AT&T review: support is a waste of time 22

Though I placed an order for residential phone service and DSL in June 2017, as of Aug. 28, the service has not yet been connected. I have called numerous service representatives, repeatedly since June, only to be transfered around, and then told that the problem is being examined and fixed.

The problem began when my subletter attempted to switch the service out of her name. She called to cancel the service in early June. I subsequently called to start new service. I was told that the DSL service in her name had to be cancelled and completely shut off before new service could be started. The subletter called again to cancel the service. I called again to re-start the service. I was told that the phone service could be switched into my name, but that I had to make a follow-up request to initiate the service.

At this point, I was already getting irritated that the internet service required multiple calls. As I was out of town, I was not able to call back in the designated one week time period. I called the following week, and was chided for not calling promptly. I explained that I had been out of town and that I would like the internet service connected. I was told that the internet service would be connected, but that I would need an installation CD. Did I have the installation CD? No. Could AT&T send one to me? No, they could not send one to me until after the internet service had been connected - approximately seven to ten days. Then I would have to call back AGAIN to request the CD.

I called back after 7-10 days to request that the CD be sent to me. I was told that it would arrive in another 7-10 days. At this point, I left on a month-long business trip to Asia. I assumed that the installation CD would show up any day, allowing my new rooommate to access the internet, as I promised she would be able to do when she moved in.

After three weeks, she emailed to tell me that the installation CD had still not arrived. This was creating a serious problem for her, as she is a student and was about to begin online college courses. She reported that AT&T had left a 'courtesy message' on our home telephone number stating that we "had not completed the set up" and instructing us to call [protected].

On Aug. 28 (Aug. 29, 9pm Asia (Bhutan) time), I phoned this number, from Asia, where I was on a business trip. I explained the problem in detail to the first representative that I spoke to, who promised to investigate the issue and put me on hold for 20 minutes.

A second representative answered the phone. I said that I had explained my problem to the first representative, who had gone to investigate. She said that he had transfered the phone to her, and she promised to stay on the line with me until the problem was resolved. She said that she was in Billing, and wouldn't be able to resolve any technical issues, but promised to see that I got the necessary help. She transferred me to 'level 2 tech support.' By this time, I had been on the phone for more than 30 minutes from Asia.

I explained the problem a third time to Tech Support. He said that he needed to check with Billing. I explained that I had just been transferred from Billing. He said that there was a discrepancy between my name and the name on the DSL account, and he needed to straighten it out with Billing. He said that even if he just changed the name on the tech support side, it would not match the name on the Billing side and would lead to problems later on.

More than 45 minutes after my call began, Tech Support put me on hold to check with Billing. He eventually returned to the phone to explain that the subletter's name had never been taken off the DSL account, even though she had called multiple times in June to close her account. Because her account had not be closed, no new account could be created. I explained that both the subletter and I called multiple times in June to close her account, and I called repeatedly in July to start my account. He said that nothing could be done until she called back to close her account.

I asked to speak to someone who could help me resolve this problem. He repeated that nothing could be done until the subletter called back to close the account. I told him that this level of service was unacceptable. He said nothing could be done. An hour and ten minutes after the call began, he ended the call, unable to resolve my problem. At this point, the subletter and I have spent a combined total of more than 10 hours trying to change the DSL service out of her name and into my name. This is an issue that should be resolved in ONE SIMPLE PHONE CALL. It should not require multiple calls, to representatives who don't do what they say they will do. Numerous representatives assured me that my DSL order was in process and would soon be operational, but after two months, we are still unable to use DSL.

This company offers a rebate for purchasing a modem or gateway from them when ordering DSL through their online website. After repeated call backs, multiple phone numbers, and "mistakes" made on their part of handling the rebate offer, I still have not received redemption! Please get these people on network TV under a news investigation and/or legal litigation to get this into light! Do a little research, and there are TONS of people in the same situation complaining of the SAME TROUBLE, and that's just the people who haven't given up yet! Please help!

It has been nearly a year and I have still not received the DSL rebate. They have no regard for your time and function in a bait-and-switch mode that I view as fraud. Hopefully with the changes that will come after the election, we will be free of their monopoly. I have vowed to never be scammed by AT&T again. I have changed all my phones to other carriers. Can we dump AT&T?...yes we can. I think the same people who came up with the rebate offer must have been advisors to Elizabeth Dole.

Elizabeth's August 2017 complaint shows great attention to detail
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My below summary parallels the experience of Elizabeth. ALAS.

WORLD'S WORST SERVICE - SUCCINCT SUMMARY

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.

