AT&T

I live in a subburb of Orlando, FL and recently had a sales person, named "Eligio Bonilla", Sales Rep ID MITBCF150. He was a bit annoying with his constant lame attempts to make jokes and his overusing of my name but I chalked that up to him being young and probably inexperienced.

His pitch sounded good, he promised me that AT&T DSL guaranteed 6.0mps and that Dish included with tax would be $82.48, which is much lower then my current Brighthouse configuration. We signed after multiple reassurances that there would be "zero setup or install fee's or equipment fee's" and that there would absolutely NOT be a contract.. He said there were perks for doing a contract for 24 months but we didn't have to. Great.

.. so after he left I got online and started checking things out. I noticed his claim of the guaranteed 6.0mps DSl was unfounded, the website said "up to" so I called... turns out, he signed me up for 3.0 since 6.0 wasn't available (he clearly knew this as he signed me up for 3 after telling me 6) and the price was about $25 a mont more then he quoted.

The DISH service got worse, I called them next to confirm and it turns out he did sign me up for a contract and that there would be monthly fee's he insisted were not there. This guy just straight up lied to my wife and I and said anything he could to get us to sign up. As a sales person myself, I should have recognized those initial signs as what they really were, red flags of a misleading salesperson.

Even with the fee's, it's still probably cheaper then my current cable setup, however, for principal, we canceled and will never utilize AT&T again. Trying to call them to complain was nearly impossible. The AT&T days of old are most certainly gone.

I too am getting shafted by AT&T over the high speed internet rebate. I ordered my service in August 2007. It was activated on Sept. 4, 2007. I immediately sent back the required Rebate Activation Sticker as directed. When I tried to follow up online, I got the message that my rebate request had not entered the system so I called and was told it would take 6 to 8 weeks. The first week of November 2007 I called and was told that they had no record of my request so I gave the rep all the information and she said it would be processed in 6 to 8 weeks. No check arrived, so I called on January 2, 2008, and was told by "Laurie" (ID #22032) that my claim had been denied, but that she would escalate my claim and it would take 6 to 8 weeks. I waited for a check, which never came, and called again today, March 11, 2008, only to be told by "Pauline" (ext. # 20859) that my claim had been denied on January 6 because I had never paid for a modem. I read to her from my bill the line item HSI Modem Package Charge Service date 9-4-07 for $49.99 which I most certainly paid. Pauline said she was submitting my claim for reprocessing and it would take 4 to 6 weeks. I am not going to wait 6 to 8 weeks again. I am going to wait one week and call back to see whether it has been denied again and if it is not resolved immediately, call back every single day until I get my rebate. I want to know how many people are getting shafted in this way. Just think - if AT&T does this to, say, 10,000 people across the country, that gives them $500,000 that they get to "borrow" from their customers for months and months absolutely interest free. What a racket! There ought to be a law. If I were more legally savvy, I would file a class action suit!

I too ordered high speed interenet service from att. I oplaced my order at an att store here in town on October 7th, 2007. I was told to submit the rebate for that would come with my modem for my $50.00 rebate check. No form came with the modem. I went back to the att store and spoke with the sales associate who helped me. She gave me a new form to mail in along with coipes of all the documebtation I would need. I mailed it in on October 25th. I checked on line for my rebate status on November 11th, and it was not there. When I called the rebate centere they said that I had not ent one in. I said yes I did and sent them by fax copies of everything I had sent in. They said it would be researched and I would recieve a call back. I never recieved a call back but on January 17th I looked on line just for fun to see if my rebate status had been updated and it showed that I must claim my rebate reward by January 21st. I claimed it right then and there. So I thought that finally Im gettin my check. I checked back 2 days later and the rebate center site said my reward would be fullfilled by Febuary 7th. I called and asked what that meant and they said the day the check is scheduled to go out. It is now March 8th and I went to the mailbox and still no check. This is just getting redicuolous. When am I going to get my money becasue sure as heck if I owed att $50.00 they wouldnt wait around 4 months to collect from me!

I have the ultimate night mare experience with at& t and am about to explode but a friend who is a former worker told me to complain to my state publice utlities board they hate it, it causes them not to be able to get rate hikes so i down loaded the forms,
I have argued with them since nov 15 when i tried to move my office and they screwed me out of 6 days phone service, for a business THAT WAS CRIPPLING TO ME. I guess they cancelled my dsl contract instead of delaying it til i did move on 1-5-09. they keep biling me 790$ for cancelling service that i never cancelled I have it now. i have wrote letters, one was 9 pages long, i have called and got tons of notes, was assured every time by business office just pay this "amt" and the credit takes time to go thru. Then i get collection notices so again I call business office, i call acct receivebales they tell me its fixed and then here comes another call and they always insist there are no notes on my acct! HOW CAN THAT BE ? I WROTE LETTERS, I HAVE SENT EMAIL FROM THE WEB SITE CONTACT US, I HAVE 2 INCH THICK FILE OF NOTES.
so last friday they CUT MY PHONES OFF IN MIDDLE OF DAY. so again i am on the phone with 9 people, each one wants to hear the story only to tell me they cant help, they transfer me. I had told the lady in collections the other day HELLO I AM THE CUSTOMER IT IS THERE JOB TO FIX THEIR INTERNAL ISSUES ON THIS NOT MINE I AM SICK OF CALLING, WRITING ETC.. so she cut my phone off and after hours of arguing with them i had no choice but to pay the $ 790 THAT I DONT OWE. then they assured me they will work on a credit,
YEAH RIGHT, .
SO TAKE YHOUR COMPLAINTS DIRECT TO PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION THAT HITS THEM WHERE IT HURTS

I really have been bragging about the u-verse system. Now if I could only have it fixed!

