Complaint Review: At&t - Jacksonville North Carolina

Last spring, I got in a fight with Verizon and dropped them for my long-distance, leaving me without any for a few weeks. I called At&t to select them as my carrier. I never received the ability to dial long distance until I went back to Verizon. However, At&t did manage to bill me for $5.63, and when I threw that out, the letters came incessantly, asking me to pay up. I tried to call them, but of course it would be at least twenty minutes (then I would hang up out of frustration) before whoever was supposed to correct this would come on and I could wait no more. Let them sue me for it. I hope the $5.63 is worth it for them. Phone companies all need to go to hell, no matter who they are. Gone are the days of civil customer service on their part. Now they're nothing but hyenas fighting over the scraps the Satellite and cable companies, Vonage and the host of cell phone options are leaving the vultures.

We appreciate your sage suggestions, sir (the gentleman from Oklahoma). We need more people like you in this world. Moreover, we just have to keep this phrase in mind next time, "don't let the green grass fool you...." Plus, we do intend on investing in pre-paid phones, thus, we shall be in better control. As a result, less pain. Nonetheless, we have forwarded professional reports to the next higher level within the state and to the proper dept. We have ensured to set emotions aside. ~ Also, we want to thank the nice lady from Florida as well. Your words have not fallen upon deaf ears. In addition, the background info and experience provides plenty of details. Once again, thank you all for the encouragement. Semper Fi.

Unfortunately for consumers these days, we must become knowledgeable in our daily transactions because no one is going to help. I am not saying they were right in what they did to you since I was not there when you went into the store. Had you gone into the store and said, "I have insurance on my phone and it no longer works. I need another." The rep may have told you how to go about an insurance claim. If you went into the store and said, "I want a new phone, this one no longer works," the rep may have thought you wanted to purchase a new phone. You should have been given the phone number for the insurance claim department. However, the rep may not have known that is what you wanted to do unless you told her. If you told her and she did not direct you properly, then she was definitely at fault. If you did not tell her, then the blame is on both of you. When you call the insurance dept, they immediately send you out a refurbished phone, usually the make and model of the one you presently have. Then, you have to send your old phone back in the same box you received the replacement phone. They pay the postage.

I am an ex-employee of AT&T Wireless, as well as Sprint PCS, Dell, and AT&T business land-line services. All these companies are similar in the fact that your money is their bottom line! Ive read many post here, and see recurring themes. And for most I would say the remedy is in simply understanding the nature of the beast. For this report, I do not have great news. It is up to you, the consumer, to completely educate yourself on all the subtle little caveats that wind up hooking you for more (money, time, frustration, etc) in the long run. Each of the Wireless Co's have whats called a Terms and Agreements of Service. This is their very own little corp bible so to speak. It outlines exactly what they are offering, and what exactly you are getting. Oddly enough, the two are often in-congruent. Prime example: you pay monthly for service on a contracted period/basis, however you may not have use of the service due to many factors completely out of your control, ohh like the weather! But the fact remains you agreed to pay for what they offer, not what you use! Sounds ridiculous doesn't it? It is the truth none the less. I have spent countless hours reading the terms of my then employers, only to be baffled and amazed at why anyone would ever agree to anything like this. You see in each case, it was a large part of my job to take escalated calls, resolve customer complaints ( which seldom meant satisfying the customer), and enforce quality standards. It wasnt very long before I figured out that these corp outfits are run by bean-counters - from figuring peak profits based on use trends, to recouping profit loss via termination fees, and restocking charges. They even do it to their employees through annual merit review limits, to magically disappearing sick leave, rescended vacation time... But let me address your post in sequence: Failed to mention renewed contract - it is printed in various plain site locations in the store of contract renewal situations, tiny, and camouflaged albeit. My husband and I assumed/Not once, did the representative verbally explain to us that the contract was reinstated - Never assume! These retail reps get paid handsome bonus/incentives/commission for new contracts. In fact if they do not maintain a certain new customer, and conversion rate, they will be terminated. The manager of the above location, should have helped us - The manager gets paid based off what his reps do! And he is not required to provide his full name to you. In fact it is generally discouraged due to safety issues. In some cases it is allowed to use an alias. As far as Calling customer service to resolve an in store issue; that too is time better spent watching grass grow. Wherever your issue began, is where you will most likely have to resolve it. Its a built in defense [read blow-off] mechanism, and it goes both ways. The things beneath that are pretty much emotional responses to an undesirable situation, as such I will not comment. Except to say this; these people you encounter in the stores, on the phones, etc are simply that...people. Just like you they have to make a living, and try to keep their jobs. I agree some of them are in desperate need of additional training ( each employee goes through and exhaustive battery of training classes so that when cases like these go to court, they can say "we trained him differently and he acted on his own accord"). But most of them are doing what they should including making customer centric decisions to help prevent this type of situation. I would also like to state the pure fact of the matter - As frustrated as you appear, and as many other negative comments you will find on this site and many others; you are in the acceptable range (vast minority)of angry and upset customers. They have millions of paying customers who either do not share your sentiment, do not feel as empowered as you do, do not have sense enough to know they've been sodomized, or simply do not care! Its called attrition, its normal, and quite frankly not worth the resources to combat (in their eyes). My suggestion would be twofold. 1) Write a letter to the office of the President outlining your experiences, and what you would like to see as a resolution. Be professional, have dates times, locations, names, and never have emotional outbursts. 2) Never ever agree to a contracted post paid service again! Prepaid is the way to go for folks like you. It is more expensive all the way around (phones, use), but you have [more] control. Finally I must say that I am not a supporter of poor treatment, nor am I disgruntled. I simply understand through many years of playing the game from the inside, and yes it was quite difficult for me to sit too!