We had ATT for several years as a DSL provider; we were told that the only way to get it was with a phone service. The land line was unnecessary but had no other choice; the speed was not great and the phone number created taxes and sales calls.

Upon moving in August we were charged a fee for moving both services but we found out through a friend that we could get the DSL service by itself. After much insisting in October, the rep allowed us to ONLY get the DSL service. At the appointed date, the phone and DSL were disconnected and then the ordeal to reconnect began.

1. They lost our new account information. We were repeatedly told that we did not have an account with them; the old account had been deleted and the new one did not show up. We were NEW customers that needed a brand new install.

2. The line could not be connected because no DSL service was available. Of course, we had to insist that our was part of their service area because we had just had it running. Impossible to downgrade if it already worked.

3. The service was arriving to our house and our internal wiring must be bad. Again, improbable since we had changed NOTHING since our service had been up the last time.

The above three were advanced through NUMEROUS tech reps that each had to follow the script and do ALL of the diagnosis. Surprisingly, even when the software guys passed it on the the hardware people, none could see notes on the previous calls. We tried in English w/ people answering in other states, in India; we tried in Spanish w/ Colombian and apparently Mexican reps.
Why is it that every time one must punch in your account number and then gave to give it to each rep that you are handed off to and then STILL specify that it's not a phone number, that it is only for DSL and that we are not new customers that have already talked to their phone numbers several times?

Eventually, someone promised that after the switch in our area was up that we would be contacted. A robocall did contact us that the service was installed but our DSL modem showed otherwise. More calls and finally one of them has my wife open the external box w/ a screwdriver, switch a wire and the green light was on. Our account is restarted but we have no DSL access after 24 hours.
Another round of software reps that hand off to hardware. No way to contact them directly so waiting loops yield the following: your original work order was not acted upon, you could not have had service without it and therefore you must wait to get it installed. Talk to billing for a credit on paid for month even if no service.

We are now counseled to talk to billing as it is a new account who claim that they do not have any record of the lapse of service, only the charges. We are promised a credit for all nonworking days (all but one) but it is not to be reflected for 60 days (they can charge spontaneously but credit in lags). We get a new bill and a warnig to pay off lest we lose service.
A call to cancel service is eventually answered and they the rep tells us, really, "I cannot close your account because our computers are down, please call back." We do, we get a closing number but a month later no confirmation, credit but a new ebill.
Last straw: Today, 10 jan 2017 we get a notice that there has been a new account created on Nov 13, 2017.

We have phone records, names, times to document all of the above but no one to give it to. Sad.

Again, the hardware people would like to come out, promise to call and nothing happens.

http://www.complaintsboard.com/new_complaint/

Here's a warning from those who are even thinking of switching to AT&T from Time Warner... I did it, and can tell you that AT&T DSL service is horrible! I'd describe it more fully, but don't think that the language that I am tempted to use is suitable. Here are the problems:

(1) lousy reliability - well, unless one calls almost predictable mid-morning, noon-time and evening outages good or acceptable.
(2) a lousy approach to customer service - ever try to get through the labyrinth of AT&T "so-called" telephone support numbers? If you have, I'd not be too surprised to hear that you accidentally called the wrong toll free number - they appear to have a toll free number for each employee! Further, their rather POOR voice response systems lead you layer-by-layer through a number of options. If you're LUCKY, you'll wind up at the right place, but 90% of the time you won't.
(3) lengthy wait times once you get your information in - Well, once you land in the wrong spot, be prepared for exceptionally long wait times to get to talk to the "right" person - assuming that the person that you finally did get through to on the initial efforts got it right, and assuming that you were not disconnected.

I AGREE 100%. I HATE THE WHOLE AT&T DEAL. YOU PEOPLE SUCK AND YOU MAKE YOUR CUSTOMERS PAY FOR THE PRICE OF YOU IDIOTIC CUSTOMER SERVICE, TECH SUPPORT SERVICE AND OVERALL SERVICE. I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT WHEN WE HAD BELLSOUTH.NET DISCONNECTED THAT WE WOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO USE BELLSOUTH.NET AGAIN. I HAD VERY IMPORTANT EMAILS ON BELLSOUTH.NET THAT I REALLY NEED, BUT BECAUSE NO ONE TOLD ME THAT I NEEDED TO MOVE THEM OR THAT I WOULD LOSE BELLSOUTH.NET FOREVER I AM SO ANGRY. I THINK I DESERVE SOME KIND OF COMPENSATION FOR AT&T'S MISTAKE. I KNOW I WILL BE GOING TO BBB AS SOON AS I'M DONE WITH THIS BECAUSE IT'S NOT RIGHT TO TREAT YOUR CUSTOMERS THE WAY YOU DO...VERY BADLY. WHAT HAPPENED TO "THE CUSTOMER'S ALWAYS RIGHT"? YOU DON'T LIVE BY ANYTHING BUT $$$$$$ AND AT&T IS ALWAYS RIGHT, WELL, IF I HAD IT MY WAY...AT&T (THE WHOLE COMPANY) WOULD FALL OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH AND NO ONE WOULD MISS THEM. WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT YOU HAVE BEEN.

