Goodbye, AT&T! Hello, decent service!

For those of you who have been following my saga of terrible service with AT&T yesterday I hit the wall: three hang-ups by operators while trying to set a new apppointment to hook up my DSL service. Like the bad bad boyfriend who treats you without respect then shows up with flowers, I have kicked AT&T to the curb.

Me: scheduled disconnect/new connection service on 4.12 for 4.15.
Them: disconnected service all right; connected new phone; showed up 4 hours early for DSL without accompanying phone call to my cell. I was at old apartment, waiting on movers.

Me: rescheduled on Saturday, after several phone-tree mishaps, for Saturday service before 8:30 pm.
Them: never showed or called.

Me: called Monday to find out what went wrong and reschedule.
Them: "lost" me three times, no one knows why technicians didn't show up on Saturday, and earliest appt. is Wednesday, 4.20.
Me: find an appointment Tuesday.
Them: we'll call abck with that in 2 hours. (Never called)

Me: Tuesday a.m. finally spoke with supervisor--no one would pass me on--to find out earliest appointment is Thursday now and it was my fault about Friday and Saturday--I "misunderstood" the operators on multiple accounts. But no real attempt to help me--unless I accept an appointment during my classtime tomorrow.

D-O-N-E. Breakup final and complete.... I have a new boyfriend, Time-Warner, who will show up.

We hope.

An open letter to AT&T: as a 30-year plus customer, I am done being treated as if you care less. You obviously don't care. The money I pay for service does not entitle you to waste my time, my money, and my mental strength. Your system is disorganized, limited, and labyrinthine. Your operators apologize without real regret, which demeans both them and me. They are powerless. I am powerless. You are a communications company without true communication. I envision a huge self-sustaining telephone switchboard run by electronic mice. If that is so, you will hardly miss me. I will certainly not miss you. Bye bye.

Moving Day--After the Fact

Friday past was the Big Day, but I woke on Friday to find that the hail of the night before had knocked out my DSL wireless for the day... and AT&T was discontinuing my service at the old place and initiating my service at the new place (supposedly!).

Most of the day I spent loading my car for the ultimate move, as well as cleaning surfaces of the furniture to be moved. Mr. Z and his three guys showed at 5:30 (3 hours late!) but loaded everything in 45 minutes. We drove to the new place, they unloaded and drove away...

I have been in the new place since then. Lovely, large space with light and air. My two brief trips to the old apartment reminded me that it was dark, tiny, and that moving was a great idea, despite being in the middle of the semester and overlapping so that I had to pay double rents.

Of course, AT&T threw a spanner in the works: despite having an appointment for 8 pm to hook up my DSL, their technician turned up at 1:52... leaving a chiding note for me. Sigh. On Saturday morning I called and after 45 minutes managed to find someone to schedule a new appointment--for Saturday afternoon.

Should I tell you?

Right: the technician never showed, never called, and when I called AT&T's customer service number at 7 pm to say he hadn't shown up, their customer service was closed. For the weekend.

Despite that, I love the quiet new place. Jack loves the quiet new place: more space, more birds, more dogs, more smells. More windows: he likes to run from window to window, sniffing and surveying. Very successful for him.

So 2011 goal #1 is complete: my living situation has resolved itself in a big, new apartment. I have a few weeks of overlap/cleaning/selling via Craigslist, and then... we're completely done. Joy, oh joy!

AT&T following up...

After I wrote a true but angry email to AT&T I got a phoen call from a... what? I guess super customer service rep, or something. Anyway, he tried to get me ito my account, and while he could get in (he assured me he was staring at my account on the screen), I couldn't. He told me, it was my computer. A-huh.

We cleared out my cookies, my browsing history, and still I couldn't get in.

Again he told me it was my computer and advised that I take it in to be serviced.

Nope. Told him I didn't buy it--I could get in everywhere else--and that he could fix it or I'd have to cancel my account. it was not my damn computer, it was their system! Oh--he could fix it. But it would take 2 days.

Surprisingly he got back to me in ten minutes, and told me that he'll call me today and we'll definitely get me into my account.

Sure, dude. We'll talk.

Kindness and the World

Recently, A Slice of Pink and Une femme d'un certain age have both written about being positive in the face of an unkind world around us. I completely agree, and have always tried to be polite, thoughtful, and aware of how my rudeness infects public discourse.

