Wow. This is very impressive. I'm glad that you know how to understand a problem, and how to solve it. This is very good information and comparisons that every customer should read.
Thanks for posting this. 
Remember that Wild Banchi... 1993-2010 
caseyhammerhead wrote:I just pay my bill. I don't read it. It's the company's responsibility to tell me when i'm using more than whats in my plan/stop me from going over. First of all.. can I send my bills to you? If you're not reading them, how do you know they're yours? Anyway, think about that statment will you? You are purchasing a service. You use more than what was in your agreed-upon package, and incurr the charges that are set out in that package. You agreed to have the service, you are the one using the phone, and you want a company with over 60 million customers to monitor how you are using your time? The company notifies you of this in your bill (sent out every month, so it's not like it's a surprize to get one.. they even killed a tree or two to get it to you) usually in a lovely little area with a strange sounding heading like 'usage'. You have paid it. And are now upset because you did not realize you were paying for a service that you are with this company to get. Maybe I'm the only one that's confused after all. I actually like things to make sense and, within reason, be fair. Nevermind. On to
This, this and a thousand times THIS.
I mean, I receive calls from a lot of people asking why their bill is so high and when I ask them if they have read the bill, they say me that they haven't. What makes things worse is that they call when their balance is already in past due.
I mean, why the heck are we sending the bill when people didn't read it and then call us without even knowing the charges they got?
I'm mad. 
Oh, and MOAR kudos for the OP, excellent thread. 
UNSC_REACH wrote:Mods would have the authority, but I dont think they will do that. I think they only do it for official ATT messages.
Nope. I'm almost positive that they will not do this. However, they may extract some information from the post and put it in the contract guidelines, etc...
caseyhammerhead wrote:Thaks for the kudos. I really appreciate them.
As for the posts about bad customer service.. I don't deny that it happens, I've had off days where I know I probably didn't do all I should have, and thereare some reps out there who may not have made the best job choice.. but it's the rep, not necissarily the company. Bad experiences should be reported to the proper authority (ie manager, supervisor) with as much detail as possible, as soon as possible, so that those issues can be corrected.
That being said.. on to part two..
These seem to be common complaints I've seen (and had) about customer care with a cell phone company. (Sorry, but as much as people want to think that it's only the company they deal with has problems, the same complaints seem to be pretty universal).. which makes me wonder which end carries responsibilty for the problem.. but anyway.
I've been a good/loyal customer with the company. I deserve a phone for free.
First of all, what in life is free? I'm pretty sure the manufacturers of the phones are not giving them for free to the cell phone companies. I know if you try to buy a phone directly from it's maker, you sure aren't getting it for free, so how is a company selling them on behalf of the manufacturer supposed to give them for free? Without at least asking for something in return? Second, what is a 'good' customer? Do you pay your bills on time every month? Do you ever call in to customer care? How much do you spend a month on your bill? How often to you request (demand) credits? How long have you been in/out of contract, and with the company? All of these things will determine what the company is able/willing to offer you. I mean, if you've only been with the company for 3 months, and are paying $40/month for a plan, and loose your phone.. well the company gave you one piece of equipment for $200 for free.. are they going to loose another $200 (total $400) on a custmer that has only given them $120 total so far? What business would have a practice like that?
My phone broke/stopped working. The company owes me a new phone. Ok.. BIG misconception here, and one that really irks me. Listen carefully. All cell phone companies sell AIRTIME. They may fancy it up by offering to play middle man for customers to get the equipment to use the signal they put out (kind of a one-stop shopping), and offer other fancy services that also use their network (wireless internet, messaging, etc).. but at the heart of it, they put up towers, which send out signal, that they charge customers to use to make calls. That's it. They offer a service (the ability to use their towers' signal to make phone calls), and charge people who want to use that service. Besides, if they've given you one phone (at a monetary loss to them) only a few months ago, why should they take another loss so soon to give you another working phone? They just provide the towers, it's up to the consumer (ultimately.. read your contract) to ensure they have working equipment to use the signal the carrier is making available.
It's not my fault the tower isn't working. Why should I have to pay my bill? Cell phone companies are businesses. They are created to make money. If you want a service where you only pay for what you use, then go prepaid. Otherwise, it's a monthly bill to use whatever services you choose within that month. Yes, in a perfect world, customers would only pay for the time the network was available for them to use. But, honey, the world ain't perfect. Besides, what business would gurantee their service always worked no matter what? That would mean that any lightning strike, storm, mechanical or equipment issue, accident, anything that causes their service to stop working would be a loss of revenue, and somehow I can't see a business surviving very long with that kind of policy.
I just pay my bill. I don't read it. It's the company's responsibility to tell me when i'm using more than whats in my plan/stop me from going over. First of all.. can I send my bills to you? If you're not reading them, how do you know they're yours? Anyway, think about that statment will you? You are purchasing a service. You use more than what was in your agreed-upon package, and incurr the charges that are set out in that package. You agreed to have the service, you are the one using the phone, and you want a company with over 60 million customers to monitor how you are using your time? The company notifies you of this in your bill (sent out every month, so it's not like it's a surprize to get one.. they even killed a tree or two to get it to you) usually in a lovely little area with a strange sounding heading like 'usage'. You have paid it. And are now upset because you did not realize you were paying for a service that you are with this company to get. Maybe I'm the only one that's confused after all. I actually like things to make sense and, within reason, be fair. Nevermind. On to
(this is another of my favorites) Why should I have to take time out of My schedule to call customer care about a problem that they should know about and fix? Ok. So, companies are businesses, not mind readers, and do not have the ability/time, whatever, to monitor every single part of every service, and make sure it's working for every customer all the time (this ties in to #3). They don't know there is a problem if no one tells them. Strange how that works. Would your mechanic know that your car is not running properly if you didn't go to him? Depending on what the problem is, it may take some time for you and the company to get it fixed. For example, if it's a problem with the phone (which is in your posession, not the company's).. you may need to take some action to get another working phone yourself. If it is a problem on the company's end, they will fix it (again, a business, wanting to make money.. if the service isn't working, they're not making money). But the fix will be at the company's schedule.