Day 1, Tech #1 comes out at 9:15 am. He calls tech # 2 1.5 hours later #2 shows up. They then call tech # 3, 2 hours later he shows up. 2 hours later he tells be he'll be back tommorrow. I said I can not miss another day of work. He tells me "we will work around your schedule". the next day I get a message that they have fixed the external problems and "I am 100% all set". I call te reschedule and they give me a date of 1.5 weeks later. Saturday the tech shows up at 11:50 am and departs at 8:45 pm. 9 HOURS!
While he is in my condo he calls a superviser to schedule an appointment to be at my location on Wednesday. HE NEVER SHOWS! I miss another day of work. I call and they send someone out Saturday to figure out why I am not getting proper signal. He spends that day for 45 minutes and tells me I keep loosing the signal.REALLY! I DO? I SHOULD OF BEEN A TECH! I call again . A superviser named Tom in the Addison Illinois Area tells me he will send someone out Saturday. Again I am wasting my valuable time. HE NVER SHOWS! I call Tom back on Monday and he says " nobody showed Really, I'll find out what happened and call you right back...never to be heard from again. 3 days later I call explain my long story and when I was done the "customer service rep" said "What would you like me to do."?Yes I blew up. I then talked to Kimberly a supervisor that was very nice and professional and called me back 3 times to make an appoint for Wednesday at 6 pm. The tech called me at 7pm to say he would be finishing up a job and would be at my location in a few minutes. 2 minutes later Kimberly called to confirm this. I then got a call at 8:30 that they would not be able to make it.LOOK AT THE MANPOWER THEY HAVE WASTED. LOOK AT MY PERSONAL TIME I HAVE WASTED. IF THEY COULDN'T HOOK ME UP THEY SHOULD OF SAID THAT AND KNOWN THAT BEFORE THEY EVER ENTERED MY HOME. THEY ARE DUE HERE TODAY BETWEEN 12 & 2PM. IT IS NOW12:30 AND I HAVE NOT HEARD A THING. WILL THEY SHOW? IF THEY SHOW WILL THEY FIX IT? DO I SAY PULL YOUR CRAP OUT OF HERE. OR DO I TELL THEM TO GET IT MONDAY BETWEEN 4& 9 AND I WON'T BE HOME.

Sir, try contacting us during or normal business hours of M-F 8am-10pm EST at [protected].
We will glad to assist you. Instead of overdoing yourself and airing out lies here, try giving us a call first.
Catch my drift, Sir?

Thank you for choosing AT&T as your service provider. We want you to know you made the right choose and we will assist you on any open issues you have and try to resolve them in a timely manner.

for you to reach an agent..after dialing the dsl account number or the phone number...just say agent and it will direct you over to tech support

Any UPDATE on above 26 February 2008 complaint?

Did anyone ever apologize or remedy the problem(s)?

I welcome exchanging notes with others on AT&T.

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WORLD'S WORST SERVICE

Nearly impossible to reach a non-automated human without wasting hours. No practical way to present highly focused very specific E-Mails to anyone at AT&T. The AT&T left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. HORRIBLE frustrating procrustean voice menus (with numbers such as [protected]). Worst of all: "Your call is very important to us" surrealism.

I see your a florist. I just received a call asking why we cancelled our advertising in 2012. You mean they do not have my 100 complaints, mailed and online, of being completely ripped off? So, ATT YP advertising rep, you are agreeing that $400 a month for YP advertising for a family owned florist in a town of 800 people is " a little much" ?! You know he ripped me off! you said you're "glad he didn't work there anymore, but would love my business again"? I was very calm and nice and I think she knew to never call here again. The "support" I got for $400 a month was an add on YP.com and a call every 4 months saying maybe if I added more advertising I would see better results. She was right, I have a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to this company having no morals.

###s!

Sorry, but I have little sympathy for the AT&T employees who posted their tales of woe about working there. Find another job. If you are not qualified to do anything else, go to school and further your education or learn a trade.

I placed an simple order two weeks ago, and it is still not completed. Two sales reps gave me incorrect information. AT&T canceled my order 3 times. My existing landline and internet service were erroneously shut off. Two supervisors did not return my calls. One sales rep put me on hold and never got back on the line. The in-store Manager screwed up a manual order and did not know how to make my cell a hotspot nor how the Unite device works. I was able to reach one professional who actually knew how to troubleshoot the Unite. That is one out of 12 people I dealt with in 2 weeks.

AT&T consists of incompetent, poorly trained employees. Horrendous beyond belief customer "service."

Update: Well, no longer working for ATT. I just could not handle all the metrics and they wanted me to rush through the calls instead of actually helping the customer. In fact, on my last call, a customer was so grateful that I stayed with her and was actually taking the time to solve her problem instead of rushing the call and having the problem unsolved. She called another agent before but was rushed through and the problem did not get resolved so she called again. I did everything that I could to solve it even though it took a little longer and she kept saying " Don't go" . It's okay though. The same day I lost that job, I had a lot of freelance writing opportunities pop up. Now I am writing articles for various clients and I couldn't be any happier.

