I HATE AT&T....seriously

[tlombard]

I remember when Uverse first came out and all my friends were telling me how great and cheap it was and how I should switch (it wasn't offered in my area at the time). Then a year or less later when their initial deals ran out... they complain about them every bit as much as they complained about Charter. Maybe more. Suckers. At least I know what I have with Charter and honestly have had very few problems with them over the past decade.

[cardinalkarp]

welp, back again!! (and sorry cardinalkarp, i didn't see your response...internet was down, and then i just forgot about this thread. if you could help me this time, i'd appreciate it!!)

so about month or so ago, i get a letter that says that uverse is coming in, and we need to change from DSL to uverse....just call this 800 number within 45 days, and they will ship us a modem and router at no charge that will work with uverse.

so i call...nice lady says it's not ready yet, but she will call me back as soon as my house is ready for uverse and ship me out my modem.

last week, she calls back and says you are ready to switch on 8/29 after 8 pm! she's sending out the modem bow, and to hook it up after 8/29 8pm. i'd be getting 12 mbps (currently have 6 with dsl) for 24.95 per month.

so i wait till this morning to be sure, and......nothing. no service light comes on the new modem.

i call in to tech support, and the not american person tells me that my service has been cancelled...umm, wtf? no problem she says though, we'll just transfer you to sales and they can hook you back up with a new contract!

sales rep comes on and sets me up with a new contract for 12 mbps....for 29.95 per month....wtf? the other lady said 24.95! uh, no, it's 29.99. i'm pissed for being lied to, but i need my internet on, so i said go ahead. she processes my order, and says she'll transfer me back to uverse tech support to complete me install.

so i get tech support...5 minutes of holding/getting my info...oh, you have a uverse account now, this is dsl tech support...let me transfer you there.....

get a person on the phone from uverse tech support, who says they can set up my service....on sept 7th. ok, i'm beyond pissed at this point and raised my voice a little to explain sternly that i work from home, and i need service today, now, this minute. says they can't do it...has to be the 7th of sept. but i have a letter that says 8/29 after 8pm! sorry sir, but that order was cancelled. why?!?! i never cancelled it did i!!! no sir, you did not. ok, so turn my service on. we will sir....on the 7th of sept. give me a [expletive] supervisor now!

i get a supervisor....i checked into your account, and it seems uverse is not offered at this time for your address....

WTF WTF WTF!

then why do i have a letter saying that i do, and that i need to call you guys within 45 days to make sure i have service?!?!? why do i have the modem that you sent me?!!? how did i sign up for service with you guys for uverse?!!?!? twice apparently?!?!!?

i don't know sir....

ok, so wtf do i do now???

ummm...i'm not sure sir....do you have dsl service?

ummm, no you guys cancelled it since i "had" uverse!!

so the supervisor gets me signed back up for dsl, and it's working now (obv)...then he asks me to go to my local post office and send the uverse modem back!!

why? is uverse not coming?

no sir, it is coming, just not for a bit.

then why would i send it back and pay postage, just for you guys to send me another one back out in a little bit?!!?

so you don't get charged...

how the [expletive] do i get charged for something that is free!?!?!!?

it's not free...

ummm, i have a letter saying it's free as i don't have a choice...you guys are making me switch to uverse!!

oh, then it's prob free then sir.....

i hang up....



i cannot wait to see this [expletive] bill!!!!!!

at&t is by far the WORST [expletive] company (sorry cardinalkarp) that i have ever [expletive] dealt with. i would switch to ANY other phone/cable company if i had a choice, but alas....at&t is all i have....

I can explain...somewhat.

There are certain areas that customers are getting letters where they are being "forced" to go to the uverse service. AT&T is really trying to push towards uverse as its a better service & newer technology. The letter goes out to all AT&T customers in your area & it's likey people in your area have uverse. As to why your original order was canceled and you were never told obviously that's all on AT&T. The person you spoke w/ that placed the second order was flat out wrong in doing so, they should have recognized the fact that your first order was canceled because your address didn't actually qualify (the same issues can happen w/ dsl).

Unfortunately, at that point your were in a really crappy situation. Your uverse service "failed" & when a uverse order is issued the systems are made to generate a dsl disconnect order so you arent double billed. BUT, in the cases like yours, when the rep that canceled your uverse order (w/o your knowledge) not only did that, but also failed to notify the correct dept to ensure your dsl service wasn't disconnected also. Obviously, at this point there's not much I can do to help since your service is back up now, but if it wasn't I could have definitely helped (I would have been the person that restored your dsl since the uverse service "failed").

Also, you WILL want to send that uverse modem back to AT&T, follow the directions they gave you & if let me know & I can find the correct procedure. While the modem was free to you (for signing whatever the contract was for uverse), obviously the modems aren't free, so even though it was AT&T that couldn't get the uverse to work, they will still want the equipment back.

