Lack of effective technical support

[eriol_1]

I'm posting this message everywhere I can find until I get some resolution, or I go back to Comcast. And yes, it does make me feel better.

Don't bother with AT+T U Verse!

You'll be rebooting 2 or 3 times a day, and 1/4 of the time when your cable image locks up, you'll also lose your phone and internet service too. Yeah, you'll save a few bucks, but do you really want to miss the end of your movie or sporting event while you're rebooting. As of today, I'm going through my 5th service call, and I don't really think they have any more of a clue than they did the first few times.  HEY AT+T, FIX YOUR SYSTEM OR WATCH US ALL GO BACK TO COMCAST!

Message Edited by eriol on 09-03-2009 01:51 PM

[erazoner]

Perhaps if you had posted here before today, say after your first or second service call, and detailed the nature of your problems, you wouldn't have needed a 5th service call.

[eriol_1]

ERAZONER,

Well that comment really solves my issues.

You don't think they have any responsibility get it up and running right for at least one billing period?

Read the first post, I did mention the specific problem: Cable image locks up, and sometimes takes phone and internet down too.

Rebooting is a temporary fix at best, and needs doing a couple times a night at this point. Should I have to be rewiring and changing out their connections? I'm no tech wizard and they agree that I have real service interruptions or they wouldn't keep sending people out here. So how many chances do you think they should get?

Message Edited by eriol on 09-03-2009 02:05 PM

[mibrnsurg ACE - Geek]

Contact David and his team immediately:

http://www.uverseusers.com/index.php?option=com_openwiki&Itemid=36&id=david

Provide all info required and it might take a short bit of time before they contact you.
They will solve your problems.

Chris

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Please NO SD stretch-o-vision or 480 SD HD Channels
1-800-983-2811 to avoid Mr. Voice Recognition
YRMV IMHO Simply a U-verse user, nothing more

[callmeox ACE - Wizard]

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eriol wrote:

I'm posting this message everywhere I can find until I get some resolution, or I go back to Comcast. And yes, it does make me feel better.

Don't bother with AT+T U Verse!

You'll be rebooting 2 or 3 times a day, and 1/4 of the time when your cable image locks up, you'll also lose your phone and internet service too. Yeah, you'll save a few bucks, but do you really want to miss the end of your movie or sporting event while you're rebooting. As of today, I'm going through my 5th service call, and I don't really think they have any more of a clue than they did the first few times.  HEY AT+T, FIX YOUR SYSTEM OR WATCH US ALL GO BACK TO COMCAST!

Message Edited by eriol on 09-03-2009 01:51 PM

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"Us all..."?

Speak for yourself...I'm not going anywhere.

Message Edited by callmeox on 09-03-2009 04:24 PM

[sirmaru]

My experience with ATT Uverse support is EXCELLENT!  When my DVR died, they came over and replaced it in SIX HOURS.  When I couldn't solve my problem using Media Share with Zone Alarm, the technician pledged to work on it 8 hours per day until solved.  I solved it myself and called ATT to take her off the case and told them my solution.

[hemihem]

where are you located?

are other in your area having the same problem?

[Jeffster_1]

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eriol wrote:

 WATCH US ALL GO BACK TO COMCAST!

Message Edited by eriol on 09-03-2009 01:51 PM

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I will never go back .....never!

why would I my service is perfect with U Verse. 

[spd2demun ACE - Master]

Comcrap is a hurtin', IMO...doing anything to win back customers, including...

[erazoner]

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eriol wrote:

ERAZONER,

Well that comment really solves my issues.

You don't think they have any responsibility get it up and running right for at least one billing period?

Read the first post, I did mention the specific problem: Cable image locks up, and sometimes takes phone and internet down too.

Rebooting is a temporary fix at best, and needs doing a couple times a night at this point. Should I have to be rewiring and changing out their connections? I'm no tech wizard and they agree that I have real service interruptions or they wouldn't keep sending people out here. So how many chances do you think they should get?

---

You don't mention whether the RG was changed, the DVR was changed, what troubleshooting was done with your wiring, or any actions taken by the techs during their visits. You just stamp your foot and threaten to switch. OK, I agree that you should switch to Comcast. Something tells me you won't be contacting David anyway.  

[eriol_1]

Well, they were out here yesterday, twice. One technician tested everything inside my home, did some tests, told my wife things looked OK and left. Never checked the connections outside of my home even though the original tests showed a fault in the outside line. I had asked the people on the phone support to make sure that  they knew to check the outside line, but the technician said he wasn't authorized to do that. Within the hour, the system was doing it again.

 A few hours later they sent a senior technician over who did look at the outside line. He showed my wife a loose and corroded connection in a common box used by several of the townhouses where I live. He cut it out and put in a new connector, did some tests and left. It only locked up twice later on last night.