I need to chime in here and say that I totally agree with, and can relate to Hello My Name is. The post is a very accurate description of what we go through every day as CSRs for this company.
- We are given marginal training on several systems which are needlessly over complicated.
- Some of these systems have glitches or are slow
- We have to work 3-5 programs all at the same time and we have to navigate those systems while maintaining an AHT (Average Handle Time) of no more than 6 minutes per customer.
*other things mentioned by Hello My Name Is

On top of it all, you have my biggest pet peeve. Being a rep and not being honest of what you can actually do for the customer at your level. Let me explain. Some of us, like myself, are very new to the job. We have NO prior customer service experience, NO prior experience with phones, we have very little experience operating ALL of the tools that we use and some of us do not even have smartphones or anything like that. For some of us, this was the only job we could get while in a very crappy economy and desperate situations. Yet, with only very little training and preparation, we are thrown into calls where it is very difficult to get assistance when we are truly stuck. Yet, we are not supposed to say to the customer on the other end, "Please bear with me, I am new.", "I do not know yet; but I will find out for you/find someone that can help you" . We are supposed to act as though we are already experienced and well versed in these programs ect when we actually come off to the customer as a flustered, bumbling, incompetent baffoons! I HATE THAT! Believe me! I love people and I really want to help them and make them happy. But instead, I was pretty much brought to tears the very first few times on the phones because I really didn't know how to handle the calls better. To be honest, I feel like giving up, adding the experience to my resume and jumping ship once I land something else. Not only because of the pressure that we are under, it is also some of the customers who become impatient and blow up in the face of an agent's first day or second day on the flippin job and their hands are tied as far as what they can do! I'm sorry, if I was a customer and I came across someone who is new on the job, I would rather have them be honest and tell me that they are new and if a task is too much as first or if it is something they are unfamiliar with, I would rather have them say that and get me someone who could help ect. I would be a lot more patient with them. On my second day, I was already screamed at by one person for something what wasn't even our fault! She was VERY incoherent (maybe too much to drink?) and I was already having equipment problems! After finally finding out what the hell she was talking about, after her screaming "$200! WHERE'S MY MONEY?" right in my ear. I discovered that we did credit her the money, but her bank was taking their sweet time processing the funds. Finally I had enough of the abuse and dumped her on the supervisor. I said "Look, you take care of this. I have having a hard time understanding her and my equipment is going on the fritz! " (which was true).

As far as the product itself. I do agree with it being pricey. That's why I recommend Tracfone personally. You get your device and card, you activate it online or to a rep (which may have an easier job than us), and you are on your merry way. All you have to do is buy a minutes card when needed. No fuss, no muss.

tell me more about a.t.t !

Ever since AT&T s' buyout from Alltel here in the NW area, the service has been sporadic with many many dropped calls. At least once a week I have to call their customer service complaining that I keep getting data not connected when tethering or checking emails on my Iphone 3g and still keep getting dropped calls! I have received so many different reasons why this is happening. I ve been told that they are still working on the system (towers?), its your sim card, its your phone, etc... Ive tried 3 different phones, and no change at all, still poor service. I feel I have been extorted by AT&T from my Alltel changeover comparable smartphone they gave me, and had to ante up to the AT&T contract to be able to tether! Come to find out AT&T did minimize the towers here, for they dont want to pay for the tower space! When they purchased Alltel. Ive been lied to and paying for a dead horse! I will be tasking this to the PSC! AT&T did deceive and extort me and now have me locked into a contract! Its wrong how they do business!

Hello Everyone,

Point blank...I work for AT&T. Whenever you call [protected] or dial 611..I just may be the person your going to get. Given that fact, I must admit I am on the fence about some of the things being said in this forum. On the one hand I can absolutley name some instances where customers were being royally screwed by AT&T. I will also say that some of the atrocious customers that call in deserve every little vice we can manage in order to ensure that their "customer experience" a LESS satisfactory one.

I would like to start with the reasons I DO NOT like AT&T. I will be honest they treat their employees poorly. I'm sure you would find "poster child" examples of employees that were treated well that would argue that statement, but the bottom line is a majority of the employees are placed under so much pressure it is unreasonable. We are given marginal training on several systems which are needlessly over complicated. We are then given the lousiest computers which run horribly slow in order to run these software programs, seriously I have seen better computers thrown out in dumpsters. To name a few of these systems...

Clarify...Where we notate your account and see who is calling, more or less a glorified caller ID system.

Telegence...The Billing system where we see every single penny given or taken since your contract or "agreement" started with us.

MyCSP...More or less an index of EVERY SINGLE THING AT&T has to offer, it acts much like Google does and is a search engine. Whenever a CSR (Customer Service Representative) is reading those "expectations" to you, they are reading from MyCSP

Snooper...Where we reset your phone on the network

Phoenix...Where we order your equipment

CCC...Where we refund those mobile purchases you accidentally make such as "Flirt Tips" and "Horiscopes" etc.

CSR...Where we go into your att.com/wireless account and guide you through the website.

Of course, there are numerous more systems and each system mentioned above is not FULLY explained in and of itself. If I were to name every system we use on those lousy computers and give a full explanation of them all, this already lengthy post would take up WAY too much room. At any rate we have to navigate those systems while maintaining an AHT (Average Handle Time) of no more than 6 minutes per customer. I hear that in some AT&T call centers the attrition rate is 137% every 6 months. This is my first complaint.

Another customer based gripe I have is this...
I have had customers call in that have always had lousy service in their homes, I check the history and see that they have called in numerous times. I do the troubleshooting we are instructed to do via MyCSP and still no positive results. At this point you would think we should give this customer something other than a lousy $25.00 "Goodwill Credit" right? Like maybe we should GIVE this customer the Microcell 3G for free considering how much money they have spent with us right? WRONG! AT&T does not allow us to do this, and I think that is horrible business practice on AT&T's part. Sure, sometimes a 3G manages to slip through the cracks and land in a customer's lap...not often enough though.

