Complaint Review: AT&T

To Whom It May Concern: On Sept. 18th, an employee of ATT, Zack Armstrong came to our home and told us ATT was canceling our phone service and internet if we didnt switch to the new service, U-verse. As we listened to him he told us it would cost the same and if we needed to we could change back within 30 days to our old service until we could find something else . We were then told on September 24th they would be coming to hook us up with the U-verse system. Contract we signed said the cost would be $131.00 without the promotions and $98.00 with promos and they would waive the activation fee. Since I am basically disabled and my wife is working on her Masters degree through the internet we could do little but switch based on information given.

On the 24th a technician arrived to wire us up and he was in a bad mood. He was on his way home when they rerouted him to us to hook us up. We had waited all day and when he showed up he was 15 minutes later than the late time we were told he would be there. From then on it was a nightmare.

We were told the agent who signed us up had lied. They werent cutting our phone service off. He also hooked up the system so the internet would only work if we moved our computer to the dining room because it was too far away to make signal work. Technician left without ever making the internet work.

For the next few days I tried to get the signal to work but it would always switch to another persons unit and close down since we didnt have the right password. We needed the internet so my wife could finish her course and take her tests which were on the weekends for her Masters degree. Since the internet would only work temporarily the first weekend we had it she had to spend countless hours at her school on the weekend trying to get their internet to hook her to her programs of study to finish her course work and take her timed exam.

This was not acceptable and so on Oct 3, I called and asked that the U-verse be cancelled and taken out and the old system be returned as we were told it could be. Not saying anything about how we were lied to. We were told it couldnt be done and they werent able to cancel it until later, perhaps the 17th of October, 2 weeks later. I was on the phone this day from 12:30 p.m. until 2:25 and passed to several different departments until I talked with a Lamar from residential sales and service center. I then called again on October 7th and spoke with a Jeannette ((866) 805-3921) who told us she would cancel it and could I please wait and speak with Tonya. Tonya took all the information and I believed it was done. I was told to disconnect all the equipment and get it boxed ready for pickup which I did. Nothing happened

On October 17th I called again and was told no it was cancelled. I spoke with a Kathy from a residential sales service center who once again said she couldnt have the U-verse canceled but could I speak with someone else. Once again I spoke with someone called Lamar who said he would take care of it for me and then transferred me to someone called Andre. Once again after 2 and hours on the phone Andre told me it was taken care of and someone would be there that day to take care of it. I had the Satellite guys in the next day to set up the television and he said the power was still on for the U-verse stuff. He cut our lines and set up the satellite.

Finally I called again and spoke with an Adrian L. Lee on October 20th. (Searched her name through a special program.) I am very upset by now. I spoke to her at length and she said she would take care of everything. Once again this was a 2 hour call. And all this was being done off the cell phone. She then asked me if anyone had ever given us an OMS number. I told her we didnt have any numbers since we hadnt been on but for less than a week. She gave us the numbers needed to ship the equipment back and told us to take all the equipment to a UPS store, which was the 1st time I had heard this. She said they would know what to do. She also told us someone would be by on the 26th of the month to re establish the old phone line and DSL.

I spent the next 3 days in the hospital but as soon as I was out we went and had all the equipment shipped back to wherever it was supposed to go. And the UPS store knew all about what to do and they sent it back and gave us a receipt. Adrian promised to call us when she got back from her three days off to see if all was taken care of because it was such a mess. Never heard from her. And she gave us her email address to contact her and it wasnt working as well.

October 26th came and we never heard from anyone. That evening I called Customer service on a line number (404 362-0021) and spoke with a lady named Meagan. I was told finally after she searched for about an hour, that a Mr. Smith was the tech assigned to set up my line and he would be there by this evening. Well he never came. I called back spoke to Caleb. He told me everything was already done because there were no orders for this number anywhere which meant it had been finished. Another 2 hours of my wasted time.

The next day a technician showed up and said he was going to activate my phone line but it wouldnt work until U-verse turned off the power or line stuff whatever. He said it might take an hour or two. This was a 2:30 central time. I did hear a line sound as if the phone line was now working but he said no calls could be made until U-verse did their thing. So I went to bed and woke up thinking we finally had a phone line. But nothe line was all fuzzy and had white noise on it so bad that was barely all you could here. Then in the background it said if you would like to make a phone call please hang-up and dial your area code and then the number. This was followed by a sound of a fax like screech for several minutes then it would go dead.

I called customer service again and on the 27th of October at 8:30 A.M. central time and spoke with someone named John who told me that my phone was fine and there was no order to reconnect a DSL line. He then transferred me to Brittany with ATT billing who transferred me back to ATT U-verse services. This time I was only on the phone for 1 hour being told my phone was fine although for the last two weeks the only thing we had to use was our cell phone. I spoke with several customer service people who told me that everything was OK and that my phone and all other serves were working fine and then I was transferred and hung up on. I called back again to customer service and told them to cancel everything that had to do with ATT at pour house immediately. I was worn out tired and no one was helping. This was on October 27th in the afternoon.

The next afternoon on the 28th, an ATT technician shows up and asks me how I would like the DSL line installed and where. And could I give him the line filters I was sent and the modem. I was never sent a new modem or line filters and by now Mediacom had already been called the day before and the internet was already up and running.

The purpose of this letter is twofold. First to describe what a night mare it is working with ATT. Second is to ask why after all this I received a bill for $164.22 for the period you guys say I had the use of all these fine programs. First of all, If I had kept the U-verse, I have a contract that states it is only for $98.00 per month.(see attached copy of contract). Now I see I am being charged all these ridiculous fees for having had this program from10/10/11-11/2611which from your side has given me discounts from a bill that was $ 249.00. Let measure you this will not be paid. I also understand that you attempt to force people into arbitration. That can only happen when a contract is signed by two parties and he arbitration is written in the contract. That is not the case. I will be willing to pay for one weeks fees based on the original contract of $98.00 even though your product was a scam, didnt work and we were forced into it through lies just to make it go away.

I am a fairly intelligent individual and I believe I can win this easily in small claims court. Please feel free to respond. I look forward to hearing your explanation of this predicament; I will file on the 29th of November to avoid your so called late fee.