Valued customer? That is definitely not what I felt like today. Instead I felt like someone you guys could do with or without. I guess that is the truth of it. After all I'm just one account of many, right?

One year ago an AT&T sales rep signed me up for a promotional deal without disclosing the fact that it required a one-year agreement, which was also not clear from the paperwork they sent. As the end of the agreement approached, I called to ask what would happen. A different salesperson told me that the price would go from $25/mo to $40. I told them I was no longer interested. Then they transferred me to "Retention, " where I was told to call back on the day my agreement expired and they would sign me up for a new agreement, $20/mo. I called on that day and was sent to a different "retention" person who told me that I could have that agreement but I must first pay three months at the $40 rate. I objected on the grounds that the previous rep had given me a different story. We went around and around on this, and finally the rep offered me a $20 rebate, but said that under no circumstances could he put the agreement in writing -- he claimed "the computer system wouldn't let him." The whole thing seems extremely shady to me, and he also told me that there was "another company involved" which made it difficult for him to honor promises made. I asked to speak to his supervisor and he said he didn't have one -- that he was in effect his own supervisor.

AT&T DSL LINE PROBLEMS:
On Thursday March 17th I lost my line for the property at 150 East First Street.
Phone number is 407-365-7363
I called (on Thursday night, after 9:00p.m. because of my cell Phone anytime hours.)
1-888-321-2375 Fla. DSL Line help desk.

The man (Help Desk-Miguel?) staff insisted that the problem was my Modem. Which I knew was not so he refused to do any testing of the line. Disgusted I hung up with no satisfaction.

Friday after 9:00 p.m. I called to get assistance again from your Help Desk. Lynn did testing to my phone connection assured me I had no Phone connection. She then placed a service call in for a DSL tech to check the connection out in person.

The call was to be made somewhere between 8:00 a.m. and noon Sat. March 19th. I stayed home in hopes I would have a network back up and running. The DSL tech checked my connection in the house, found no tone. Went to the outside of my House checked and found there was an open line to my house. He then placed a called for a tech to be sent out and assured me that my line would be available at the latest 6:00p.m. Sat. March 19th.
By 5:25 with no service I called again to the Help desk (Michelle??), who transferred me to the Line restore people at 866-237-5249 MY WO # 10975076
Antes(?) was the next Help desk person I talked with, after being on hold for 40 minutes she assured me someone would be here by 6:00p.m. Sunday.
NO SHOW again. Again I called the helpdesk, asked for the Supervisor instead of Held desk tech (mostly I could not even understand his English). Supervisor after 24 minutes of waiting name was Laura Badge Number CN8891 did check my complaint, made the statement NO ONE EVER does service on Sunday and that my order was for the 21st at 3:00p.m. A DSL & Line tech would be at my house. I told her that was the poorest service I have ever experienced and would be filing a complaint.

Monday at 8:15 an AT&T line man called he was down the street and wanted to see how he could find a solution for my Line problem. It took him approx. an hour to get the line connected and my service restored. He agreed the HELP DESK did not perform their job well. The problem with AT&T is you’re TOO big; have little or no trained Americans working your help desk.

After 4 months of the worst DSL service ever I cancelled it. Returned 2 modems, got billed for a 3rd $200+.I called for an address to return the 3rd modem which I found, no tech support person knew where to send it so I sent it Priority Mail to the billing address with a lengthy, boldly printed note to forward it to the proper department. well... it appears that did not happen and now I have bill collectors calling me. Now I cannot find anywhere on line to contact a human at ATT to clear this up. Oh yes may I add that I spent hours and hours on hold waiting for help w/ this issue and I will not call them again. I need a corporate address or some way to let them know that the Modem was returned and some idiot couldn't get it where it needed to go!!

Summary: If you have a problem, ask to be sent straight to customer retention. They are the only ones that (kind of) know what they are doing. You'll save 2 hours.
Full: First off, I was initially at fault because I got behind on my bill and my service got disconnected. But on 12/29/10, I discovered that I absolutely had to have access for work over the weekend. I'm tight on money, but decide if they can get me back on by the weekend I won't wait until payday and instead pay it right now, even though that really puts a squeeze on me.