I have also seen it with my own eyes...One customer was charged a $5.00 late fee for paying a bill that was a few cents short...not even a full dollar!. I will admit that "$25.00 Goodwill credit" came in handy that night lol. And yes I absolutley gave it to him he had paid his bill promptly for almost 3 years. At any rate I could not believe that AT&T had the audacity to do this to this man.

I had another woman call in who was elderly, she had purchased the Apple iPhone 3g...She was told by the store rep that we would extend her 30 day "buyer's remorse" period so that she could decide whether or not she wanted the phone. The call was on a weekend and the store was closed and lo and behold she was not able to return the phone and was thus stuck with it. If I were a religious person I would have seen my priest that following Sunday.

I often have customers call in wanting to know if we can "track their phones" when they loose them, sort of like off of some science fiction movie. I would like to take the time to set the record straight on this one ok? YES the technology does exist to do this, with or without your consent. AT&T is capable of doing this in and of itself, we sell it to customers as a feature known as "Family Map". BUT THIS IS IMPORTANT unless you have family map ALREADY installed on your phone BEFORE you loose it, we would not be able to track the phone simply because we are not given access to software programs that would allow us to track the phone.

So yes I do have many gripes about AT&T's business practices. I won't lie I also urge people to go with Verizon whenever I am off the clock and talking casually. WHY? Because it is not that I particularly think Verizon is better, I am sure a Verizon CSR would say many of the same things I am saying. I simply have no company loyalty considering what I have witnessed happen to both employees and "valued customers"

Now for the "valued customers" that honestly should never have been given a phone...
You're out there, we know it and you know it...let me begin by saying this. When you call in wanting a credit, don't get belligerent with us, it is within our power to give or not to give credits as we see fit, in fact more times than not unless MyCSP says we are required to give you a credit you WILL NOT get one if you treat us like dirt. It is more or less dependent on one and only one thing, our mood and our perception of the way you are treating us.

Expanding on CSR abuse, never mind the fact that "Your call may be recorded for quality purposes" and any one of us could potentially press legal charges against you if we had the inclination to do so for abuse...consider this...you are abusing someone who is staring at all of the information they would need to become you online and in a virtual world. Credit card numbers, physical addresses, names of family members, telephone numbers, credit histories, social security numbers, full names, e-mail addresses. So stop and think for a moment next time someone asks you to tell them YOUR social security number to them for verification purposes...they must be looking at it in order to know whether or not you gave them the correct SSN right? DUH! Consider this a friendly reminder next time you call in with a bad mood. I'm not saying that I would do this, but I'm not everyone now am I?

Moving on...when you want to escalate to a supervisor because you don't like the answer we are giving you, why do you honestly think the supervisor is going to give you a different answer? In fact we usually enjoy listening in on the conversation as the supervisor hands you your a*s while you politely go from "You m*th****ck*r" to "Yes Sir/Ma'am"

For the technical problems on your phone, and this is for the good the bad and the ugly...Please have the phone available AND call from a different phone other than the one having the issues! I mean honestly, there isn't a thing in the world we can do for you if you call in from Indiana and your brother has the phone in California. You are our eyes, ears, and fingers when we are troubleshooting your phones.

To wrap all of this up, I do realize AT&T needs to revamp a lot of the things it does, and I do realize there are some CSRs out there that should be lined up against the nearest wall and shot. It is also true that some of the customers we have are cowards that probably threw rocks at the animals that were in cages when they visited the zoo as children, because that's more or less what they are doing when they mistreat a CSR that they can't even see.

Finally before I go I would like to remind any and all of the readers here whether they are customers, AT&T affiliates, or just some old Joe Bob suffering from insomnia...that since no threats were made in this post I am not liable for speaking the truth, freedom of speech is a precious gift that we enjoy in America and no contract I have signed with AT&T trumps that.

hi, this is my request to all those atnt customers who switch their phone services to dsl direct or dry loop...please remember the answer to the "offline security question" on your internet account or at least your "primary user id" and save yourselves and as well as us from the ensuing trouble.

hi, i am an tech support agent working with atnt since past few months, and i have got a number of calls from customers facing similar issues.I have felt helpless in many situations where i feel that the customer deserves better service and he has to pay the price for some mistake he hasn't made.I hate giving fake apologies on the phone.I know there is something that can be done.I as tech support can't do anything about issues which are handled by customer service agents.I don't what's the atnt policy of making money but i do feel a lot of trouble can be avoided if all the departments are well mapped.

Att customer service always suck...im with att since 2004 just because i love the iphone but not att service, drops call and customer service worse than any one else...yea verizon here i come... spending more than 450 a month just for att bill, i think i deserve better customer service and a better service provider...is really SUCKS

Every month I have to call in because my bill changes from what I was told. No-one seems to care. I can spend 1 or more hours each month. They state that they DID correct the problem - but as usual the person didn't. I just can't believe how they lie all the time.

I had a contract that stated I had 3 business days to cancel. I cancelled on the 2nd day but they charged me $177 for monthly service - my monthly service was suppose to be $99. Even though I cancelled and many people at AT&T said it has been taken care of ... I received a call this morning from an attorney that handles collections.

SO mad. But I'm going to fight it. I won't be pleased if it was reported to the credit bureau as I'm tired of them scamming me. I have other friends who have gone through similar instances whey their bill keeps getting higher from what they signed up for.

Question: IS there any class action law suits going on?

AT&T SUCKS ALONG WITH THEIR DIRECT TV ALL RIP OFFS I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO KNOW HOW THEM PEOPLE SLEEPS AT NIGHT

AT&T used to be great, but over the past few years they have turned into extortionists- out to get your money by any means possible. Cell sevice and customer service have gone downhill. No wonder so many are leaving. Their representatives will lie to you about anything they can just to keep you another month- and after you figure out they scammed you, it's too late and you have to pay. Do yourself a favor and steer clear of this company with shady business practices. There are much better providers out there who offer better coverage and phone plans.

