Commenthttp://www.complaintsboard.com/bycompany/atampt-a143/bydate.html
My reponse to 08-11-08 - Harrasment posting by Cesar Martinez
Ok…as I’ve said before…”Welcome to the New AT&T”!!!
1) Not all calls are recorded. They only record calls when they are trying to get rid of an employee so that they can “bust” them on the most minimal of things. Also, if you recorded the employee without telling them AND getting their permission, it illegal. The majority of states are two party states that require both parties permission in order for either of them to be recorded. The employee gives permission by working there and you give permission by staying on the call after this has been informed to you.
2) AT&T charges $5 to pay your bill with a representative. Zero if you use the automated system or the internet. It is very easy to put in a wrong number when entering the routing number and account number of your bank on the automated system. The system gives you a confirmation even though it doesn’t check the entry you’ve made. That gets done after the fact and if it’s wrong, your payment is late AND you get hit with a $25 return check charge AND possibly another $30 to restore your service if it was temporarily disconnected. I always recommended that if the customer doesn’t want to pay the $5 for a live person to take the payment, the best bet would be the internet option cause then you can check your entry.
3) AT&T could care less when you receive your check. Bellsouth was slightly more forgiving, although not by much but the “new AT&T” could care less!! They will disconnect you at the first sight of non-payment just so they can make the extra $30 reconnection fee and even more so, so that YOU WILL have to call in and one of their reps can try to sell you something. As we were told, “customer service calls are your only contact with the customer, so take the opportunity to stick them with whatever they are eligible for…”.
4) Unfortunately…no one is going to “come in and take over” and AT&T knows that. Even if you go to another carrier, unless it’s the cable company, if you go to another phone company, most likely AT&T rents the lines to that carrier and if you switch to them, guess what…AT&T still makes money. CHA CHING!!
5) Lastly you asked “What kind of company is this?” This is a company who’s could care less about the consumer…PERIOD!! Their only concern is their bottom line and anyone that gets in their way, be it employees or customers…what was it the managers use to say…oh yeah…”NEXT”!!! Haven’t you noticed, in a time when the economic situation is devastating most of the country, AT&T has hiked their prices! In the last six months, they have increased their packages, voice mail and maintenance charges by $1 here and $1 there but when you get to the bottom line, in the end, with taxes and all, you’ve been hiked about $5!!! That’s why they’ve done the increases at different time, although they have been planed for well over year. Because when you got the notice in January that a package that you have had for 10, 20, 30 years is going up from $31 to $33 and you call in about it, the reps says…”it’s only$2 per month difference…” and you keep the service AND they try to sell you something that you’ve turned down about 20 times before. Then in March you got a notice saying maintenance is going up $1…again you call…again you keep the service…AGAIN, they try to sell you something. By the time you’re done with 2008, your bill will have gone up $5 to $10 guaranteed and you’ve probably been shafted another $20 in extra services. Now let me ask you…in a recession…when we are looking to maintain some type of enjoyable existence….why would a major corporation increase their rates and try to shove unneeded services down your throat…again, because they don’t care and even if you switch they make money and they know that when you switch, you will eventually be back.
Look, even when you place a complaint on this board, don’t you notice that in the margins there are ads for AT&T packages and services. PEOPLE THEY ADVERTISE ON THIS BOARD!!! Come on, they have someone monitoring these boards. You’ve received comments from the “AT&T rep” telling you that if you have any problems, “always…always call AT&T”…you call in and although, I can guarantee that maybe your problem will only be solved 10% of the time (yes, I’m being generous), I can most definitely guarantee that you will be offered more services 200% of the time…NEXT!!!
My response to 08/13/08 - Scam and Fraud posting by Bill Johnson
Ok…why do you sound so surprised? You almost sound shocked! Welcome to the NEW AT&T!!!
As I’ve said before, in their bottom line…they count on the fact that the customer will get the runaround and FINALLY give up on the rebates. I once asked…”why don’t we just give the customer the rebate automatically on their bill after 90 days?” Response: “Because statistically, only 15 to 25 percent of rebates are actually ever paid out on rebates that the customer has to follow-up on themselves.” To add to that, I had a manager tell me…”within the 90 days the customer has already called in and hopefully, has been changed to another package and that new package no longer qualifies them for the rebate…”. Oh yeah…no one ever told you if you change the services during the rebate processing time, you won’t get the rebate!!! Genius isn’t it!!!
Also, when you took the service…I can sure as *** guarantee that the rep said “all these services are only going to be $45 per month…plus fee and taxes…”. The customer only hears what they want to hear…and then they pass out when they get the bill for three times more than what they “heard”. Of course, that is IF the rep ever mentioned that last part at all.
1) People…people…people…always…always start with the basic service and go from there. In some states, it cheaper to add to the basic service, in others, the basic service is almost $20 and it’s cheaper to go with a package from the get start.
2) To whatever service you do get, add $8-9 in federal charges and another $10 in taxes and that doesn’t include the taxes that you’re going to pay on your long distance calls.
3) Don’t take a service because of a rebate you may never get and when you do, it’s been so long and such a hassle, that it didn’t make a difference anyway.
4) DSL Lite is crap!! The company knows that but is federally required to offer a cheaper high speed internet service to their customers. Also, you get no rebates with the dsl lite but you need the same equipment for dsl lite that you would need for the other dsl’s. Again, it’s to the company’s benefit that you get dsl lite (no rebate at all to worry about) and realize it crap and then upgrade.
As always, this information I’ve provided is completely FREE and I’ve told you nothing here that you couldn’t have found with a little research. Good Luck!!!
 Comments (3) |  |
| 1. Written by someone who is tired of all th, on 13-09-2008 18:48 you know what is sooo funny about all your *** is the whole entire process of your rebate IS in the newsletters that the reward center DOES send you but of course you never get those but when the reward is sent you get THAT and the website doesnt take a rocket scientist to work all you have to do is READ i know that might be hard for some but TRY then you wouldnt have to waste your time complaining about the system on a website like this oh yeah one more thing ask questions if you dont think its the right anwser and really people when have you EVER gotten a rebate right away there are ALWAYS terms and conditions to everything then dont get the product hello!!!!! |
| 2. Written by Laney, on 27-08-2008 12:10 I'm sorry to tell you but you are mistaken. The $19.99 DSL is not great...if you do any downloading or looking at pics of family members...let's put it this way...USPS would be faster. It's also programmed to automatically start running slower after about six months, so when you call in to find out why, you'll be more inclined to take an upgrade for only a few dollars more per month and that cycle will continue until youve reached the highest DSL. And, no...the rebates don't take 10-12 weeks...they are programmed to never arrive unless you continue to follow them up for the 10-12 weeks. You obviously work for the AT&T management side. I understand your defense of the company but just to let you in on a little bit of DL...they're using management to get rid of 5 yr plus employees (vested), so they can hire temp contract employees with no benefits or route the calls to the new call center in Canada (socialized medicine...again, no benefits) and then they're planning on dumping 75% of management. Remember back in the day when your titles where "coach", they're using the fact that your terminating employees (under this silent instruction) for not meeting ridiculous sales quotes to then fire MANAGEMENT for not properly "coaching" and that's why the associates are not meeting the quotas and must be terminated. That my dear is "poetic justice" to the fullest extent of the definition. "Welcome to the new AT&T!!!!" |
| 3. Written by mrs tovar, on 24-08-2008 00:49 i don't know why i have the 19.99 its great . as to rebates plz all rebates take 8-10 weeks some rebate adv 10-12 weeks bet rule of thumb if you can't afford it don't buy it and remeber error happen and always research as well |
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