According to our plan, under other services we had "EQUIP INSURANCE PREM" for $4.99 during that time frame. ~ Carpe Diem

To Whom it Concerns, Thank you for your time and consideration. Despite my frustration, we are sincerely hoping that someone will realize that our local cell phone office is hurting customer relations and hurting themselves with inept managerial skills. Regardless, any individual from any type of working environment should comply with their basic knowledge of knowing what is right and what is wrong. We are sure that the majority of the people working within the states are putting out 40+ hours a week, as they struggle to keep food on the table. With the prices of fuel sky-rocketing nation-wide, this leaves a lot of families pinching pennies. Then, the cellular phone companies such as this one, adopt this philospy, "Don't ask, don't tell?" Sounds like a bale out or perhaps jumping the ship? We can go out to the farming fields and bale hay rather than hear that line. Unfortunately, this negative experience leads to a tragic, but widely known literal downfall: Man vs man. This conflict creates chaos and turmoil amongst us, the consumers. Managers such as the one we described above, lack sound decision making, and hence his unpolite and unprofessional behavior leads to a discredit unto the company. We don't mind dispensing the cost as previously indicated. In fact, we can write out a check for the correct amount today and mail it out via express mail. In the end, who won? It certainly would make the businness in this case, tickled pink. Only what good is it going to do if it they are going to lose another valuable and important customer? It just would be defeating the purpose. The cost means nothing. A life is not at stake. Still, why count the money? A customer's happiness should matter the most. We just don't want to be known as another account number or to be part of a statistical report/case study. We have been happy customers with this company for several years now, but too many times before we have experienced negative responses. We were told worse things before from different representatives. Previously, a different young lady from the same cellular company at a booth in the local mall decided to use inappropriate language. Such decorum is not necessary. We are jaded. We want professional representatives to give us quality service in return for what we are paying for. Does anyone value the relationship of customers anymore? I wonder........... Sincerely, Marge

Did you have insurance on your old phone? Look at your bills and see if you were charged around $4.99 per month. If you had insurance, you were supposed to send the phone back to AT&T. If you did not have insurance, you would have to purchase a new phone. This is per the terms of your old contract. Many of the phones are free if you sign up again for the 2 year contract. If you do not sign up for the contract, the phones cost a couple hundred dollars. The AT&T stores are franchised and privately owned, so they are not just going to take your old, bad phone and give you another without something in return. They get credit if you sign up for another term, or they get your money if you don't. They usually have 2 prices posted for their phones, one price if you don't sign up for a contract, and another price if you do. You went in 3 months before your contract was up. Did you really think they were going to give you a free phone for 3 months? You probably got some type of info that your contract was renewed, but I am inclined to belive you did not read your paperwork. After all, you just stated that the lady had your husband sign paperwork upon leaving, without telling him what it was for. Usually you are not told what paperwork is for unless you ask. I agree that the employee should have explained the conditions to you. However, if the employee asked if you would like to upgrade and you said yes, the employee may not have known you don't know what that means. I just recently upgraded and my receipt states "added 2 yr renew agreement".