I agree, there is no customer service! They have no desire to assist and fix problems, they have told me they cant help until I pay the a bill I dont owe before they can supposedly help me. I paid a bill I did not owe, they sent me new bills. Same saga.. I cant seem to get any customer service to resolve.
I will never have ATT again.. Nor Direct TV. Nor landline. No bundles again, they told me one thing, and billed me in error and refused to fix

My AT&T bill was higher this month. I called them and them and they said that during frequently updating that this amount was being billed to me because it had showed up on my old Cellular One account as a $28.00 fee for a phone that I had purchased from Cell One a couple of months prior to the AT&T buyout from Cell One. I broke this phone in May. Took it into AT&T and they said there was nothing that could be done because the transaction had been made thruCell One. When I purchased the phone the contract included insurance on the phone incase it got lost, stolen or broke. I was told that I would have to purchase a new phone. So I did. Now suddenly I am being charged for this phone but they will not honor the contract because they do not have that paper work pertaing to the insurance but they sure do supposedly have the paper work pertaining to how much I owe! They are telling me that I have to pay an extra $28.00 per month until Sept. of 2018 to satisfy the agreement but yet they cannot provide me witih documentation. This is a rip-off! They are wanting me to pay the money but will not fullfill the rest of the contract with Cell One pertaining to the insurance. Also they have told me that I signed a 2 year agreement with them and I DID NOT! I signed nothing with them when the switch was made from Cell One to AT&T! I want to drop them immediately but it will cost me close to $800.00 to close my service. What a rip-off. Does anyone out there have any advice for me?

I switched from AT&T and then got a bill for $217 for termination of contract. I never signed a contract and told them I wanted to see it.
I was told I had signed electronically and should have my paperwork. They had to prove nothing So to keep my credit score and not
drag out a fight I paid to switch.

att is total slime. Just sat in on sales mtg w at+t fiber reps trying to sell $15, 000 per month internet access to one of my customers. Had great time destroying them, had customer use Comcast (much cheaper but equally ethically challenged). I told them the $38 refund, they refused to pay would be the most expensive $38 they ever took . I lost $38, at+t lost $180, 000 annually. I am just getting started-this is fun ruining the at+t salesmen day.

Does anyone have a good phone number contact email etc for AT&T I want the top guy to hear my experience. They need to use it as a teaching tool to train those horrible mouthy representatives for AT&T

Republicans and Democrats, be they elected to serve in the House or Senate, may disagree and be divided on a great many issues affecting the U.S.--but the ONE thing that brings them ALL together: Corporate Greed.

I estimate, and this is a conservative guess, about 90% of Congress hold mega-million$ in stocks from business titans like AT&T, DirecTV---and/or their countless smaller subsidiaries. For the past two or more years, AT&T and DirecTV have been involved in this effort to pretty much phase out Dial Up and DSL internet services---by "aggressively guiding" their customers into accepting this "U-Verse" system, purportedly rife with technological issues.

The plan is fairly simple: Bait you with a sweet monthly service price for a year----then double the service price, complete with their ever ingenious added charges ( despite their fictional names, the money collected by these charges goes towards "slush funds" for AT&T's political lobbyists ).

You're given 2 options: Package A ( internet only ) or Package B ( home phone AND U-Verse internet---doesn't save you a penny, but they have to try and hope you fall for it. ). What I found interesting: Package A only "saved" me $7---and that does NOT include the inventive charge(s) I'm sure lie lurking, waiting to be imposed on my bill---which by the way, is SEPARATE from your home and cellular phone(s) bill...unless of course, you fall for Package B.

Here's the kicker: Ask how long this offer is on the table; THEY DON'T KNOW THAT ANSWER! They ALSO DON'T KNOW how long it'll take AT&T to totally phase out DSL ( they pretty much wiped out Dial-Up Internet ). Their letter is crafty and cleverly worded: The forewarning says your DSL service MAY BE interrupted **not** WILL BE interrupted if you don't accept either offer.

But oh! Wait, folks---there's more: You avoid service interruption by calling the number on the letter ( "checking in" as I was told I did ) before the dated deadline! And by "checking in", I'm assured I will NO LONGER receive those "aggressive sales calls" from "ATT"

Talk about AT&T and DirecTV SCARING UP business ( I'm sure they used that joke in their high-level board meetings ).

Well AT&T FAILED to scare me. I'm NOT "upgrading" so I can be upcharged! I'm staying with AT&T DSL and am fine it's soon being billed SEPARATE from my home and cell phone(s) bill; might even make the bill easier to understand.

And I pray that MORE AT&T customers stubbornly REFUSE to have their DSL Internet "upgraded AND upcharged" or get pushed into the clever "bundling" RIP-OFF! I figure if MORE MILLIONS of AT&T DSL Internet customers REFUSE this shady U-Verse scare crap, maybe the corporate titan will get smart and BACK OFF---or face another painful class action lawsuit that finds them AGAIN guilty of anti-trust monopolization.

Totally Agree we are dealing with scammers and crooks. But the sad thing about all of these issues is our government don't step in, and do something about these companies stealing from the working class citizens. they should be regulate and stop in there tracks. They use Deceptive practice and shady business practice. it is crazy to have to pay amost $6, 000 a year to use cell phone, tv, and internet. that's highway robbery. Directv now that it merge with At&t is using the same practice At&t is use too. us the citizen just need to join together to stop all these crooks from taking advantage of us working class citizen. let's all write a letter to congress and stop these crooks now!

