Complaint Review: AT&T's Salesman & Customer Support Department

Hi. This complaint has to do with AT&T's Steubenville, Ohio retail store & the companys customer service department. When I went in to research my 1st phone & plan I made very clear to our local at&t store & to the at&t customer service number I called (who was asked the same questions as their local store)  I told them that I need to know specific answers to specific questions since I am not a lawyer & cant afford one to explain your plans & terms & conditions, & also cause from what Dateline NBC said, it wouldnt matter anyways since 10 lawyers could read them & would give 7 different explanations. I also said it was cause of having friends who had problems with these cell phones/plans/providers. I was told no problem sir & they knew exactly how I felt & would take care of me. I also made it clear to them among several other things that (1) is the instant rebate actually an instant right here in the store rebate and not one of those games where the customer has to then do this & that to actually get the rebate (2) I did not want internet service which friends were telling me that these companies were adding under our noses and then making the customer go thru the hassle of getting the charges takin off after they find out they were connecting to the internet without even knowing it at times, (3) I need all files to be transferable from my cell phone to my pc due to working on vehicles at home & it\'s a MUST to permanently keep a record of them since I mosly use text to save minutes and since email is not practical when ur a greasy home mechanic & cant keep a pc in the garage where emails can be sent & answered right away (4) Also told them I understand we will probably always have a problem here & there with reception but it is a must that I dont have any major or even moderate problems with this since Im a recovering paraplegic & also have a seizure disability...what am I supposed to do if I break down or start to have a seizure especially while I am away from home. The several salesman I talked to & asked these question with over a couple different times over a few days told me not a problem sir & they understood my situation & I was clearly told (1) yes the rebate is instant & will not show up on your bill or hav to go thru any of that hassle stuff to get the rebate (2) internet will not be added onto my plan...I will only have the unlimited texting and cell phone plan (3) all files are transferrable & especially if I buy their 2gig mini memory card with adaptor to be used with a media reader for my pc & (4) I was told not a problem when concerning reception especially with the Pantech C740 Matrix phone which they said just came out & is one of the best models we have for reception, and also due the location where I live there wouldnt be a problem.The salesman even did some reception test based on my home address and said yep, you wont have any problems sir. Well, there was more problems with the salesman just telling me what I wanted to hear but I will stick to some of the main problems.  Well I immediately noticed problems with reception on the first day after I got my new phone and plan. I later found out they ended up adding internet access to my phone cause when I got the bill I was suprised to see that I now owed them for internet access... here when I was sitting down in my chair it was somehow hitting a at&t/pantech preprogrammed button while in my pants pocket which the phone was dialing up to the internet and started adding up charges on my bill which I then had to call at&t NOW customer service where they had no problem shutting off the internet service but I had to argue over & over about getting the charges taken off. I also noticed on the bill that the 50dollar rebate was not taken off but was still on there and when I finally got thru to the customer service, I was told that I was suposed to get the rebate at the store where I purchased the phone and there was nothing they could do about it after me having already bought the plan. Well I had to argue over n over with them that the salesman assured me that this rebate was instant and would not show up later on my bill and after the 20minutes of arguing, the service rep said he had to get the ok to remove it from his supervisor and after being on hold for another 5 minutes he came back on and removed it. I also tried to transfer text files from my memory card and other phone's memory but every time I stuck in the card I couldnt find any file for the texts and I found out that there isnt even a cable to hook up to my phone to directly transfer these files and when I came back to discuss this at our local at&t store, the salesman just denied ever saying anything about him telling me that all files can be transferred to the pc and sorry but you can't transfer texts. I also had so many dropped calls and poor staticky and broken conversations that I was getting frustrated of having to sit stiff like a mummy while staying in just one corner of my house which is the only place that I can even get this amount of reception (please keep in mind that I have so many problems even out in my yard and while Im out driving away from home). Oh and along with now having to move my pc to an inconvenient and hard to access corner in my house ( I am in a wheel chair) so that I could use the cell phone while on the pc, I was also told that with the new FCC regulations, I wouldnt have any problems with the cell messing up my pc and vice versa but this was a totally garbage as well cause whenever I get close to my desk where the pc is, my cell phone drops calls and it also makes odd irritating noises which makes it difficult to hear people. Well whenever I called or went into the store, I first was very polite in telling them the problems with the phone/plan/whatever but they denied saying any of the things which they initially told me before buying the phone and signing a 2 year contract. Too add to it, when I said to them well then go ahead & repeat any actual conversations which we had when I came in on several different occasions and discussed these issues, all three at&t workers wasnt able to or refused to (however ya wanna put that) repeat any of our conversations and would just say that they didnt say these things which I know they said. At this point I was disgusted and left and then called the at&t NOW phone number(it took numerous days to not hear the message which said we are experiencing heaving call volumes please try again later....." & then finally I had a day when I got thru but it took 8 calls to finally get & keep enough reception on the phone to talk long enough to get at least a few questions answered before the call got dropped) which put me in contact with their customer service department and first off I made sure to tell him the problem with my drooped calls and in all seriousness, in order to avoid my loss of sanity and composure from having to call back repeatedly and being put on hold and then having to repeat again all of the problems I'm having to another operator,so if my cell phone starts breaking up or drops this call please call me right back at the cell phone # on their file. He told me not a problem sir we will be glad to do that for you. Well the call later was dropped and I waited for appr 2hours for them to call back but never did. Infact they never called back at all but while I was on the phone with the customer service agent before the call got broken up and then