Comments on: E139: Nightmare with AT&T – A Customer Service Horror Story

By: Tammy

Tammy — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 18:34:54 +0000

I can definitely identify with this. I have had numerous transactions with them over the years, and it is an experience that I dread each time I call. I always experience numerous waits on the phone and transfers to different departments ( agents with heavy foreign accents).

I had an experience yesterday that made me livid. We have a bundle with ATT/DirectTV/Internet (through ATT). I had questions about my bill being raised 2 times lately and issues with my wireless internet as well as issues with not being able to watch TV on some of my TV’s. We pay extra to be able to watch on 6 TV’s, and we were able to in the beginning. However, in the last few years, we started getting a message about turning one off if we were using more than 3 at the time.

In one of my many transfers to different departments to talk with, once again, someone whom I cannot understand and someone who cannot understand me I encountered the rudest LOYAL CUSTOMER REPRESENTATIVE that I believe I have dealt with….Truly, she was a “B”! She told us (by this time, my husband also chimed in with me on this call via speakerphone) that we did not have a bundle, and that we only had Direct TV with them.

We disagreed, and she rudely kept telling us we only had one account…..Finally, she DID find some sort of confirmation that we are paying for three things through them. She also kept telling us that our Direct TV equipment had never been any different and that she was a representative when they were looking into purchasing the equipment—She indirectly called us liars. Her tone and sneering remarks left me wondering how ANNA could ever be working in a Loyal Customer capacity! I gave up after more than 2 hours of dealing with the mess and out of sheer frustration!I wonder how many people have had a stroke after going through this process!

My husband has a doctorate in educational administration and I retired from teaching after 30 years teaching Language Arts. She talked to us like we are imbeciles. She had a snippy attitude with a know-it-all answer for anything. ATT won’t change because it’s a WIN WIN situation for them when people give up in frustration after spending hours on the phone.

By: Slava Murygin

Slava Murygin — Sat, 20 Aug 2022 19:56:49 +0000

Recently purchased a prepaid phone from AT&T.
It has no charger. I’ve spent two days to get someone to help me, but there was no way to get help by phone.
When I came to AT&T office they said that they’d accept return of my phone for $55 restocking fee.
I was on the call with AT&T support for more than 3 hours that day.
AT&T employee helped me to call their support. We were on the call for about 80 minutes.
Support agent got my email and phone number to send me postage return label, but never sent a label nor called.

Next day I’ve tried to chat online.
At the first attempt person in the chat promised me that I’ll be called within a half an hour.
One and a half hours later I chatted again.
This time I was in the the chat until I’ve got a call.

By: Auditory

Auditory — Sun, 10 Jan 2021 20:35:11 +0000

I’ve had eight AT&T technician visits to try and solve my home Internet timeout and dropout issues over the past year. Each technician determined that the problem was outside the house. AT&T never charged me for any tech visit, regardless of whether or not a component was repaired or replaced. I’ve had two modem/gateway replacements, two port swaps, a card change, an EBN component replacement and a ground issue repaired in an effort to eliminate the dropout and timeout problems. The last technician came out on December 4, 2020. He could not find any problem and didn’t perform any elaborate diagnostic tests of the outside or inside wiring. Instead, he gave me some lame tips about what to do in order to solve the issue. After doing so, the technician promptly left. Not surprisingly, none of his tips worked and the problem with my Internet remains.

I recently received my bill online and noticed a $99 “Dispatch Fee”. Apparently, the AT&T technician charged me for coming to my home, finding no issue, doing essentially nothing and never remedying my technical issue. The AT&T technician never told me there would be any charge, nor did the technician seek my authorization or signature to approve a charge. I have disputed the charge with AT&T. I requested that AT&T show me any paper or electric document with my signature on it that approved a $99 fee. They have yet to produce any such document.

Regardless of AT&T’s decision I will refuse to pay the charge. If necessary, I will file a formal complaint with the appropriate regulatory agencies. I also plan on giving AT&T the boot. This is something I should have done years ago.

By: Leong

Leong — Sun, 12 May 2019 02:06:37 +0000

It’s unfortunate that the world largest telecommunications company sets an example of how NOT to run customer service. The best customer service I’ve experienced this year are with Charles Schwab. Instead of putting you on hold to wait for another department to answer, they will bring in qualify technicians or appropriate depts on a 3 way phone conference with the customer service always the point of contact to solve your problem on a single call. They even went as far as calling you back to check if you have anymore issues and follow up emails.

It’s great that there are alternative to AT&T. Poor service creates more opportunities for other better servicing companies to thrive! That’s the same in e-commerce world, poor product + poor service = new competitors with better product and happier customers!

By: Dave Bryant

Dave Bryant — Fri, 12 Apr 2019 04:55:02 +0000

In reply to JB. Thanks for the background!

By: JB

JB — Thu, 11 Apr 2019 15:26:17 +0000

I know this is an old post but as a former AT&T RSM Level 1 (I left the company about a year and a half ago) I had to chime in with my two cents.

AT&T has awful customer service support, and if its any consolation, the back end support for employees is just as bad. There has also been a push to remove many of the tools that managers formerly had access to, that were very useful for cutting through problems such as yours and resolving them at the store level without the need for further escalation.

By: b

Mon, 23 Apr 2018 22:54:54 +0000

What you described has been very typical of my phone and web interactions with AT&T. I was once transferred 17 times in one call, for what was seemingly a simple and common request.

My only consistently positive interactions have been with the technicians who have come to my home, who generally seem competent.