I'm looking for the address too! The collection agency is calling me 4 or 5 times a day!

where did you send the letter to (address)?

Here's is what my att Advertising contact said:

5. Renewals. We reserve the right at our discretion, but we are not obligated, to renew your Advertising for renewal Terms coinciding with the publication dates of the directory. We will send you notice of renewal by U.S. Mail, containing any change in Advertising rates and the accompanying terms and conditions, and you may refuse the renewal by giving us written notice within 15 days from our mailing, or by the deadline contained in the notice, whichever is first. We reserve the right, upon written notice to you at any time prior to renewal: (a) not to renew your Advertising for reasons set forth in paragraph 2 above or (b) to eliminate or modify any terms, conditions, standards, specifications, products, headings or policies (including without limitation priority placement of Advertising) affecting your Advertising. All Internet Advertising will automatically renew at our discretion at the then current rate unless cancelled prior to the publication date of the next printed directory. After renewal, only changes resulting in the same or increased level of Internet Advertising charges may be made.

After reading this I wrote a letter to my sales rep informing AT&T of my desire to cancel and not renew my contract. I mailed the letter certified mail so someone at AT&T had to sign for it. I have a copy of the letter and a return receipt that proves the cancellation letter was received. Now if AT&T tries to do something stupid and auto-renew me, I have material evidence that proves my notice to cancel was delivered.

Here is the text of my cancellation letter:

This letter is to inform you that our advertising agreement for print and internet advertising signed on ______ is not being renewed.

Our company is extremely concerned that our other marketing activities -- free craigslist ads, contractor review websites and targeted flyer distribution – all outperformed the yellow pages print and internet advertising. Our free craigslist ads alone generated $300, 000 in contracts, yet the paid advertising in the Yellow Pages book and yellowpages.com generated $ 0 in revenue.

In regards to internet marketing, over the last ten months yellowpages.com generated only 24 clicks to the our website. This was an average of 2.4 clicks a month! If I factor in the total cost of the internet advertising ($42 x 10 months = $420 ) and divide by the number of clicks generated ($420 / 24 = ) the cost per click is $17.50. During this same time frame our website had over 500 hits from craigslist at a cost per click of $0.0.

Unless AT&T Advertising can somehow refund a significant portion of the funds paid on this non-performing advertising contract Our Company will make it a policy to never do business with AT&T Advertising again.

Thank you,

This Works, just remember to send the letter certified or registered mail and the letter must be received by AT&T by your renewal deadline or you will be automatically renewed for another year.

Wow found my tribe. So verbal contract, says the written contract is to arrive in 3-4 days ( from a internet advertiser who has my email, & and hosts my domain) think nothing of it. 4 weeks later contract arrives. Has 72 hour cancellation. Whoa! Call the sales rep; no longer at the company. I do not have a rep, am informed. Send certified letter to the cancellation Dept.. I do asap. I called many times to drop out. Will not let me. The billing is not the $54 quoted but $67. After many attempts, I get them to play the "verbal contract". The facts above are mentioned but the rep fails to mention the info for the 72 cancellation.

Now 6 months have long gone. I get a call from the new sales rep, Gertha Davis, nice enough, want me to re up. I politely give her an earful. I state that I've sent in my cancel letter back in October days after I received the tardy written contract. She nor any one at ATT internet advertising has any record of it. The PO does. I have a certified recite. She will look in to it. Weeks go by. I call again, why am I still getting bills? "Please fax" she asks. I do with the PO deliver notice. 3 weeks go by. I get a new get a new bill thou I was informed that it was down in June. I call again. Now I get a email from her! It states on 7.23.09 she says its in a claim. This is the third time and the only claim that was reversed was the credit for the "over-billing" that was "discovered in my verbal recording.

I am at the point where I am going to call my super corporate uncle and teach these guys a lesson. These are unfair business practices; with out morality. I am not a lover of ATT, an spend a lot of money on their services, but this is a different kind of business model.

As of this writing the site is still up. I have spent too much time on this. As a SB owner, I have seen a lot. But this one leaves me aghast.

Advice?

I too had a bad experince advertisng with AT & T Advertising and Publishing so contacted Better Business Bureau in St. Louis, MO. The amount past due is always negotiable. My problem was resolved within two weeks after a nine month battle with AT & T. Don't listen to their threats just take action and contact the BBB ASAP! Wish I had contacted BBB sooner!

I just made my second to last payment on my contract. Yes they are holding me hostage. It is amazing that they have no morals. If I don't pay they will shut off my business line call forwarding that I advertise with. I am thinking it just may not be worth it to continue with them. As soon as this is over I am cancelling all of my att services. I just called the service department to complain and all I got was " I will notate your account mame. BFD. That did nothing. Has anyone had any sucess in getting their contracts refunded?

Has anyone just nor paid? I feel like I ambeing held hostage and with no release in sight.

Advertising with AT & T Advertsing and Publishing is the worst mistake I ever made. It is frightening how they operate.

I have gotten the same notice from my SWBYP. I don't feel obligated to pay the bill. How has your situation worked out? Thanks.

I am having the same problem. Has your problem been resolved? If so, how? Thanks.