dropped, based from what Dell pc company did to me, to start I asked directly if their employees worked off of commission and the customer service rep avoided my question several times by interupting me and just asking what was the main issue of me calling and so I politely told him to please either answer the question or I will talk to his supervisor about this. He then answered and said yes many of our employees work off of commission. We then discussed the problems with this corrupt business tactic (me hoping this would be passed up to the supervisors or someone who would listen) and now that I got that answered I moved onto other issues but mainly the issue of the extremely poor quality phone, reception, and customer service, but was only told sorry for the inconvenience sir and there was nothing they could do.The barely-speaking and hard-to-understand-English(another huge problem now with businesses customer service) customer service rep then added that they did this same reception test as the retail store did and showed that I had fine reception but when I told him I was tired of this evasive customer service tactic and demanded for him to look up the countless dropped calls which I know they have a record of, he refused by just telling me again sorry for the inconvenience & there was nothing they could do since their test showed I have good reception in my area. I then demanded to talk to his supervisor/manager and after having to argue with him repeatedly he finally said ok and then put me on hold whereby I waited over 25minutes with no response and no way to get back to a customer service employee unless I hung up and called back. Please keep in mind that when a person keeps getting poor reception, it is nearly impossible to even hear the automated messages which are at the beginning of calls to at&t and other companies/businesses and so how do we even know what numbers to push??? To add to it I have to pull the phone away from my ear to see what button(s) to push and when I leave my only position which will bring in some reception, I get yet another dropped call! I never did get to hear from a supervisor visor this time and I was now getting fired up and went into the store the next day where I will admit that my tone was stern and told them I'm tired of the lies and games and so I demanded a new model phone and compensation for these unbelievably riduculous problems & hassles. I even said that I wasnt just trying to get something more expensive or whatever (trying to scam them) and I just wanted a phone that would work like they initially confirmed with me that it would but they did the exact same redundant test again and said sorry but their test showed this phone works fine and there was nothing they could do. I then got sick of the repetitious tactics and started raising my voice around the other customers while explaining how workers who only make money when they make a sale are the ones who tell you what you want to hear just to get you to buy something and get you to sign a 2 year contract but when you have problems with the phone/plan/whatever they just simply deny anything that they initially said and hold the contract over your head, that then they got the manager of the store who after mildly having to argue with her, she finally admitted that this phone wasnt very good for reception unlike what I was told but they would only send me a new phone of the same model. I said that I dont want the same model phone cause not only is there actual proof of it (if they would look up the ridiculous amount of dropped calls) but even many internet reviews are now being posted that this phone isnt that great for reception among other things and so I want another phone which is at least equal to the cost of this phone and has the reception qualities and features which I specifically asked for before even buying the phone. She refused to get me another model phone and said their policy is just to give the same model phone and try it again. I said that I am not putting up with a phone and reception which doesnt even work well enough to make calls in order to try it out again. She said this is all we can do sir. I said whatever but I dont want the new same model phone and I was so hot at this point I had to leave the store but came back to the store to hopefully get another salesman/manager/whatever who would resolve this issue but was disrespected and being jerked around again so much up to this point that I started raising my voice and demanding the quality and service which their company promised me before signing a 2 year contract, and then the manager called me a manipulator and said if I dont lower my voice they will call security. So I made sure that people outside of the store in the mall could hear me say again about businesses like at&t whose employees work off of commission and what tactics they pull and then I left the store, came home, and tried again to get thru to at&t NOW but like so many other times, I kept getting the same message that they are experiencing heavy call volumes and to try again later. This went on for several days straight and didnt matter anyways since when I was able to get thru to the automated messaging system again in order to get to the customer service agent, again I wasnt able to hear all of the massages clearly enough in order to know what to push. But anyways the new phone came which was the same model which I previously told them wouldnt solve the main problem here and I am still having the same problems with not even being able to call at&t to try to get to a supervisor who will not just blow off the customer but will actually listen to the problem and actually do what will solve the issue and not just solve it in a way that only advantages them or makes them satisfied. They also need to start holding their employees responsible again for what they say!

Well with all due respect to RipOff Report I do not expect anything to be done here seems how after dealing with the dell pc company & now at&t, I have enough experience on businesss shiesty tactics and also from reading lately about SO MANY other reports on Better Business Bureau, Consumer Affairs, Complaints Abroad where people are reporting legitimate complaints but the businesses which are being complained about will just deny most or all of everyhting, or just say they have no record of these problems from the people who are filing the complaints which then makes RipOff Report and other like businesses think we the consumer are the liar. Sounds like these businesses have been allowed to build themselves up to the point of the consumer being powerless to do anything about it. I know me and so many others who are on supplemental, disability, & other incomes cant afford to buy hidden cameras and microphones to take with us to these businesses so we can prove
for a fact as to what we were told and especially before buying their products and/or contacts. I would like to further add that I am so fustrated from all of this and other stuff like all of the work that the consumer has to go thru just to get something simple resolved not to mention the bigger problems that I am justifiably walking away from the 2 yrear contract because even if companies like yours who are out to genuinely help us get something resolved, that doesnt fix the ongoing problems we will for a fact have in the near future with these same corrupted businesses.
Concerned Citizen Who Is Sick Of This Country & The Scandalous Businesss & Tactics, Kevin