AT&T SUCKS!

We recently moved to a new home from an apartment. We asked AT&T to switch
the Internet service from the old location to the new one a week in advance.
The Internet service is still unavailable at the new home. Yesterday, my wife and I called
AT&T customer representatives more than ten times. However, the people of AT&T Customer
Service just transferred our calls to another. To make matters worse, they were even urging
us to purchase some unrelated services. Until now, the Internet problem is still
not solved yet. I have to conclude that AT&T customer service is extremely lousy.

I agree at&t has a lot of things they have to work out, mostly I would say is there polices and contracts with there buessness partners. Its not the person u get on the phone with or even the service itself its the process they force their agents to do.a process that if not followed they can loose there job and all because ...you guessed it its the $$$$$$ they care about not the costumer. The agent on the other side is doing the best he or she can with the information they have and the process he or she has to follow. I will say they have some really high tech tools that tells them weather its a network issue with at&t's network or if its a computer issue. 8 out of 10 problems are PBCK problems which means problem between chair and keyboard which means you. The other 2 out of 10 are network issues or hardware failure. Keep in mind they are your internet service provider and nothing more, they open the door for you to get online but they do not control the internet they don't block you from seeing sites or playing games nor do they send you equipment that's going to damage your computer it would make no sence to do that, so I could only imagine what the tech does when people call in and say "well I had comcast or time warner and I never had this problem before now that I got at&t my computer won't start or work right or my favorite I can't get online so it must be at&t that's blocking me. Lol right after that he/she probably puts u on mute so he/she could vent and is probably thinking "aww crap I got one of these dumb [censored]" most the time its just a user or a computer problem. My at&t dsl connection works great but it did not come without its headaches. My advice to you is don't get at&t if you're not willing to but in the time to understand things or the patience and effort to get it right. Always have a pen and paper ready and computer on to make things a better expirence assuming u get throught that micheine you may still get to the wrong people so ask for the direct numbers to places do your part cross your T's and dot your I's make note of any changes u make keep track of all your passwords, emails, and numbers keep in mind that all departments don't have the same info as others and don't bable or go off about a problem to an agent that won't be able to help you. A tech support agent won't be able to help you with your bill or big computer problems. I would get really mad if they over charged me so I blow up on the frist person to get on the phone only to have that person say "I'm sorry I'm tech support let me get you to billing" lol. Stay calm keep cool remember that you're calling them for help or advice even if the frist person can't offer more then a transfer to the right people get the number and move on because the agent on the other side has a process to follow and a time to keep and numbers to meet that's how the company makes money and that how agents keep they're job and feed their family. The agent will do everything he is allowed to do to help you as quickly as posible all he/she needs is for you to be quite listen have your info ready and follow directions. I will agree they don't do the whole "the costumer is always right" things beause most the time the costumer doesn't know what he/she is talking about what's wrong or how to fix it; why do u think you're calling them ...duh... besides its not fast food its internet service. I mean if I new I was right about everything I wouldn't call them myself I hate having to talk to 3 people and a 5 robots till I get where I need to be. On top of that the 3 people aren't even american. So word to the wise or the winey get your stuff right be calm say only things that matter write things down and follow directions.

Do not sign up with At&t. This is one of the most corrupt companies in the United States. In April I called Barbara Barner and explained I needed internet that was more stable. I had At&t's residential internet and the speed was always dropping. She assured me the business internet was better and would not fluctuate. Lies all lies. Then i received my first bill. It was $211.00 and the second was $292.00. Some were partial month's charges. This is understandable. They added services and charges i never requested or was notified of. My internet and phone is $170.00 a month. It was supposed to only be $100.00. Well i have already scheduled another company to come to my home and install new services. I have called this company for a month and still no resolution. The agents are incompetent, rude, following corrupt policies, and just plain stupid. Some act like you have interrupted there day. I have reported them to several agencies. The number Miss Barner gave me does not work. I emailed her and received no response. Write your State Representative, Senator, Congressman, Governor, and the Mayor. This type of abuse must stop. They told me i will have to pay for cancelling the contract. I definitely will not. I will take them to court if I have to.

