$150 for voice installation to an existing ATT Uverse customer from an ATT home phone....Seriously?

[rskitto]

$150 for an existing customer? If I were a new customer, it would be free or $50 max. What has happened to loyalty being rewarded and outstanding customer service?   The average installation, according to this forum, is less than an hour.  With a potential $16 savings over my existing ATT plan, it would take me a year and a half to break even. Of course, why should they make it easy for me to switch to their cheaper Uverse Voice when they can have me pay an extra $16 a month for their regular phone service?  Well, one reason would be that now I am going to look around for a cheaper price with their competition. 

[mkoegle]

im sure u can get them to drop that down to 55$  just tell them that u just want to cancel and they can offer u a retention offer.

[rskitto]

When I was on the phone with them earlier, I told them I would have to look for a different phone service provider, and she said "OK."  I wasn't being difficult or arguing with her either, I was just asking for the installation price to be reduced.

[mkoegle]

did u say anything about getting your same number ported over?

in some cases porting your ATT telecom number to Uverse and use the same number isnt possible.

[saintchuck_1]

I signed up for Voice last week.  I too am a Call Vantage customer.  A very good customer service person took over 1/2 hour to get to the right people to waive the $150 installation charge.  It takes patience but if you get to the right people they do waive the fee.  In addition they noticed that when my "double play" discount disappeared while ordering Voice, they somehow reinstated it.

It's too bad that their policy on this is being communicated properly throughout their organization.

They are porting over my Call Vantage number which is an old SBC number that I have had over 30 years.

[KCRoyals]

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mkoegle wrote:

did u say anything about getting your same number ported over?

in some cases porting your ATT telecom number to Uverse and use the same number isnt possible.

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Just an FYI, That is usually the case when your existing AT&T landline telephone number is an "Extended Metro Number."

[RCSMG ACE - Master]

In a different thread someone posted that they were told about the fee for voice installation.  It used to be $50 I don't know when or why it went up.  Anyway, they said they kept calling back until they got a rep that waived the installation fee.  Just a thought.

[mkoegle]

you can always just get the uverse all distance package pricing on your att home phone without the switch or installation to u-verse.

the only things u dont get is to view calls on the TV or computer.

[Uniblurb3 ACE - Guru]

The scenario you mention seems exactly what I have.

On my original install they were having difficulties installing voice so I kept my landline. Just as well since I've had a couple extended power outages (5-8 days) the past few years.

Was still able to bundle my landline with my other services and my phone bill dropped drastically. Have the U-verse all distance pricing you mentioned.

I never really noticed the "call history" option on my TV/STB until a few weeks ago and it doesn't work. Guess this only works with Uvoice and not a landline as you said. 

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mkoegle wrote:

you can always just get the uverse all distance package pricing on your att home phone without the switch or installation to u-verse.

the only things u dont get is to view calls on the TV or computer.

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[Shyster951]

Installation fee?  I called today to see if there would be ANY installation fee on my existing Uverse acct here in Atlanta area, and was told there was none.  I also found a webpage saying you could save $$ by self installing (EXCL homes w/security systems)

 https://uma.att.com/assets/files/voice_self_install.html

Did my sales agent just not know or ......?

[btle310_1]

I got the same $150 charge when I called. I asked to talk to a supervisor since VOIP was not available when I got Uverse and never got a clal back. I called back the next day and got antother CSR and she wavied the $150 no problem. Install was just done 30 mins ago.