Poor Customer Service

[BenaB]

At 11:00am today I walked into the Towne Center Pkwy store in Papillion, NE willing to spend whatever it took to get me into a phone that served my needs and stayed charged for a reasonable amount of time based on usage. Instead, I was greeted by a sleepy Matthew rubbing his eyes and barely awake.

He asked how he could help me and I advised that I hate my phone. The primary reasons being that the phone does not really serve my needs the way my previous phone did and the battery life is poor. I asked him to help me understand the potential penalties in my contract so I could make the best decision to get out of my current phone and into one that works for me.

Instead, I get a lecture on how it is probably just my battery and he can get me a new one. Didn't ask for a new battery--I hate the PHONE and the short batter life. I asked him to look into my contract as I asked--instead, he continues answering a question no one asked...about a battery. Again, I explained it's not the battery--the phone does not work for me. He AGAIN continues with the "no matter what phone you have, it is going to die everyday" speech completely talking down to me like I don't understand how batteries work. I explained that my old iPhone never died midday after a full charge when I was only using it for a few short phone calls and texts...this "new" phone does, but that wasn't the point--I don't like the phone. The condescending tone continued so I left the store--empty handed.

I am confused as to how reiterating answers to questions no one asked is helpful. I am confused as to how I can walk into a store ready to spend any amount to rid myself of a crappy device and the sales person refuses to help me. I am confused as to how a guaranteed upsell is a bad thing?!

So frustrated with dealing with AT&T.

[kortzy1]

I hate ATT too, I cannot get any service for this problem I've had, store or phone. It's been a week.

[ilikewireless ACE - Czar]

What phone is it that has such a short battery life?

[ilikewireless ACE - Czar]

Sorry I asked the wrong question. What new phone do you have in mind? They should have served you better.

[21stNow]

You would have to find a rep that doesn't care as much about commission.  Since it sounds like you are not far enough in your current contract for a full upgrade, you would have to take a new device at the no-commitment price.  This means no contract and no commission for the sales person.

If you want to play their game, you could add a line to get a new phone.  That will get the sales rep's attention.  Other than that, you may be better off at a store like Best Buy.  I'm unsure of what their commission structure is, but I think that they may be more willing to help you.  The problem with this is that if you are buying the phone at the no-commitment price, Best Buy is usually significantly higher than AT&T is.

[ilikewireless ACE - Czar]

BenaB can also look at some Gophones at Walmart or Radio Shack. Once he gets the GoPhone, do NOT activate it. Save the new SIM that comes with the gophone for future use. He can just pull the SIM out of his old phone, and insert the old SIM in the GoPhone. The GoPhone should work right away. He will maintain his contract and will be eligible for upgrade later.

[BenaB]

I have the HTC Inspire. A few of my friends that have the same phone, or other HTC phones, have purchased the extrended battery but I think it's ridiculous to have a "smartphone" that cannot keep up with its users.

[BenaB]

I still have my old iPhone; I wonder if I could somehow just switch it over until the contract expires. Do you know how that works?

Thanks,

B.

[21stNow]

If you have a 3GS or earlier, just take your SIM card out of the Inspire and put it in the iPhone.  Call customer service to have your data plan switched to an iPhone data plan.

If you have an iPhone 4 or later, go to a corporate AT&T store and get a microSIM card and have them switch the data plan for you.

Either option should be at no additional cost to you.  Sometimes, people are charged for the microSIM cards, but I doubt that you would be.

[WastedElements]

Sales reps work on commision for the lines of service they setup up and not on the actual phone itself. The only way i can forsee that they would get any benefit to offering or sending you a phone you do not want or did not want is because they have some internal contest going on to get rid of a certain type of phone. So say you call for a galaxy and they send you a phoenix, that is because the sales rep is getting some extra bonus for sending you the phone you do not want over the one you do not want. Sales reps and customer service reps are "required" to make a cerain amount of revenue per day, not all of them mean to cause this to customer but AT&T make the daliy requirements for them to make and unfortunatly since not all of the employees can sell water in a desert they sadly use other methods.