Contacted at&t for phone and internet services. We were quoted $79 dollars per month for unlimited package and excepted. First monthly statement was $102 which i paid thinking there were extra charges for installation. Next statement was almost $200 that got me on the phone. After numerous calls to at&t with all customer service employees are busy, i finally got a rep. They told me the extra charges were for phone repair, which there were none. The services they were refering to was our line went dead & we called to ask why. Within the hour, the line was back on. Later that day a note was hung on our door that our line had been checked and no problem found. I was told that i did not have a service contract so i would pay. After numerous calls with no result, i ask for and talked to a manager. He said he would remove the service charges & check into why my bill was higher than quoted when we subscribed for the service. I also agreed to a $6 a month service charge to keep this from happening again. This months bill has just arrived with the same overcharge and still having the service charge the manager said he was removing. I cannot believe how inapt this company is. It is a nightmare to attempt to contact them to no avail. They appear to place themselves in a position to disrupt your service and charge you for reinstating it.

Ever tried to pay your dsl bill with ATT when you dont have your landline? Using my cell also from ATT I call the dsl number listed the autovoice thinks im calling about my phone so going to rep. they tell me this is phone you need to call wireless I asked for the number same one I have I ask can you just tranfer me and explain what kept happening no she couldnt do that but she could transfer me tech support maybe they could. or I could pay online well I had already been online get everything typed in and asked for a number enter one on my bill nope they have to send you your number by MAIL make take up to 2 weeks?I just kept calling back finally they got me the person I need and I started auto withdrawl...

at&t is pathetic. We have had home phone service for 35 years and I've been calling for at least 4 months trying to get it fixed. Customer service does not exist with at&t. They absolutely do not care. I was told last night that we had service for 35 years and I was ready to disconnect. The response from at&t was "we can do that". I told the rep he was rude and sarcastic and had no idea what customer service was. When we had bellsouth they were local and actually got any problem fixed within a day. Now you have to wait at least a week before they come out and if they don't fix the problem and you call back it then takes another week. This goes on and on and on for months and months and no one at at&t cares at all. I asked for a supervisor and he said I'm as far as you're going to get. I demanded for the call to be escalated and he put me on hold a long time and when he came back he said there was no one available. Then he said all he could do was send out a technician. I told him we had at least 20 technicians out already and he said there was nothing else he could do for me. It truly blows my mind. Whatever happened to the wonderful hometown phone company. at&t does not deserve to have any customers and I hope in the very near future that they don't. It would be a pleasure to see them go down in history as the worst phone company that ever existed.

I never thought I would join others by giving my BAD experience. ATT has ideed become impossible and not at all customer service oriented anymore. Today, as I was trying to pay my bill according to me most recent bill, and payment was not even due for 12 days later - I could not complete the call with the bill paymment over the phone (it could not recognize the payment, even though I tried several times, subsequently I waited for a live person. I paid with a credit card, got my reference # and told me I had a zero balance. He then told me that my service had been disconnected the day before (I did not know that since I used my cell to call), however, he said he would transfer me to customer service and the phone would be immediately reinstated. Guess what - 5 hours later and speaking with at least 15 "customer service and or so called supervisors" I have gotten nowhere. In fact, they tell me I can't get my number back and have to get a new number. This is not what I want after 20 years with the same number. I have also been told by several of the 15 people I spoke with that I was given the wrong information and I should get reinstated, however, they connected me again with someone that said "no, can't have the number back". I then asked what their proceedure was about storing the phone number (like other providers do)? They agreed they do that too (especially, since my phone had been disconnected for only about 24 hours), alas, still were unwilling to get me reinstated unless I get a new number. At this point, I really did not know why I was disconnected, granted I did have a past due charge on the current bill, but I paid the entire bill, not even due for 12 more days, no notice to shut off the servi ce or warning.

Anyway, I finally spoke with someone who truly looked into what happened, but couldn't help me and by that time all offices were closed, so I am going to try again tomorrow. When I first signed up with ATT years ago, I had a bundled service for local and long distance. Apparently, I was now told ATT detected that we were not using the long distance service (true) and decided to pull the plug - along with the pulled plug went my entire phone service. No one at this point at ATT is willing to help, they will not transfer a call to a supervisor, or higher up.

If I have to get a new number, it certainly won't be with ATT. Having used ATT for many, many years, I have resisted offers from other companies even though I could have saved money by awitching, I was happy with ATT's service - guess what? I am unable to make recommendations ever again, they don't care...and I am sure I am not alone in my complaint. At this point we also have 2 cell phones with ATT, also for many many years, and if the slightest issue arises, ATT will be dust for us (so far the cell service has been good).

AT&T SUCKS. I had the phone and DSL and I paid by credit card until I closed my bank account. I called and told them that I did and continued to pay with money orders every month and then I get a letter saying that since i did not pay for the DSL service with debit card that they were stopping the service. Even though it was paid for they shut the DSL off, and still charged me on the next two bills for the DSL service.

I agree with people who say customer service people are rude and non-caring. I wanted to get u-verse and internet connection as a bundle and wanted to add my wireless phone bill. I got no help, waiting for 15 minutes to 45 minutes for someone to add more rude behavior. I can remember when ATT had customers service people that were kind and caring but these oversee customers service people is like a run-away train! I am second guessing that this is not worth the
hassle, stay with TIME WARNER CABLE and pay more for services but never have they made me feel so bad. There is a difference between wireless customer service, they had not been rude just unsure about products, etc. I will be keeeping my cell phones until they become unreasonable.