Sorry, as I said, I'm not a tech guy, so I don't even know what an RG is. As for the DVR, they've never changed it even though I has asked them to. They said that's not where the fault lies. Unfortunately, they don't seem to know where it does lie.

Tell me this, who is this David? Does he work for AT+T? Or is he an outside contractor who will be sending me his own bill? Because, to tell you the truth, I'm of the opinion that I'm already paying for support services that they should be providing.

As far as my first entry goes, yeah, maybe I shouldn't have said we'll all be leaving for Comcast. But if you look around at other forums for this type of problem, there seems to be a lot of dissatisfaction out there. And there are also other service providers besides Comcast, it was just the first one that came to mind.

[spd2demun ACE - Master]

RG is the Residental Gateway, or modem that everything inside the home plugs into.

David IS with AT&T and he will be able to escalate your situation to the proper person. 

[mibrnsurg ACE - Geek]

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eriol wrote:

Well, they were out here yesterday, twice. One technician tested everything inside my home, did some tests, told my wife things looked OK and left. Never checked the connections outside of my home even though the original tests showed a fault in the outside line. I had asked the people on the phone support to make sure that  they knew to check the outside line, but the technician said he wasn't authorized to do that. Within the hour, the system was doing it again.

 A few hours later they sent a senior technician over who did look at the outside line. He showed my wife a loose and corroded connection in a common box used by several of the townhouses where I live. He cut it out and put in a new connector, did some tests and left. It only locked up twice later on last night.

Sorry, as I said, I'm not a tech guy, so I don't even know what an RG is. As for the DVR, they've never changed it even though I has asked them to. They said that's not where the fault lies. Unfortunately, they don't seem to know where it does lie.

Tell me this, who is this David? Does he work for AT+T? Or is he an outside contractor who will be sending me his own bill? Because, to tell you the truth, I'm of the opinion that I'm already paying for support services that they should be providing.

As far as my first entry goes, yeah, maybe I shouldn't have said we'll all be leaving for Comcast. But if you look around at other forums for this type of problem, there seems to be a lot of dissatisfaction out there. And there are also other service providers besides Comcast, it was just the first one that came to mind.

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If you clicked on the link I provided, you would see who he was and is your best hope to solve the problem.

Chris

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Please NO SD stretch-o-vision or 480 SD HD Channels
1-800-983-2811 to avoid Mr. Voice Recognition
YRMV IMHO Simply a U-verse user, nothing more

[erazoner]

Compared to cable, U-verse has many potential points of failure along the route of delivery. In the vast majority of cases, technicians can identify the fault and correct it, as with your corroded connector. But your case may be one of the small percentage of those with more than one fault. It makes sense that the DVR is not the source, since your problems include your voice and internet. That leaves your Residential Gateway (RG), and the wiring/cabling in your townhouse. You are probably one of the unlucky ones where repeat visits are required to address all of the problems.

Here is a another thread of problems similar to yours that may be a good place to start: 

http://utalk.att.com/utalk/board/message?board.id=Uverse_TV_Equipment&message.id=30189

Good luck, and report back any more problems/successes that occur.

[RCSMG ACE - Master]

Its funny how a person can have the best intentions offering help and get taken to task about that info.  It would be great if we had all of the answers to the questions and would be able to resolve issues.  But as stated this is a peer to peer forum which means we are end users as well.  We have varying degrees of experience with Uverse and can offer some useful suggestions.  We aren't ATT employees in any way shape or form.  We are users who want to be helpful to new subscribers.  Nothing more nothing less.

[Xbef]

I have never needed to reboot my system. Ever.

Maybe this is unrelated, but I want to just say this.

I have a very good friend that is a home inspector. He was doing an inspection on a home for a family as part of their home warranty. They had been in the house a year and the inspection was part of the purchase agreement for the house.

The lady of the house let him in to complete the inspection and he saw the father and son unpacking a large screen plasma TV in the living room. He commented on the nice TV and they mentioned it was the 3rd one in the last month because the other 2 each stopped working suddenly.

He told them to hold off on getting the TV setup until he was done with the inspection.

During his inspection he found the breaker box was wired incorrectly. Not a big enough problem to burn down the house or cause the breakers to trip, but enough to be wrong - and there is a reason it needs to be done the "right way".

He fixed the problem (he is a licensed electrician) and told the family the issue when he completed the inspection. They were so happy to hear the problem with the TVs was potentially fixed and not a problem with the model they purchased then had replaced twice through the warranty. They asked for his card because their neighbors also complained about problems with their high-end electronics.

A month later he is at the house next door and the family he helped 30 days prior saw him and thanked him for resolving the problem with their wiring. They told him they didn't have any problems since he helped them out.

I'm not sayin'. I'm just sayin'.

[eriol_1]

Well, that last comment had nothing at all to do with my problems.

And by the way, last week's 2 service calls did not fix the problem. It hasn't locked up completely, but it still hesitates momentarily. I guess I'll wait till it gets bad again, then call that David guy. 