I have talked to people who say they never check there bills. How silly. Always check your bills. No matter if you are in a great or lousy economy. As American's we have nowhere to go but up. I also suggest reporting them to the BBB and the FCC.

Thankyou for your valuable feedback. We would continue to provide you the best in class service. But better look at your own behavior before blamin AT&T. For example, if you are going to put your shirt in a washing machine, you need to make sure that you take out your $100 bills. Similarly, if you are disconnecting a service, please make sure that you erase / move your emails. Please understand, if you are disconnecting the service, it means you want to remove all your information from AT&T records. AT&T never stores your personal information after disconnection of the account and we are bound by law to remove all information related to your account. Nobody needs to tell you that. It is just plane simple common sense. Its like someone putting food in your mouth and you are blaming that person stating that he never asked you to chew. I understand you all of been facing a lot of problems but we never advertized to be perfect, we aadvertised about being the best there is. It is our strife for perfection, which drives us. So, please stop ranting and abusing and get back to us. We are there to resolve everything for you.

After 3 months of waiting for my rebate, I finally called to check up on it. They tried to give me the old okey-doke- check online, call the rebate number, etc, etc... but I wasn't having it. Luckily, I kept all the paperwork from my order, billing, everything. On my welcome letter, it says to expect a rebate coupon in the mail after 6 weeks. I told the rep on the phone point blank that I am due a rebate and thats it, thats all. If he says I do not qualify at this time, I am dropping their service and suing them for breech of contract.

After he put me on hold for like 10 minutes, he says he cant issue me a rebate in the form of the ATT card, but he can issue me a $80 credit on my account. I agreed, and made sure I took him name down, the date and time, a confirmation number, everything. And told him I was about to look at my account online and expected to see the credit. I had to ride the rep, document the heck out of everything, and stand firm, but they finally did do something about the promise they made.

You can get what you deserve but you really have to stick it to them. The best thing is to be educated (read the website, your bills, and fine print) and call them on their BS.

I have discovered the same problem of being overcharged for dsl. I paid $30 a month for service that costs $20. When I called to upgrade to elite, the salesperson couldn't figure out what was going on and then let it slip that my account hadn't been changed over to the correct speed.

I'm thinking of doing the same thing -- cancelling all dsl service, waiting a couple of weeks and then restarting. Or... I could get cable roadrunner.

Wish ATT had a place to write to but they won't release a corporate office. Corporations are king nowadays...

My DSL goes out so frequently, especially on weekends, that I have been unable to work on my online Microsoft Access Certification classes that were provided by Microsoft's Elevate America program. I am very low income but pay for this DSL service that is necessary for me to do these online classes, among the other online tasks that are so essential to 21st century job searching. It is very distressing to pay so much and get such poor service in these deserate times.

Leave em, they're a poorly run company that isnt above false advertising and bait & switch tactics. You do have a choice of providers in most areas and some smaller startups might be less expensive and faster! (Earthlink, Peoples Century link)...stick it to AT&T like they are sticking it to the customers.

Well...there are a few things about DSL I think every consumer should be aware of. That NO provider (AT&T, Verizon, etc) will readily admit or make known. The most important factor being the basic infrastructure of lines that DSL technology is outdated and soon DSL will be a thing of the past much like dial-up. (Yes, I am aware of the fact there are still paying dial-up users because of no other option..thats a different topic for a different time)

I am an IT guy, tech nerd, whatever you want to call it. I really in most cases am just an informed consumer. So here are somethings outside of your computer, your modem/router, and your phone lines/jacks that may cause slower than advertised speeds, degraded signals, etc.

1.) INFRASTRUCTURE

Unlike broadband cable, or the newer fiber optic signals, DSL internet data services are run through old fashion twisted copper pair wires. Copper in itself can only carry so much data at a capped max speed. (At best 6 mbps {thats mega bits NOT bytes MB like cable or fios} over a distance of 3 miles). Now you may have all heard the age old tale of you have to be within 3 miles of the Central Office for the DSL to be available. True enough. But guess what, that is not 3 miles as the crow flies or geographically 3 miles from the building, thats 3 miles of copper twisted pair line. Your house may be 1 mile from the Central Office, but the path of the phone cable and going up buildings, and under streets, etc may in fact be over 3 miles of cable if it was laid flat. So guess what? Your signal is going over the max line distance and may only be able to give you 1.5 mbps down speed even though you are paying and being provided "up to 3.0 mbps" because they are shooting your signal over a huge distance worth of copper line regardless of where your house actually is in straight line mileage from the Central Office.

