Just in case you've been wondering the type of things I've been writing lately, here's something that demands a blog post. Officially sending this to AT&T headquarters in Dallas, TX. See how versatile I am? haha.
To whom it may concern:
My name is Hope Howell. I am a 23-year-old graduate student from Conyers, GA currently living in Athens, GA. I share a 2-bedroom apartment with my roommate, Meredith, who is also a full-time graduate student at the University of Georgia. We became AT&T customers in August after purchasing a 6-month AT&T U-Verse promotional offer. After much distress and deliberation, I feel compelled to report my extremely disappointing and disconcerting experience with your company.
[Before I explain my experience as a customer, it is necessary to preface my testimony by declaring that I was initially a supporter and satisfied patron of AT&T. After all, I was an AT&T cell phone customer until my father decided to switch family plans to Verizon; during my family’s contract with AT&T, I don’t remember having any major problems or issues with our AT&T service to speak of.]
I moved into my current apartment in August of 2011. My roommate Meredith, who had also lived in the apartment the year before, said that her name was already on the water and electric bill and asked if I would mind taking care of the cable. Of course, I agreed. She then advised me not to renew the contract with our current cable provider, Charter, claiming the customer service was terrible and both the consistency and strength of the wireless was unpredictable.
As I began to research cable providers, I soon realized that for whatever reason AT&T and Charter essentially have a monopoly in the Athens, GA area. AT&T’s prices were a little steeper than we had agreed to pay, but the customer service representative for AT&T told me that we could subscribe to a 6-month plan (which we could cancel at any time we were dissatisfied) and that when the offer expired, we could sign up for another promotional sale for the remaining 6 months. The price was still a challenge, but my roommate and I agreed that we were willing to pay the extra amount because we were convinced that AT&T would make up for these prices with their customer service and reliable product. After all, signing up with AT&T was so quick and easy, there were no binding contracts like its competitors and as students with three part-time jobs each, we liked the idea of not having a bill until after almost three weeks of having the service.
The only challenge was that while I signed up for service August 17th, due to AT&T’s high demand in the area –particularly with the influx of new student/apartment orders - the AT&T crew could not install our cable until September 15th at the earliest. However, when I told the customer service representative that we were graduate students who deeply relied on wireless internet 24/7 to complete numerous research assignments, not to mention correspond online to our professors, employers and clients, the female representative assured me that she could get our apartment a earlier installation date. She explained that the person that could handle this, Mr. Edward Grant, was out of the office, but she gave me his number and said that he would sort everything out for me. The following day, I called Mr. Grant and left a voicemail, but did not hear back for three days. On the fourth day, with the first week of school approaching, I called again, only to hear “MAILBOX FULL.”
After two weeks, I knew this express-installation offer was a pipedream. I checked my cable installation date online and we were still scheduled for Sept. 15th. Again, we knew it would be a L-O-N-G month without TV or internet, but Meredith and I agreed it would be worth it in the end.
Even now, two months later, I am STILL waiting for Mr. Grant to return my calls.
FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH, my roommate and I stayed late in the libraries on campus to open .pdfs and research our assignments; we begged the receptionist of our apartment complex to let us use their computer to check our emails from our professors and employers; we even had to stop by friends’ apartments to see the president address the nation on television. Through all these efforts, we told ourselves to be patient, and that if we could just hold on until Sept. 15th, AT&T would swoop in and save the day, installing the much-needed wireless and cable we paid for.
Unfortunately, on Sept. 8th I received notice from the varsity softball coach where Meredith and I work that our athletic director had scheduled a game for our JV softball team on the afternoon of Sept. 15th. Having that date already burned in my brain, I automatically knew that meant neither I nor Meredith could be there for the installation. I immediately began to call AT&T, hoping they could help us or offer some advice regarding our situation. Surely someone else has been in this position before, I thought.