As far as "when" uverse would be available....IF others right around you have uverse it may never be available. Sometimes a line just won't support it, or they don't have capable facilities for uverse. I know this sounds ridiculous but IF you are called in regards to uverse, beware if you place the order because it could put you back in the same situation.

[cardsfantx]

Thanks Karp! Actually makes sense, compared to what I was told!

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

my convo earlier, sums it up nicely.

[cardinalkarp]

my convo earlier, sums it up nicely.

I hate to laugh...but the second you saw the persons name you might as well have disconnected that live chat. 9 times out of 10 if you get an overseas agent you won't get any help. It's a shame that's what the business of customer service has come to. How can someone help that barely speaks English & that responds to you in some "canned" phrase that more than likely isn't relevant to the situation.

This company is going to hell in a hand basket & as soon as I finish my degree & work here 2 more years (so I'm not forced to pay them back I'm outta here). The new thing around here is doing EVERYTHING via chatroom...a telecommunications company doesn't want us to use the phone to call other depts for info...seriously. I'm not sure who these "higher ups" are that are so out of touch w/ reality, but have they ever tried to explain something in text form & it's been easier than explaining when directly speaking to someone?

[JCShutout]

Reminds me when I changed the billing responsibility from my parents to me. Amongst other technobabble, the atyt person on the phone apparently told me that they had to create a new acct# for me, cancel that acct, then create another new one for me. Whatever, just do it and make sure all accts are at X phone and Y email address. I paid a fee to cancel/create/whatever the account.

A few months later, I keep getting letters about an unpaid bill. I kept calling atyt. Had them search by phone number, every email address I've ever had, my name, every address I've ever had, my ss#, nothing. Never any unpaid fees. No one knew what was up.

Eventually the bill goes to collections. Finally, after call 4 or 5 or 6 MORE calls, someone says, "I'll bet its a different acct#" or whatever, and finds it. When I say that is lame because I paid a fee for cancelling/creating/whatever, they said that I did pay a fee on the old acct, then incurred a fee on the created-then-closed acct, which was never paid. Then they said it was my responsibility to know all the random acct numbers, because atyt, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world, apparently has 1983 database technology, and can't link accounts. They actually said, "that's your job to know that we created and cancelled a new account number, I can't see multiple accounts from my screen."

Really? Largest telecommunications company in the world? I'm pretty sure Pujolswrox could build you a database that could handle multiple accounts under one user. He could even use 1990s technology to make it happen!

I could have charged atyt like $4/hour for my time and more than paid for the stupid bill that I tried to pay about a dozen times.

[cardinalkarp]

Yeah, they flat out lied. As long as you give us an address we can pull any orders that have been placed at that location...closed or open. This goes for DSL, and I'm guessing phone service is the same (and it sounds like you were talking about and Internet only account which in MO accts start w/ 090xxxxxx). The problem is the number of idiots that work for this company, you never know if you're getting good info or bad info....yeah, it's pathetic.

[tothebeach08]

I bought a new house in the country, no U-Verse, no Charter, so I call Dish. Guy gives me his sales talk promises everything under the sun for internet and TV. When I get the summary invoice it says nothing about internet. Call in, "no we don't offer internet out there". What about all those details about speed and wifi that your guy gave me. "Don't know what to tell you". Well F off, cancel everything I don't want dish. Not 2 hours later, I get a call from the internet provider that contracts for Dish saying that are at my new house to hook up my internet but the old home owners are still there.. WTF, of course they are still there it is not my house yet and #1 Dish said they couldn't even provide internet and #2 I canceled everything with them. Call Direct TV to set it up through them, unfortunately they contract with the same internet provider, the only internet provider out there. So now they keep telling me everything was canceled and they have no record of anything with Direct TV, only the canceled Dish account. Five calls on this. It has been harder and more work then selling my old house and buying my new house. Now I'm going to call them every other day to check on my set up. I don't trust any of these people I have talked to on the phone. It's like they are just typing crap on a keyboard and not really doing anything.

All these problems and we haven't even started our service with them yet. I can only imagine the problems I am going to have when that happens. I hope the teenagers in my house appreciate all this hassle I'm going through so they can have their precious You Tube and Facebook.

From what I can tell already life in the suburbs was easier then life in the country will be.......

[JCShutout]

Yeah, they flat out lied. As long as you give us an address we can pull any orders that have been placed at that location...closed or open. This goes for DSL, and I'm guessing phone service is the same (and it sounds like you were talking about and Internet only account which in MO accts start w/ 090xxxxxx). The problem is the number of idiots that work for this company, you never know if you're getting good info or bad info....yeah, it's pathetic.

I'm not exaggerating about close to a half-dozen calls. That would mean the same number of people lying. What would be the motivation to lie?

EDIT: That's a half-dozen calls. A dozen would be an exaggeration.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

I may regret saying this, but I can't wait for google or whoever to take over the internet providing world.