12/29/2010 4p - call 800-244-444 and get a VRU that takes way to long to get to a rep. I ask the rep how long it will take and she gives several options based on how I pay, but none of them are over a day. I thank her, and tell her I will pay it. After my payment is made, she then tells me that my account has been entirely disconnected and I'll have to be assigned a new account and that will take about 15 minutes. Seems kind of ridiculous, but OK. She then proceeds to ask me for all kinds of info that is already on the original account. Again, ridiculous but OK. Finally we finish up and she gives me an account ending in 9501. Then she tells me that because it's a new account# service will not be restored until tomorrow between 8a and 5p and that I would need my new account # when I restored my modem to service. Not what was promised before I made payment, but it still fits my timeline so OK. BUT - I was not expecting to need to retain anything from the call, so I didn't have anything to write with/on. She told me no problem, just call in tomorrow with my name and address and they'll give me the #. Big mistake.

12/30/2010 Call 1 - again call 800-244-444 and get a VRU that takes way to long to get to a rep. I tell the rep the story from yesterday and he says I need to call877-722-3425.

12/30/2010 Call 2 - call above # and get a different vru. After I answer a few questions it transfers me to the vru from call 1.

12/30/2010 Call 3 - again call 800-244-444 and get a VRU that takes way to long to get to a rep. After I give all my personal info and spend about 10 minutes with the rep, they tell me they don't have a record for me getting service. Christ. I hang up and go retrieve my old account # from my records; they've got to be able to find my new order then right?

12/30/2010 Call 4 - again call 800-244-444 and get a VRU, etc. I give the rep my old account#, she locates me. I tell her the story from yesterday. She doesn't seem to get it. Spend over 50 minutes on the phone, back & forth, on hold for long times while she's supposedly calling other depts, finally she comes back and says shes generated a new account # for me. Then she starts asking me all the same questions the rep from yesterday asked. I said "I *told* you I already did all this yesterday. I just need the new account #". She told me there was no record of any new accounts generated and so she just made a new one, which ends in #9513. I ask her when I'll have service and she says 1/5/2011. This is now completely out of my timeline. I told her the rep yesterday said it would be today; can't she get it on today? Nope - *no way* it can be on before 1/5. I've been getting annoyed this whole time; now I'm pissed. I ask for an address where I can write to send a complaint. She hims and haws for awhile and finally says that such a thing doesn't exist but I could call "customer service" (who the hell am I talking to now?) at 888-800-4095.

12/30/2010 Call 5 - Call the 888 # and get a rep who patiently sits through my rant. First good experience, at least he *seemed* to get what had taken place, although he never really confirmed it. But alas, there's nothing he can do but transfer me to dsl "customer retention" and talk to them and try to get me a fee discount.

12/30/2010 Call 5/transfer to "customer retention" - It appears previous rep did not understand story because this woman I'm talking to now does not have the full story. She thinks the only calls I've made have been today and that I only had 1 new # generated. She calls up my "new account#" and gives me the account ending in 9501. It took her exactly 15 seconds to accomplish what the previous 90 minutes could not. I say "Can you tell me when that account was created?" Oh, looky there that account was created yesterday. Then I give here the account ending in 9513. After she brings that account up, she gets it now. She cancels out the 9513 account, but says that the 9501 account still can't be deployed until 1/4/2011. I ask her why the rep yesterday said it would be today, and I never get a direct reply to that, just "the system determines the dates". Finally she agrees to see if she can get the deployment expedited, but no promises. (That's not possible right?) Finally, satisfaction. I get a call back about 20 minutes later saying that she was successful; it will be deployed sometime in the next 24 hours. Thank you Gerry (spelling?).

Moral: (1) Maybe choose another provider. (2) Don't get behind on your bill (3) if customer service (or whoever) doesn't seem to get it, they probably don't. Escalate right away instead of bantering forever