Complaint Review: AT&T INTERNET SERVICES

My AT&T phone bill kept going up, so I called them, in an effort to keep it affordable. It had reached the $50.00 level each month, which seems to be plenty, to me, including Internet Service (I make ABSOLUTELY NO LONG DISTANCE CALLS with my land line, so they are not included in this $50.00). They suggested that I use their 10 per call plan, where my basic rate would drop, and I would be charged 10 per call, in addition. I told them I would try this. After a month or two, it looked like I was no better off than I was before, because that 10 per call began to add up! I had been using a cell phone from another company, mostly as an emergency phone, in case my land line wasnt working, or in case I needed to have my old car (thats PAID FOR) towed in. So, I called AT&T and told them to disconnect my land line, but that I wanted to keep the Internet Service. I had been paying $14.95 per month for the Internet Service, and I mentioned that, since I had been an AT&T customer for around a hundred years, that the Internet Service should still be $14.95, whether I had a land line or not. They agreed! But it didnt turn out that way!

They got the land line unplugged within a few hours, and the Internet Service continued to work OK. This was around the end of December. Then, I got my January bill. I let it go on through my bank account, as it was on an automatic bank draft plan; it was for about the same amount as it had been previously, so I figured it was for the month of December. But, when I got a similar bill in February, for $37.15, I called AT&T to get them to adjust it. They did, giving me a credit of $29.95, which they said would show up on my next bill. The lady was real nice, saying that my bill would be for $14.99 each month after this (NOT $14.95), and asking me how she did at the end of the call, saying that AT&T would be sending me a survey (which I never saw), and that she would appreciate it if I would give her a good rating. Since this was about my third or fourth call to AT&T about this matter, I told her that I would let her know how she did the next month, when I received the AT&T bill!

In the meantime, AT&T had set up a separate bill for my Internet Service, with a completely different account number on it (starting with 087, so it wouldnt look like a phone number, which would alert their automatic system when I called in, shifting me to an entirely different department, supposedly). I got a bill for $7.89 in February on this new account, so I assumed the above $29.95 credit had gone into affect. I was wrong! When I called again, I was told that the automatic bank draft plan had been transferred to this new Internet Service account (087...), and that a draft for a little more, would also go through my bank account in February, but it never did. The reason, as I found out on the next months calls, was that the automatic bank draft plan NEVER GOT TRANSFERRED to this new Internet Service account!

Then in March, I got a bill for $65.28 ! It showed an unpaid bill from a previous month, and it included some late charges. I called AT&T again! This time, I really got the run-around, spending 2-3 hours on the phone with various people at quite a few different phone numbers! None of these people were very nice (probably because they thought I was a deadbeat, and they were in the deadbeat department, and quite used to working with people who carried a month or so over on their bill and paid late charges). They all had made up their mind that I was lying, that their computer was not at fault and had not issued a bill by mistake, and that they could not make an adjustment at all! It was an entirely different atmosphere! Not only that, but one lady even tried to sell me some additional stuff, like a cell phone service for $19.95 a month, so I would qualify for a lower Internet rate! They had all decided that, since I had Internet Service only, and no other AT&T phones or services, that I should pay MUCH MORE than the $14.95 previously agreed to by their representatives. The above bills had included Internet Service at $ 14.95 (on the back of the Jan. 7 Bill), $25.76 (on the back of the Feb. 13 Bill), and $ 29.95 (on the back of the Mar. 13 Bill). So, not only had they decided to NOT HONOR THEIR AGREEMENT, but my Internet Service had been GETTING HIGHER EACH MONTH! This last lady had been fairly nice, although she didnt want to yield on the price or give any adjustments on charges or late charges, but I told her to just have them turn off my Internet Service; that I would get it from somebody else, because I get at least 2-3 pieces of mail each week from their competitors (especially the cable company) offering Internet Service at $14.95 a month without my having to subscribe to anything else (which I dont, as I dont want cable or TV at all).
All this last bunch of people made a point to tell me that I had already received a $29.95 adjustment as a courtesy, because I had been a good customer for years (with NEVER A PAYMENT LATE, EVEN ONE DAY). But, this all went out the window when it came to the real issue: they had agreed to provide me with Internet Service for $14.95 a month, and it keeps going up, like their phone service did originally!

In the middle of all this, in mid-March, my Internet Service quit working, so I called their tech support. They finally figured out that it was my modem, and they said they would send me a new one, at no charge (I was really surprised)! It came in a few days, but all-together, my Internet Service was out for at least a week. To date, none of their representatives has mentioned this, or offered to make an adjustment for it (but if it was the other way around, Ill bet they would be quick to jump on it, and charge me for the extra week)! To begin with, AT&T has very poor customer service, overall - here are two examples of it:

Their "outsourced India tech support group," similar to the one used by my auto club (where I call to get my car towed in, when it quits working), can barely speak our version of the Kings English! They dont understand our street patterns, computer problems, and such - one fellow wouldnt even tell me which country he was in; he said it was because of security!

Their outsourced Philippines tech support girls, the ones you get when your Computer Internet Service doesnt work right - must have just got out of high school, as all the technical knowledge they have is that you start at the top of the script and read down! They have you unplug EVERY wire on the back of your computer, modem, and router, and start all over again. Im an old man, age 72, and I have to get down on my hands and knees, with a flashlight, to see to plug and unplug wires! It just isnt worth it! I quit calling them a long time ago; when my modem quit working, I called and asked if I could speak to someone in the U.S.! They dont want to connect you to someone in the U.S., as this makes it look like theyre not doing their job right (which theyre really not)! They will finally connect you to someone in the U.S., and when I explain this to the U.S. person, they often give me a direct number where I dont have to go through all the gab from the automatic machine that answers ALL of AT&Ts lines on incoming calls! Nor do I have to go through the punching the buttons routine, especially when Im calling from a cell phone or the Internet (using Skype), where their caller ID shows a different number than what shows up on my account!

When my modem was out, they did send me a new modem, but the wireless router doesnt work (of course, its not theirs, so they wont give ANY advice about it, except to contact the router manufacturer, who has lousier customer service than AT&T does)!

In all this calling to AT&T, often I got a voice on the phone that says your call is very important to us. Yet, they keep you waiting, and if your call is so important, why dont they hire more people to take calls?

According to my calculations, this should be my AT&T Internet Bill as of 3-29-11:

$ 14.95 x 3 (Jan., Feb., March) =                                           $ 44.85
Minus Credit Adjustment on Feb. 13 Bill =                             - $ 29.23
Minus Pmt. made 2-11 that went through my bank account = - $  7.89
My Bill should be =                                                                $  7.73

If they would settle for this $7.73 and give me a credit for any late charges, I would be happy! But, will they?