It wasn't my fault the company's service wasn't working, I missed an imporant call/lost business. They owe me! Let me get this straight.. you chose to let important business/calls depend on a cell phone, and didn't have an alternate plan to get in touch with someone if that didn't work. Hmm.. Ok. I admit, my only phone is a cell phone, so if it dies, or quits working, I miss calls myself. My choice to have a cell phone as my only means of communication. So, according to the logic in the above statement, it's NOT my fault if my only means of commincation fails at an important time, when I did have the option of setting up an alternate (friend, home phone, email) way for people to get in touch with me. I like that. No responsiblity for my choice on what services I use. That means that if my car breaks down, and I don't go to work, I shouldn't be responsible for not getting paid. I'll have to let my boss know that the next time my car decides it's a good day not to start. (Considering I live in a city right across the street from a bus stop.. and my boss lives down the block).
The Holy Grail of posts that I plan on saving and I'm going to cut and paste the heck out of it. I even made it one of my macros.
Thanks caseyhammerhead, another kudo for this post.
+1 Kudos.
Here's a story I would like to share with everyone re: customer service.
Just before I left for Pasadena over Labor Day weekend, my iPhone 4 met a horrible fate - I had accidentally left it on the bumper of my truck, and I wound up getting a massive crack on the front glass plate.
Great, I thought. That's a $200 repair off the bat. Didn't feel good about it at all since I can't afford that kind of money right now.
I contemplated doing it myself, but I decided I'd rather have Apple fix it, so at least it will still be covered by AppleCare Warranty when I get it back.
Made an appointment with the Genius Bar in the Apple Store in Modesto, and I explained to the tech what had happened, in very simple, calm, straightforward langauage, and braced myself for the bad news.
Well, much to my surprise, after he reviewed everything, he not only offered to swap my broken iPhone 4 for an intact, refurbished one on the spot, he waived the $200 repair charge.
Quite in shock, but much to my relief, I signed the paperwork, heperformed the swap, and now I have a mint condition iPhone 4 again.
Now, would I have gotten the same kind of service if I had been abusive at the guy, giving him the standard screed about how I'm a "loyal customer" and all that? Maybe, but I do know that my non-confrontational attitude made the whole experience quick and relatively painless. It was over in 10 minutes.
And in case you're wondering, I'm expecting my Otterbox Defender case from Amazon very soon.
tapsfan wrote:I agree on the part that you should pay your bill......I know that ATT could not possibly control the lighting strikes or whatever, but when you continually have dropped calls, "network busy", failed calls, "call not allowed", and busy signals to landline and cell phones it is very frustrating to say the least. I have had service with ATT for about 10 years. I had excellent service for 9 of those years, but now the service is almost nonexistent. The customer care reps try to lay the blame on my phone, but when your entire family has trouble making and receiving calls it has to be the company's fault. They should fix it. I pay over two hundred dollars every month for my family plan and have awful service. I have called once a week for the last 6 months and nothing has gotten any better. Yes they are in the business to make money, but shouldn't we receive descent service for the money ATT is getting from the millions of customers they have??? Not resolving customer issues will also make a company go under!!!! No one is asking the company to guarantee that the service will be perfect every minute of every day, but to have at least have the same service and signal I had 2 years ago or 3 years ago. Is that really too much to ask???? I will not recommend ATT to anyone in the future. Maybe, just maybe, when they lose a few million customers they will finally listen and fix the problem. I will wait until all my contracts are up and I will go to another carrier. Tired of trying to get help from the reps at ATT.
(No kudos for all the lies and fine print about the real reason that the service has declined in the past year.-I'm sorry, but just like in your post, it does not resolve anything. If ATT can't provide the service it says it can, then maybe they should go out of business and let another company do it, that can.)
If you're really that dissatisfied with your service, leave AT&T and go elsewhere. It doesn't make any sense for you to be sticking with a company that you are unhappy with.
Although, I don't really understand what you mean by this:?
"No kudos for all the lies and fine print about the real reason that the service has declined in the past year."
smush1 wrote:Wild Banchi wrote,
"If you're really that dissatisfied with your service, leave AT&T and go elsewhere. It doesn't make any sense for you to be sticking with a company that you are unhappy with."
I agree, I would very much like to leave AT&T at this point, but the cost to do so would reach almost a thousand dollars. Is your idea of good customer service to tell a loyal customer that if they don't like it, they should take their business elsewhere?
That doesn't sound like good common business sense to me.
Well first of all, I am not a Customer Service Rep, nor do I work for AT&T. I'm a Forum Community Member, posting my own advice that I think would benefit people of their troubles and/or questions.
And no - that's not my "idea". I want what's best for people, regardless or the circumstances or consequences. I want people who are troubled to be happy, without all of the frustration or arguing.