Unfortunately, today I was reminded--forcibly--that this is not the common attitude any longer, and both encounters I had today suggest to me that I am largely out of tune with the thoughtlessness and "me, first" stance of the times.

First, I have been battling with AT&T to get my online account information (username and password) in order to see my bills because--as they urged me--I changed to e-bills. ninety minutes, two "customer service" reps and one supervisor later... I have a username and new password that DO NOT WORK.

I simply yelled. Threatened to quit AT&T--ah, now some movement! Described the problem, the non-help, the frustration... and heard no genuine concern, sympathy, or thought going into the "help" process in return. "Procedure" was all they offered, which insulated them from doing anything for me.

This is the second day of battling simply to get into my account: they cannot do it themselves and cannot enable me to get in. The secret of my username/password is more tightly protected than my bank account or any of my credit accounts--it is possibly better protected than Fort Knox.

The result? Complete frustration on my part. How did I even get this far, after initially being fobbed off by promises of returned phone calls (but only until 5 pm weekdays!) and insincere apologies?

I threatened to pull my account. I raised my voice and yelled at any and all AT&T personnel on the phone. Then--and only then--did I get help, but the help's help isn't accurate. I still do not have access to my own online account. But a new registration code is on its way to me... via US postal mail.

Second, in a meeting today, a colleague said--sort of to me but really to two other colleagues and a student--(paraphrased) "Another colleague, you, and I have all failed students in the last few years, but I am still considered a nice guy."

Think about that: what's wrong with this guy's statement, and with him saying this about me (and an absent colleague!) in front of peers and a student? He did not say it in a mean or angry tone, he did not say it to score on me, he said it simply as a matter of fact--to him--about how having high standards could still mean one was popular and liked.

I sat there with my mouth open, thinking, did I really hear this?

First, it is wrong for any teacher to say "I failed a student"--in most cases, no, you didn't. The student failed to meet the basic expectations or to fulfill the basic assignments of the course. The teacher simply gave the grade earned--whether A or F.

Second, am I suddenly in a battle for Miss (or Mister) Congeniality? Am I not "liked"because I set standards and gave 5 students the D and F they earned? Despite giving 20 other students the C, B, or A they earned? Huh?

Third, wasn't that just flat-out... rude?

My unfortunate lesson for today is, being polite may be as dated as writing thank you notes and wearing hats outside during the day. Lovely to think about, but not in fashion as a practice.

Consumer Annoyance: AT&T

Well, another annoying call from AT&T. What was it? In short:

1. the only customer service number on their website goes directly to wireless phone service--which I don't have and wasn't calling about. Had to tell wireless service lady that I wanted home phone and wireless internet... spent significant time on hold... then had to transfer again... hold... transfer... fnally at right department: no customer service phone number on website.

2. explained that two months ago I negotiated my bill down because I ONLY get these two services, want no others, and should be saving money... except that every month the electronic transfers from me to them are a. different in amount and b. more than I was promised.

3. explained that I cannot get onto the website for my account because the web wouldn't accept my ID number or password to open my account.

Was told in response that:

1. this month's "extra charge" was for two long distance information calls I made on August 24--that's right, two billing cycles ago--although the operator cannot tell me numbers I purportedly dialed for calls I don't remember making to an area I don't know why I would be looking to call. I was billed this month because (get this) long distance bills on a different cycle than my service plan: literally, the dates of billing and the period encompassed are different... and it has always been thus.

2. my September account was different because the government surcharges increased...

3. my August account was different because... what was the question again? Oh, yes, "why are the amounts of my bill different every month when I am on a billing plan." Well, they're different because I said so. I don't know. Red. Square. Billings, Montana. Oh, hell.

4. she can't open my account either, and while she can reset my password, she cannot reset or change my user ID. And she literally tells me that is has thus been so since May 2002: not my user ID, the fact that she cannot change it, which is supposed to give her an out and a sense of authority at the same time.

So while I am paying the same amount I would pay if I got cable tv on top of my phone and wireless internet--meaning apparently that cable is free--I cannot reduce my monthly bill because I only want two services. Huh? if I get three services, it costs the same as two services... I KNOW I an not a math whiz, honey, but I am not an idiot. What you are telling me is JUST STUPID math. It is Lehmann Brothers I want my bonus math. It is Big Corporation Shut Up and Pay Me math.

And it would be great if I wanted cable--but I don't. And it would be great if the third service was laundry--but it ain't.  And it would be great if AT&T understood the term "customer service"--but they don't.

Pearl