My recent experience with AT&T customer support (all offerings, not just wireless) has me seriously considering dropping my entire account, regardless of how much it will cost me in early termination fees.
My story begins less than a month ago. On March 13th, I called customer support to make what I thought were two simple changes to my account. I wanted to 1) drop my landline service while retaining my DSL service, and 2) port my landline number to an existing wireless line. The customer service rep (who was very polite but, as you'll soon discover, not very knowledgeable) told me that I couldn't port the landline number to an existing line, I had to add a line. No problem, I have a plan that allows me up to five lines and I currently only have three lines. So we arranged to add a line with the landline number and I was offered a basic LG phone. I also wanted to cancel the line I had intended for the landline number to replace. It still had three months left on the original contract but the CS rep told me he could credit (but not waive) the early cancellation fee, which was $70. No problem.
I then asked the CS rep if this would affect my DSL service. He assured me it wouldn't and I made it very plain that I wanted to retain my DSL service. After finishing the order, he gave me instructions and a number to call to activate the new phone once I received it. I asked him when the landline would be cancelled and he told me it would be disconnected when I activated the new wireless phone. I again asked, just to make sure, if this would affect my DSL service and, again, he told me it would not.
Two days later, Thursday, March 15th, we received the new phone and I followed the steps to activate it. I discovered that it would make calls, but it wouldn't receive calls. Instead, all incoming calls went to the landline. Also, the wireless line I asked to have disconnected was still active. So I call wirelees customer service and get another very polite CS rep. She checks the line and tries to make some calls to it but the calls still go to the landline. She looks at my order and notes that it's not showing as complete yet and tells me to wait a few hours for the landline to be disconnected. She also checked the line I wanted to disconnect and noted that there was no disconnect order for it. So she placed a disconnect order on the line and told me that she could WAIVE the early cancellation fee. She set the line to disconnect at 2 PM Friday afternoon, March 16th.
On Friday morning, I called the new wireless line (the one with the landline number) and my wife answered. So everything now appears to be working as it should and now I just have to wait for the other wireless line to be disconnected at 2 PM. However, my wife calls me back a few minutes later to inform me that we have no internet. So when I arrive home, I check the DSL and it appears to be disconnected. Figuring it's just a mistake, I call DSL customer service and get a foreign speaking male (but still very polite). I explain the situation to him but he insists on "sending signals to your modem" and taking me through all kinds of tests that I've already checked myself (I have some experience with networking, BTW). After an hour on the phone he finally consults with an engineer and they determine that my DSL was, indeed, disconnected. Well, I already knew that and I've spent an hour of my time trying to explain that to him.
So the DSL tech connects me to landline and internet sales so I can get my DSL restored. It was at this point that the situation took a turn for the worse. The landline sales rep checks my order and informs me that, because I ported my landline number to a wireless line, everything associated with that landline has been disconnected, including the DSL. Also gone is my combined bill and my autopay! He further informs me that, because Uverse is now available in my area, I cannot get DSL, I must get Uverse. At this point I'm livid because I asked the original CS rep TWICE if this order would affect my DSL service and he assured me it wouldn't. I know Uverse is a better, faster service but, since my DSL shouldn't have been disconnected in the first place, I ask him if he can transfer me to someone who could attach a new number to my former landline and restore my DSL service. So he transfers me and I explain the situation to another CS rep. After being told for the third time that "we just don't hand out phone numbers" and finding this new rep completely unsympathetic, I tell him to "screw it" and hang up.
I immediately call customer service again and get a very nice gentleman, Robert in Nashville. After intensely describing my problem to Robert (I wasn't very nice) he began working to solve the problem. He couldn't believe that I wasn't told how this would affect my account and, upon looking at my order, tells me "they've really done a number on you." He finds that my order is still open and says "I can't guarantee anything but I'm going to try and attach another number to this landline and get your DSL and combined bill retored." A few minutes later, Robert has given me a new landline number (but no landline service...exactly what I wanted) and has restored my combined bill. He tells me the DSL will be restored, but not before Wednesday, the 21st. He apologized for this but I told him he has done more for me than any of the other reps had. I thanked him for helping me and hung up. Just out of curiostiy, I checked the DSL on Tuesday evening and it was active, thanks to Robert in Nashville!