[rockyrodger]

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callmeox wrote:

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eriol wrote:

I'm posting this message everywhere I can find until I get some resolution, or I go back to Comcast. And yes, it does make me feel better.

Don't bother with AT+T U Verse!

You'll be rebooting 2 or 3 times a day, and 1/4 of the time when your cable image locks up, you'll also lose your phone and internet service too. Yeah, you'll save a few bucks, but do you really want to miss the end of your movie or sporting event while you're rebooting. As of today, I'm going through my 5th service call, and I don't really think they have any more of a clue than they did the first few times.  HEY AT+T, FIX YOUR SYSTEM OR WATCH US ALL GO BACK TO COMCAST!

Message Edited by eriol on 09-03-2009 01:51 PM

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"Us all..."?

Speak for yourself...I'm not going anywhere.

Message Edited by callmeox on 09-03-2009 04:24 PM

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Sorry, me too, I LOVE U-verse!  No regrets.

[RCSMG ACE - Master]

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eriol wrote:

Well, that last comment had nothing at all to do with my problems.

And by the way, last week's 2 service calls did not fix the problem. It hasn't locked up completely, but it still hesitates momentarily. I guess I'll wait till it gets bad again, then call that David guy. 

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If I were you I wouldn't wait until it gets bad again if this issue occurs regularly.  One thing you can try if you already haven't is doing a hard reboot of the stb.  Unplug the ac cable for 30 seconds and then replug it.  If the problem still exists go ahead and shoot David an email.

[Dianah_1]

I TOTALLY agree with you.  As a matter of fact, I am cancelling my service as I write this.  Their "technical support" is ABSOLUTELY absurd!!!

I have been a cellular customer for over 10 years and because of U-Verse, I am taking ALL of my business elsewhere. 

My TV is unreliable at best re-booting multiple times a day and of course, it always locks up at the most inconvenient time, and when it does, all other services are gone as well.  Not to mention, our phone jack that the techs always "test" doesn't even work!

U-Verse is a complete disappointment.  I have been with U-Verse only 2 months and have logged more than 8 hours on the phone and a couple of tech service calls trying to work with them to get the problem resolved.  I have been through all branches of their tech support and they won't even call you back to say "we're working on it" or "that they can't fix it".  I don't think it is too much to ask from a consumer for a little customer service or at least a voicemail to say something or anything!!  I am hoarse from repeating my "story".  When you have to call in to their customer service line, it always says "this call may be recorded yada yada yada...."  I have spoken to / repeated the issues with 16+ people (no joke) just since August 25th.  Why?? Because I call them - they don't call me and each time the story gets longer about who didn't do their job or document anything other than a phone call.  Yet, supposedly there are trouble tickets all over the place and surprise!  No one can find them....  Oh, but each new call to a new tech promises "I'm different".  So far, 16+ promises - none of them true.

[hpmsrm]

Well I can truly understand the frustration when you have so many problems.  But what amazes me is how our service, and that of all our neighbors, can be so good while a few folks have these problems.  I would imagine it is equally frustrating to the techs who really do want to get it working right.  We've been subscribers since Dec. 18, 2007.  Had a few problems initially but all were taken care of by a very courteous and quick acting tech service.  We haven't had to call customer service for a very long time.  (knock on wood).

As previously suggested....contact David and he'll do his very darndest to get things straightened out.

I remember I bought a new Buick Electra back in 1981.   Absolutely the worst piece of GM junk ever produced.  Trouble started the 2nd day I owned it and things never did get straightened out.  The dealer was no help and neither was Buick division.  But I have friends who have never had problems with their Buicks....even after 150,000+ miles.  They love them.  Sound familiar?

[eriol_1]

Well it only took 6 visits and even more phone calls for them to seem to have fixed the problems, for now anyways. We'll have to see how it goes. If it was a car, I'd have been able to return it under the lemon laws.

In the meantime I wouldn't recommend this service to anyone I wanted to keep as a friend

[erazoner]

So what was the problem?

[eriol_1]

Seems to have been a bad connection from an outside box to the cable leading into my townhome. I had earlier asked the technician to check into that but was told that he wasn't authorized to touch outside lines. When I suggested to the phone support people that they send an outside guy, nothing ever came of it. 

[Escapee]

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eriol wrote:
Seems to have been a bad connection from an outside box to the cable leading into my townhome. I had earlier asked the technician to check into that but was told that he wasn't authorized to touch outside lines. When I suggested to the phone support people that they send an outside guy, nothing ever came of it. 

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If you are in the former Bell South region the inside techs are not allowed to go past the side of the townhouse. 

However that is no excuse for an outside tech not to be dispatch to check that part of the line. The Prem Tech may have put the request in and it fell through the cracks way too many times. 

Hope this will be your last service call.  Sorry your first impresson was so unsatisfactory and it will get your opinion of the service will change in time.