To whom, i just paid my bundle account home phone, dishnet and highspeed internet bill with my creidt card and did, nt get a comfirmation number from an embarq repersentive, he told me that the system was down, i told him to use my creidt card as debit and he used it as credit, my credit union shows that the payment is pending and my dishnet work is not on then embarq telling me its not showing up in the system where i made a payment. Mrs.Cherry Crawford

I called ATT re: internet service3 months ago.[June '08]. I was told that I could not get DSL @ my address, only Dial Up. I talked to 3 other people on the phone and have never dealt w/ such ineptness from any co. before. I ended up asking for dial up just to have the internet. I was told the man would come to install a few days later. When he came he told me I COULD get DSL & he would set me up for someone to be in touch from that dept. Subsequently, I got the kit delivered and got on DSL.
This month, [Sept. '08] I got my monthly bill from ATT for the DSL, but, in addition I found a charge on my credit card for dial-up. I called the no. on my bill and was told I would have to give the name of my favorite singer in order for them to take that amt. off my credit card. I didn't recall any code from my earlier conversations w/ setting up my internet w/ them. They refused to take the responsibility for their irresponsibility in illegally charging me for no service rendered. I even talked to the manager and she refused to take the 22.95 off my credit card also.
This is the only phone service available in my area. Otherwise, I would get another service. It's very frustrating to know you're pretty helpless to do anything but accept their obvious lack of customer courtesy & it appears to be an illegal act, in my case...receiving money for services never delivered.

Don't use AT&T Home Entertainment. They owe me a refund and I have been trying to get it since August of 2007. This month will be 1yr since I disconnected my service. I have called over and over. I was told that they would call me back and they never did. I never seen such bad customer service. I'm searching to find out how I can file a complaint / investigation with their regulators.

AT&T As well as most of the boradband companies are horrible.
We pay for a service and the amount we pay is based on the speed throughput, yet they refuse to warrant the minimum speed that we are paying for. They hid it under the cloak of "numerous different factors". These "numerous different factors" is really 1! and that is OVER SELLING bandwidth.
They can sure limit your bandwidth but they can't define and allocate the bandwidth. The steps are simply 3 other lines in a Cisco router for the IP address we get!
THEN I try to get new service in my business location, I just wanted Local service (the most basic available) and DSL service. When I get to it, it tells me my bill will be $76/month. I get a call a few moments later stating that they cant do it because the address is a business. I told them what does that matter I do not want all the extra business stuff. SO I go to the business side and the SAME exact service is now costing me $154./ month!
WHAT IN THE WORLD!

I attempted to make my life easier by switching from Comcast to ATT. Since I did that my phone service or I should say lack of it and any help has been amazing. I am really angry and at my wits end. My non-service started on Feb 16, 2009 and has not worked for more than 5-6 days without regular interruption. The service men have come to the house, but nothing got fixed without 3/4 service calls each time. All during that time period I had no phone sevice.It is now 4/1/09 and once more I have no phone service. I have been told by the "customer service" agents that it must be my equiptment (which never went down with Comcast) and that I should purchase a warrenty from them to take care of any problems.
Last night 3/31/09 I called and asked to talk to a supervisor. I was told that he was on the phone with another customer and he would call me withen the hour. Four hours later I called back and complained that I had no call back. Finally the "manager" and I talked and he told me the same thing as the customer service agents. Someone would be out to my home in 5 days-sorry, and there would be a charge if they had to come inside, and that I should purchase the warrenty. In other words I got nowhere with someone that was not in authority.
I have felt since there is no phone service for another 5 days that I should not have to pay my phone bill because of all the non-serivce I have received. All I want is a phone that works!

I was told I was given a $100 cash reward for ordering my phone service and dsl equipment. When I get on the websight to retrieve my reward it skips the "3 simple steps" in order to receive the cash.

At&t needs training on customer service

I am having similar problems transferring my phone and internet svc as well I am on week 3 and ust told that they do see a problem but if they send a technician it will be $55 for first 15 minutes...i wil be calling their complaint# tomorrow [protected]...wish me luck

had bought a Go phone last month and had activated the same on 13th October 2008, I got the phone + gophone card of 50$ value with 10$ bonus for the activations in that period. Eventually i got a nice deal with 60$ time.

After I recharged the phone, I started noticing the problems while speaking on the refurbished Nokia 2610. It was a bad instrument as I was not able to hear the other person clearly on this phone ; and since here you usually buy the phone + connection together, by the time i realised the phone was bad i consumed 1.5$. To cover up for the business I spoke to T-mobile and ordered a new connection, as poor connection causes me a loss in my business.

I was pretty sure that this money was to be returned by AT&T (barring the 1.5$ which i had consumed so far); I called up customer care and they spoke so redely to me and said that the talktime cannot be returned.

Reason why i had to go through the pain of ordering a new connection is due to the phone which was promoted by AT&T and evenually I could not use my talktime with this phone. Please suggest as I am searching for the appropriate consumer forum to help me here.
All I paid was 40$ plus 3 $ taxes and I want this 43$ back., because of this bad instrument or whatever reason (may be the TA&T) connection at Arizona; I have still not been able to use the talktime which is valid till 11th January 2009.

I am raising this concern with other consumer forums as well,
All i want is my basic money to be returned.

My AT&T no is : [protected]
Order Number: [protected]

Thanks
Amit Khurana

I requested a copy of my January-June 2006 statements back on August 28th, 2007; and to this day I have yet to receive the reprints. I have called by different unit managers telling me that the order for the reprints were put in and that I'd have them 3-10 business days. Well, like I said, to this day I have not received them. I've been a customer with AT & T since 1997, and I don't think that a loyal customer should be treated this way. I would like to know if there is anyway I could get my reprints before the year is out (which would be next week)?

I am in week two without phone service (home) and living through the identical problem listed above. I consider myself reasonably intellegent and resourceful, but this issue has me as frustrated as I've ever been. I too have spoken with Victor twice and to several service support people in India- only to be told "they are overwhelmed" and "the problem is beeing reviewed". We've used over 4 hours of cell phone minutes- 21/2 hours with at&t customer service. This problem has me worried for the first time in my adult life. I would like to communicate with others experiencing similar problems.