No offer of Free Microcell after 10 years of loyalty. I'm done.

[vo_danh]

I had moved to San Diego to work and signal was fine. I eventually bought a house 2 blocks over a year later. As soon as I move in in April, I began to notice I could not really use my phone in the house. The calls cut off constantly, and disconnects. Most times I couldn't even get a signal. Signal is fine until I get about a few blocks to my house and it would start giving out. If i'm on the phone and I get to the final turn into my block, the phone would disconnect ( happened several times consistently at the same corner ). I have 3 lines in my family plan. I've been a customer from the Cingular days. I would have to go outside in the yard to talk to customer service for an hour with the tech. Over the span of four months, I tried to work with them many times to get my signal working and they could not solve my problem. The tech finally suggested a microcell at $199. I said I wasn't going to pay extra just to use my service that I was already paying $150 a month for and not even get a guarantee that it would work. They tried to troubleshoot my line again and no results. This time the tech suggested I call the nearest corporate store to discuss getting a microcell since that was the only thing that would fix my issue. He said he could not suggest in the notes to give me a 'free' one but that there shoudl be enought information and history in there to indicate that I needed one, and that there were several units in my area to show there was a problem. He said he would gladly talk to the store manager if needed to explain the situation to them. I then called the corporate store and they said they couldn't do it unless it was stated by a tech in the notes to make it free. I then said if they couldn't do it I would have to cancle my service since it was unusable. He then reminded me that I would have to pay to get out of the contract, to which I replied my contract just ended. He then said he could contact customer service but that I would have to come into the store. I then went in, and the main manager said first that they didn't have one, and second that he could not give me one for free. He then called customer service and had me discuss it with them again, explaining the situation, and was then directed to 'customer retention'. She then repeated the same thing, that they would not give it to me for free. I said after 10 years of loyalty and 3 lines, and not being able to use it for the last 4 months ( over $600 worth of bills ) that I was trying to give them a chance to keep me as a customer by giving me a microcell so I can see if it works, if it does work I could continue to use it and if it doesn't I could return it and cancle, or i can cancle right now if they can't work with me to get the service working for me without charging me $199 for something that might not work and be completely useless to me after my service ends.

In the end, she chose to deny my request to help me stay with ATT. After 10 years they would rather I cancle than give me a microcell after I just wasted $600 for no signal in my house for 4 months. She would rather save her $200 and lose my thousands of dollars of business ( don't they usually discount phones about $200 just to get new people to sign a contract? ). In the end, I wasted alot of money and many hours of my time to try and stay with ATT out of concenience and loyalty, only to get royally screwed.

Its different if your area is a dead zone and they just aren't allowed to expand there and you want service. I have been a loyal customer for 10 years with 3 lines and signal was just bad on this block and they refused to help me. She even offered to set the service to cancle at the end of the current cycle!!! No thanks, I will be canceling the minute my new phone is activated with another carrier.

You're now bigger and got where you are after your loyal customers stuck with you and now all you care about is your own pocket with complete disregard to your customer. I stuck with you until you upgraded or aquired towers in Riverside for over a year of bad signal in the dorms, and this is what I get. I don't even know why they bother to have 'customer retention' personel, she did nothing to help retain me and just repeated what the basic rep said.

[jamileh]

I'm sorry the service in your new home isn't working as expected. I know it's frustrating to not be able to use the service you're paying for and while the microcell is a great option; as you know, it has a pricetag. 

I certainly don't want to lose a loyal customer over this issue and while I'm happy to see what other options we have here; I can't guarantee the outcome. 

If you'd like to speak with a member of my team to see what else we can do, please send me a private message with your name, account number, phone number and the best time to contact you.




To send a private message, you can either click on the link in this message or click on the little blue envelope in the upper right hand corner, click "compose new message" and type my username in the "Send To" field.