AT&T Business practices are a joke...

I am sending this correspondence to express disappointment and dissatisfaction with the continued poor customer service I received from AT&T representatives to resolve a problem with our account.  So much dissatisfaction that we will no longer be using AT&T services and have switched to Comcast.  So much dissatisfaction that I am planning to cancel my personal Cricket mobile account as a way of severing all ties with AT&T.  I outline my reasons below...

Back in early December, I was elected to the treasurer position through our organization - A******** A********* of E********* (Account #****** [Uverse Internet] and #******* [telephone]).  We are an organization that serves about 500 members and operates on a very part-time volunteer staff of 3 - only one of us are ever working in the office at any one time, and we are only in the office when we can make time after working our full-time jobs as employees of the Atlanta Public Schools.  When I took over this position, I inherited a bookkeeping nightmare.  Mounds of unpaid bills, taxes not filed, unethical uses of money and many expired and un-negotiated contracts.  I will not bother you with all those details except where they relate to our relationship with AT&T.  To give perspective, we were paying almost $750/month for wireless internet and phone lines that were no longer used from an expired contract that ballooned to astronomical prices.  This is not necessarily AT&Ts problem - the fact that the former treasurer was stupid enough to pay that exuberant price and not call to renegotiate prices and plans is our organization’s fault.  However, we would continue to be customers of AT&T today if it weren’t for a number of unfortunate downfalls in AT&T operating protocols that are very anti-customer.

The week of December 26, I called AT&T to explain our dilemma of paying almost $750/month between the two accounts.  Each representative with whom I spoke was dumbfounded by that astronomical price.  I spoke to a few kind people and we were able to renegotiate the services we need for a far more reasonable price.  And then it came time to schedule an install.  I was all set to enter a new contract with AT&T until it came down to the inflexible scheduling of service.  As I stated earlier, we operate an all-volunteer staff of 3 and we each work full-time.  AT&T offered no weekend opportunities or times after 4:00pm.  None of us get out of work before 4 to be at the office to open it.  Comcast offers much more flexibility in scheduling installation and service times - times that extend well into the evening and weekends - so we had no choice but to invest a slightly higher cost than the new negotiated AT&T price in order to be serviced at a time convenient for all parties [the way a good business operates].

As unfortunate and disappointing as this outcome was, it was the events that transpired afterward that has led me to the decision to never enter into an AT&T contract for both personal and business purposes ever again...

It has taken since the start of the current year to present day (over 3 weeks) to return the equipment to you.  A process that should be so simple has turned into numerous long phone calls plagued with many transfers only to hit brick walls along the way.  As I stated earlier, I inherited a bookkeeper’s nightmare.  When calling customer service, there were many pieces of information they wanted from me that I could not provide because my predecessor is nowhere to be found.  Specifically the 4-digit passcode and security question.  Those pieces of information were never made privy to me by my predecessor.  I am quite familiar with privacy laws and protocols and fully respect the protocols needed to protect consumers.  But after explaining the situation over a dozen times to each representative to whom I was transferred, something should have been done much sooner to rectify the problem of getting the equipment returned.  I wasn’t asking to change the account, I wasn’t asking any private information about my predecessor, I was simply trying to get AT&T equipment returned to AT&T.  To make matters more frustrating, each representative would hear my frustration and tell me at the start of the call, “I’m so sorry.  I’m going to help you”.  What a joke!  By the last phone call on Friday, January 19, I told each rep to whom I was transferred to stop apologizing and saying she is going to help because everybody rep before her said those exact words and 19 days and many hours of phone calls later, I’m still having the same conversation.  I would preface each call by stating that I do not know the passcode or security question because of the mess I inherited, only to be asked if I knew the passcode or security question.  Throughout all the conversations, I was finally directed on January 17 to go to an AT&T store with the equipment.  The reps at the AT&T store said they could not take the equipment, but to satisfy me they called customer service only to go through the same circus all over again with needing to provide the 4-digit passcode and favorite restaurant security question.  Then, I was directed on January 18 to return the equipment to a UPS Store.  On the 19th, I went to the UPS Store and the gal at the UPS Store could not retrieve the account information to print a label and called customer service only to go back into this circus show again.  And nobody could help me without a passcode or security question.  HOW CAN THIS SITUATION BE RECTIFIED IF NOBODY EVER GAVE ME THAT INFORMATION AND THE PERSON WHO HAS IT CANNOT BE FOUND?!?!?!?!?!?!  All I wanted to do was return YOUR equipment!  After several more hours and serveral more representatives and supervisors, the gentleman on the other end of the line asked for the serial number on the equipment and within 20 minutes he was able to get a label printed and the boxes sent to my home in order to mail your equipment back to you.  What a load of aggravation just to get your equipment back to you - and why did this gentleman have the magic wand to finally expedite the process that countless representatives and supervisors from across the globe could not do??

If it takes 3 weeks for a customer to return your equipment to you, there is something seriously flawed with the processes and protocol of the company.  If I have to keep being transferred to countless people across the country and globe and get nowhere with each person, something is terribly flawed with the processes and protocol of the company.  If each rep I speak to is programmed like a robot to preface each call with “I’m so sorry, I’m going to help you fix this” and 3 weeks later there is no help and no fix, there is something flawed with the processes and protocol of the company.  If the only way to return equipment is to provide a secret 4-digit code that has never been supplied to me, something is seriously flawed with the protocol and processes of the company (side note:  Comcast equipment can simply be dropped off at the Comcast Store, no questions asked and no mysterious code needed).  If a company is not able to meet the needs of its customers to provide flexibility with scheduling service (M-F from 9-4 is not flexible), something is terribly flawed with the protocol and processes of this company.  And it is for all these reasons that I am severing all business, and now personal, ties with AT&T.  As much as I have grown to dislike Comcast through the years, their evils pale in comparison to those of AT&T.

I would appreciate a follow-up email or phone call.  Due to all the frustration, aggravation, and the hours of time invested to take care of such a minuscule task, I am seeking credit back into our bank account to recoup some of the loss on the astronomical phone bills over the last 6 months - something my predecessor should have done but failed to do.  I can be reached after 4:00pm most days and if a message is left, I will return the phone call as soon as I am able within your business hours.


Cordially,

Samuel D