Still, there was an issue with the wireless line I wanted cancelled. While it should've been disconnected Friday at 2 PM, it was still active on Sunday evening. So Monday afternoon, I made yet another call to wireless customer service. This time, I get enterprise wireless customer service (I have a wireless discount via my employer). I explain my problem to the CS rep and she starts to investigate it. She notes that my order STILL has no disconnect order for that particular line. So I tell her I want it disconnected and she begins to place the order. A few minutes later she asks, "did they tell you that this line is still under contract and there's an early cancellation fee?" I told her that they did inform me of this, but the original rep told me he would credit the $70 fee while the other told me she could waive it. This CS rep tells me "I can't waive or credit early cancellation fees." I interrupt her and tell her that I have reached my limit and that she WILL either credit or waive the early cancellation fee. She tells me again, "I can't do that, but let me see what I can do." What she offers me is a $35 credit for the next three months (totalling $105) and a text reminder to call and cancel the line after the contract expires in May. I accept the credits but ask her if she can't go ahead and disconnect the line. She insists she can't but she promised to send me a text reminder. I accept this but ask to speak to a manager so I can describe the h*ll I've been through. She was kind enough to ask a manger to call me later in the day. I didn't get a lot of satisfaction from the CS manger but I did ask her to explain the inconsistency in the offers I got to offset the early cancellation fee for the wireless line. She explained that different CS departments can offer different credits and this was likely the cause of the confusion. Heads up AT&T...LET'S GET CONSISTENT WITH YOUR FEE CREDITS AND/OR WAIVERS!!!
For the next few weeks, things are calmer and the new bills start coming in. I received a separate, paper wireless bill, and a separate, paper landline/DSL bill. I expected this due to my combined bill being screwed up by the original order. I also received a new customer DSL package (completely unneccessary) and several notifications of order changes. I also received a mailer that I had signed up for combined billing (the result of Robert restoring it) but to pay any separate bills I had already received, which I inteded to do.
Last night, two days before my separate, wireless bill is due, I login to my AT&T web account (with my User ID) to pay my separate, wireless bill. I successfully login and start looking for a link to pay my bill. I see my landline/DSL bill amount, but it's not due till the 17th. So I click on wireless and I get my usage summary. I mouse over to the right and select account management and select "Pay My Bill." I immediately get sent to another window where I'm asked to login again. Thinking the account link may be broken due to the oringal order screw up, I attempt to login with my wireless number and password. When I do this, I get an error message that the account is already linked and I'm asked to login with my User ID. So I login with my User ID again and I'm back to the overview that shows my landline/DSL bill amount. I go to wireless and select "Pay My Bill" again and I'm sent to a new window where I'm asked, AGAIN, to log back in.
Because I'm now in a loop and I'm, once gain, quite livid with the whole situation, and I need to pay my bill, I call web access customer service 15 minutes before closing time. I get a rep and I rant to him my situation. He tells me to logout and log back in, which I do, and he tells me that he sees my bill total on the right of the screen. I tell him that this total (which is only $28) is for my landline/DSL and that I have a separate wireless bill that I need to pay. He says, "no, that's your total bill, wireless included." At this point, I should've asked him how this could be when I have a family 700 wireless plan that starts at $60, and I also have four additional lines. But I am so livid that I just say, "you know what, screw you!" and hang up.
I then call wireless customer service and ask the friendly CS rep there if I could please pay my separate wireless bill. She says she can help and she pulls up my bill, which comes to about $157 dollars. I ask her if she could waive the $36 activation fee I was charged for the new wireless line, which she does. She takes my credit card info and puts me on hold to complete the payment. When she comes back, she tells me that she cannot complete the payment because the bill has now been combined and we'll have to contact the combined billing department to complete the payment. However, combined billing is closed for the night, so she arranges to call me back today to complete a payment that I should've been able to complete online!
So my original order screwed up my DSL, combined billing, and autopay (despite what the rep told me); I still have one wireless line that I'm not using because it supposedly can't be cancelled until the end of the contract; and now the separate wireless bill I received is in some alternate universe between separate and combined billing, which prevents me from accessing it online. AT&T, this is FREAKING 2012!!! How can these screwups happen?!!! How it it that I can't pay a simple bill online?! How is it that a customer service rep didn't know that porting a landline to a wireless line would cancel my DSL?! Why is it that I can't cancel a freaking wireless line that I don't need?!
If I can find an affordable alternative to DSL or Uverse, I'm seriously considering dumping AT&T for Verizon or T-Mobile no matter how much it costs to cancel the 2 year contract on the new wireless line I just added. I've never had great customer service from AT&T...I've always had to call at least once, sometimes twice, to get discounts I was offerred. But I have never had an experience like this and if it continues, I WILL DROP AT&T. I'm tired of this bull and I think I am owed an explanation!
