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Why AT&T Sucks

Design by Lenz Design, Decatur, Georgia.


I will try to be brief...

In January of 2001, my wife Kerry and I were enjoying ourselves at home in the evening when the phone rang. Kerry answered, and it was AT&T on the other line.

"We've got an offer you can't refuse" said the telemarketer to Kerry. "We will lower your monthly bill for local service, and give you a $50 gift certificate from American Express for switching your service to us from BellSouth."

Kerry and I hastily discussed it, and decided that this was a deal we couldn't refuse. We accepted the offer, took down the person's name and phone number, and made an appointment for an install of the service.

About a week later, I came home from work to find a cable stretching apx. 250 feet from the telephone pole to the side of my house. Immediately I figured that Kerry had run home from work to meet the installers, but that wasn't the case. They had arrived to install the service while we were both at work during the week, days before the scheduled appointment. Not only had they not followed our instructions for installation, but they had left the line exposed above ground. This wasn't that big of a deal... I remember telling Kerry that this must have been the "pre" installation, and over the weekend they'd probably be out again to dig the trench.

Surprise, surprise, AT&T did not show up that weekend, and as it turns out, never showed up or answered the phone when we called.

After almost two months of phone calls, and still no answer, I realized that at the end of the voicemail message that AT&T uses, they say to fax or email (atl-wecanhelp@broadband.att.com) your request to them. This is a fairly polite message, and then they hang up the phone on you.

I decided an email was in order:

----- Original Message -----
   From: "J. Lenz" <john@lenzmarketing.com 
   To: <atl-wecanhelp@broadband.att.com 
   Cc: <president@att.com 
   Sent: Monday, March 05, 2001 9:35 AM
   Subject: My phone line is lying in my front yard
   
   
   Hello,
   
   We were offered the chance to switch to Att
   local service about two months ago.
   We were promised not only a lower rate, but
   a $50 certificate from American Express.
   
   We made the change, and now you won't
   answer the phone.
   
   Somebody from your company came out and
   installed a line, and it runs from the
   telephone pole, is draped over my mailbox,
   and is lying in my front yard. My wife and
   I have called at least 20 times, and
   no one answers the phone.
   
   If you want to have a disgruntled ex-customer
   (of your local and long distance service), 
   who will be calling the Clark Howard show
   (popular Atlanta local radio show that
   warns people not to use certain services... ),
   then don't answer my email.
   
   I want someone at your office to call me to set
   up a time for you to come out and finish the
   job you started, before some kid in my
   neighborhood trips over the wire and
   breaks his arm.
   
   Thank you.
   
   -John Lenz
   Home phone 770-493-7922
   Work phone 404-373-2025

Believe it or not, I didn't receive an answer. So I emailed them the original message again (edited out below). Three times:

----- Original Message -----
   From: "J. Lenz" <john@lenzmarketing.com 
   To: <atl-wecanhelp@broadband.att.com 
   Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2001 5:40 PM
   Subject: Fw: My phone line is lying in my front yard
   
   
   I'm waiting with baited breath.
   
   ----- Original Message -----
   From: "J. Lenz" <john@lenzmarketing.com 
   To: <atl-wecanhelp@broadband.att.com 
   Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2001 1:46 PM
   Subject: Fw: My phone line is lying in my front yard
   
   
   Still no response...
   
   ----- Original Message -----
   From: "J. Lenz" <john@lenzmarketing.com 
   To: <atl-wecanhelp@broadband.att.com 
   Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2001 8:45 AM
   Subject: Fw: My phone line is lying in my front yard
   
   
   Nobody has called me yet.
   Sent: Monday, March 12, 2001 12:08 PM
   Subject: Fw: AT&T

Then my wife had a wonderful experience with them, and shared it with me:

----- Original Message -----
   From: <kerry.lenz
   To: <john@lenzmarketing.com 
   Sent: Monday, March 12, 2001 11:54 AM
   Subject: AT&T
   
   
   fyi - I have been in conversations with a
   typically rude person at AT&T local this
   morning. She said since I did not transfer the
   phone service within 30 days, then the switch 
   back would not be free. Also, she said the 
   "offer" for the $50 American Express Certificate
   expired late Dec. so I was not eligible for it.
   I explained that that is not my problem....I
   was called by their Telemarketer in Jan.,
   who offered it to me, and she should not have
   if the offer was not valid. "She" is going to look
   into it and have someone from their promotional
   team call us - that was not her department.

   She was quick to point out what I have NOT done rather
   than just hear me out and give good service. She
   also said her only documentation of us calling
   is your two calls regarding the line. I said
   they would not have my calls documented because
   after over two hours of my time, I could never
   reach a human being. The notes they have logged
   are from your e-mail and only address one out
   of the three action items you mentioned!
   
   So, I phoned BellSouth. Got right through.
   Very pleasant Representative.

   Enough said. She is having someone from their
   "switch over" team call me within 3-5 days.

Of course I couldn't resist sending a nice email to AT&T:

   Atl-we-don't-and-won't-help-because-we-suck@broadband.att.com,
   
   You guys really run a terrible business. No wonder your stock price is
   near (or at) an all time low. You will never get ANY business EVER
   from us. We are also changing our long distance to another carrier.
   
   I'll be posting a review of your sloppy and negligent business
   practices on my Web site.
   
   Also be sure that everyone I know (and some that I don't know) will
   hear my story.
   
   -John

Thank you for reading my story about how AT&T Broadband sucks. Please post your experiences, or read about other's experiences with AT&T, good or bad.

You might also want to visit Google to see how many other people are saying "AT&T Sucks"

-John