After being transferred to eight different departments and memorizing the twenty-step “press 1 for…” dial procedure every time I got disconnected from customer service, I guess I thought wrong. Each time I would explain that neither residents of the apartment could be present for the agreed installation date, but we had already been waiting a month for this installation, and asked if there was ANY possible way to either reschedule for a later date, move the time of installation that day, or even see if the installation could take place without both of us present. It seemed as though your customer service staff had never been asked to adjust an appointment before. After having to explain who I was and my conflict situation for every single operator I was transferred to (each one, SUPPOSEDLY more specifically qualified to handle my case than the last), I was hoping to get some sort of informed assistance. However, all I received were disclaimers and asinine comments like “Ma’am, I wouldn’t know who to ask about that,” and “See, I’m just in an office in North Carolina, I don’t know anything about what they’re doing in Georgia…” and so forth. THESE ARE DIRECT QUOTES from different departments. My favorite moment: when I suggested possibly rescheduling for a later date, the male operator looked at the installation schedule and laughed at me, saying “OH NO GIRL, that’s crazy, you don’t wanna do that….it’ll take forever ’til they come back.” These people work for you, correct? Call me crazy, but I was under the impression that a professional customer service operator should not tease the customer, much less joke about the shoddy service of the company they are supposed to represent.
No one knew who to contact, what to ask, or what the actual protocol for this situation was. It seems to me there is absolutely ZERO communication between those signing up customers, those contracted to install the service and those expected to handle customer service issues. Even when I asked if they had the number of the company or the contracted professionals that were supposed to be coming to my home (in hopes of explaining my situation to them, and possibly working out a compromise firsthand), the representative replied that AT&T had no way of knowing who or how many people would be coming to install that day.
Well, that-as a customer and as a young, single female letting complete strangers in my home- just makes me feel incredibly safe.
Yes, you are a large company. Yes, the office operations in North Carolina may run differently than the offices in Georgia – but you all work for the SAME COMPANY. It’s my understanding that customer service individuals should be both knowledgeable and prepared not only to understand potential customer service issues, but to also communicate those policies to the customer with professionalism and courtesy. I wasn’t asking them to perform a miracle for me. I understood that AT&T and I had an agreement for Sept. 15th – I also understood that if anything had to change, the legwork would have to come from my end. However, for me to call several times and speak to countless people only to hear “You know, I don’t know….” --- I couldn’t even help myself if I wanted to, because no one could provide any answers.
Finally, I reached a customer service representative who eased all my fears. He told me that it would not be wise to ask for a later date, and that moving my installment date/time earlier or later that day was nearly impossible, but luckily, it’s AT&T’s policy that as long as someone is there to let the cable installer in, the customer does not have to be present for the installation.
“Perfect. I can come late to the game to let the cable guy in. The apartment door locks on its own, so there’s no problem with him having to lock anything after he leaves,” I said. “I would normally never let a stranger in my home alone, but we’re just that desperate.”
The operator assured me that AT&T employees wouldn’t steal anything and that he had just moved us to PRIORITY #1 on the installation schedule. “Your appointment says 1-3, but AT&T takes “Priority” cases very seriously, so be prepared for them to arrive around 12:30,” he said. After going through the gauntlet of all those inane operators, I was exhausted, but relieved someone finally helped me, and was even glad someone could provide ‘priority’ status for me.
Sept. 15th, D-Day: 12:30 rolls around….1:00 …..1:30…….Finally, I get a call from the cable guy at 2 p.m. saying he’s outside my apartment and no one will let him in. I go outside and proceed to pace around the entire apartment complex looking for him and calling out landmarks until he realizes he’s at the wrong place, and what’s worse, in the wrong town.
He FINALLY arrives 20 minutes before we have to leave for our game, barging in and blaming his GPS for being out of state (umm …it’s a GPS. It’s universal) and saying “I’m from south Florida…we don’t have area codes like this.” He finally begins to work and cannot locate the outlet in which to center the installation process. The cable guy, my roommate and I spend the next ten minutes scaling all the walls of the apartment looking for this specific outlet, at which point he admits to us that he works for a different company that was contracted for the week by AT&T and actually isn’t exactly sure how to set the U-Verse up.
Two hours late, and we get someone who’s not even familiar with an AT&T installation?! That doesn’t exactly scream “PRIORITY #1” to me.
At 2:30 Meredith and I start to leave for our game. I tell the cable guy that we appreciate him coming, but that something came up and we had to leave. I then told him not to worry because I’d spoken with AT&T earlier in the week about it and they were fine with it-- to which the cable guy replies, “Well, if you leave, then I have to leave.”
He proceeds to call who I can only imagine is his supervisor and is told that he cannot work if no one is there. I then spend the next ten minutes talking to the man’s supervisor, (pretty fed up at this point with all that I have endured with AT&T’s alleged “outstanding” customer service) and told him our situation, and that while I wouldn’t make this man my hostage, we could not and would not go another GOD KNOWS HOW LONG without the internet we so desperately needed. He replied that there was nothing he could do, and that he wasn’t sure who told me that they could install unsupervised, but he was wrong. Through my explanation, I told him that I shouldn’t have to skip class or take a sick day off of work to get the service I was already promised time and time again. The supervisor treated me like I was overreacting and kept repeating “Hey, ma’am, I’m trying to help you, here.”
It was all I could do not to scream back “You’re not helping me- you’re cleaning up after your own mess!” Yes, it’s appreciated, and I’m not trying to downplay anyone’s favor, but let’s be honest here – it’s your job. I understand that my situation was not entirely the cable guy or the supervisor’s fault, but it’s incredibly condescending to hear “Hey, AT&T is trying to help you,” and being treated as though I’m ungrateful when if it wasn’t for AT&T’s errors and faulty business practices, I wouldn’t need help in the first place. Am I seriously PAYING you people to be treated this way?
I eventually pleaded/haggled my way to where the cable guy had to put everything back and leave, but AT&T could squeeze me in from 11-1 the following day. I won’t even bring up the fact that I had to take a sick day off of work to finally see this installation into fruition. I won’t go on about how they arrived late, or that the installer and his supervisor were bickering and arguing the entire time, because at least now when I want to forget all the stress of this unnecessary chaos, I can watch TV.
But just when I thought I had seen the last of AT&T for a while……..Bam. It took us approximately 29 days, over 30 phone calls, and countless hours of stress to finally have service and by the end of the week, I already had a bill for $130. Slow to satisfy, eager to charge, I see-- it doesn’t quite make a customer feel like his or her business is important, let alone appreciated. I guess customers don’t have to be satisfied, as long as they’re charged.
From top to bottom, it was a hellish experience- and that was only the installation! I still have six more months with AT&T, something I hope I do not regret any further. I would drop this contract right now, if our only other option wasn’t Charter, another company infamous for their horrific customer service. Sometimes I think your company doesn’t want to take pride in being the best in both quality product and customer service, but that AT&T will settle for being the least-terrible option of providers.
Please prove me wrong.
While I want to know why your business is run so unprofessionally and so disorganized, what I want even more to know is what will be done from this? Anything at all?
People in your customer service department should be both courteous and eager to help, not left to burn bridges and pass the buck to other departments so that people think twice about calling. It’s perfectly fine for customer service to not know an answer. It is not fine, however, not to offer to try and find out. At the same time, it is totally acceptable to tell customers that you unfortunately cannot do anything to help their situation. It is not, however, acceptable for your employees to say whatever they assume the customer wants to hear, and appease them merely to get off the phone sooner. Your company makes so many promises -- I know because I was told my fair share of them. But why make all these promises when you clearly have no intention of keeping them?
It’s one thing to be known for having absolutely NO follow through on the ‘maybes’, but there’s a word for guaranteeing things you could never give in the first place: LIES.
In all sincerity, this is not one of those “Screw you!” letters where a customer rants to you, then boycotts your company and spends the rest of their lives badmouthing the business that wronged them. I really do want AT&T to make this right, and in turn, restore my faith in your business as well as your professional credibility.
At this point, I ask you to consider two things that are ultimately crucial in both my future business with AT&T and the future of AT&T itself: what you want your business to be known for, and more importantly, what you want your business to stand for.
I’d like to believe that AT&T can make this right and change my mind. But more importantly, I’d like to believe that something will be done to ensure that I am the last customer to endure this type of fiasco.
Sincerely,
Hope Howell
Customer since August 2011
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