Also, thats providing a squirrel or something else didnt chew through the insulation of any of that cabling from them to you exposing the copper and degrading your signal. And in many cases the copper lines are starting to wear out with age. So why is all that important? Because here comes reality. DSL is NOT a regulated service by any government entity. That means there is NO obligation whatsoever to upgrade worn out copper lines, improve the signal quality, or even maintain and repair faulty copper lines. ALL companies are ONLY obligated to provide whats called "toll grade voice service". Meaning can I make a long distance voice call that you can hear miles outside the area code on this cable? Yes? Good...federal regulation met. But the cable is soo crappy I cant hardly get .5 mbps down when I am supposed to be and paying for 3.0 mbps! So what, is the line connecting you to your DSL service "toll grade voice"? Yes? Too bad. This is in the Terms of Service buried deep in legal-ease speak on ALL DSL contracts from ALL providers.

2.) NO REGULATION MEANS NO OBLIGATION TO FIX

So where does that leave you? You live in a rural area serviced by old copper phone lines. Most neighbors dont even have cable tv yet although its starting to hit. But no cable internet. Certainly no FIOS or UVerse. It leaves you stuck like chuck. Every company sees the writing on the wall, and one day the nation-wide infrastructure for the US will be fiber based/cable based broadband signals for internet. No more phone like data services needed, dial-up or DSL. All money and investments by AT&T, Verizon, and others is to improve and extend service areas of their fiber based/broadband services. it would cost millions, if not billions to also maintain, repair, and improve the almost 70 year old twisted copper pair infrastructure for data services.

3.) BOTTOM LINE

So, here it is. DSL service has become a use at your own risk option. You can sign up for and pay for the highest tier DSL option. (6-7 mbps down/1.5 mbps up). And the company may be sending the initial signal out from their servers to your Central Office at that rate of speed.

But there is no gurantee the quality of lines or equipment from the central office, to your box on the pole, to your home and phone jack and finally through your modem will be able to maintain and handle that speed level. And legally, there is not a whole lot of provisions contractually that obligate them to gurantee so.

I ordered service to be installed on 11/29 . I explained to the person (non American) on the phone that I would need a Technician to come out and hook up the line because the home was a new construction and wasnt connected to the box at the street. Well I had to make 9 calls before I realized I could ask for someone in the States! Then i was transfered to a lady in St. Louis to schedule somone to come by. Well the day I had scheduled came and I waited for the tech between 8-noon like i was told and no one showed. So i called and asked for someone in the US and was on hold for 26 minutes and finally got to speak to someone in the US and found out that there wasnt a scheduled tech to come out. SO i said cancel the service and the new lasy was like how can we keep you as a customer and i said get someone here by end of the day! Well I be someone did come and fianlly hook my dang service up on Dec 6. So make dang sure you get everyone name and badge # when dealing with the sleeze balls! O and guess what i got a 6.00 dollar credit! SORRY SORRY folks not to mention the phone system that is automated and it SUCKS! I hate AT&T!

My service was not working so I called to inquire. The phone rep was unable to assist me and scheduled to have a tech come to my home. The problems started when they sent the tech to the wrong address (where I lived 8 months prior). Apparently my service was never moved - but my bills continued to be received at my new residence. It took 8 days, about 6 hours of phone calls, and obtaining the name/number of a local office to get my service working again. Now (about two weeks after all this) I receive welcome letters with 2 separate account numbers and the inability to access my account info online. I expect I will be receiving 2 bills now. I can't even imagine how long it will take to resolve this. Customer service is useless. I spoke to over 35 separate individuals since this whole mess began. Not sure how to proceed - but if hear one more apology from this company I really think I am going to lose it. There is absolutely nothing they can do to make up for this. I have never received such pathetic service from a supposed reputable company in my life. That is what a monopoly is I suppose. Yay for us...

After 4 months of the worst DSL service ever I cancelled it. Returned 2 modems, got billed for a 3rd $200+.I called for an address to return the 3rd modem which I found, no tech support person knew where to send it so I sent it Priority Mail to the billing address with a lengthy, boldly printed note to forward it to the proper department. well... it appears that did not happen and now I have bill collectors calling me. Now I cannot find anywhere on line to contact a human at ATT to clear this up. Oh yes may I add that I spent hours and hours on hold waiting for help w/ this issue and I will not call them again. I need a corporate address or some way to let them know that the Modem was returned and some idiot couldn't get it where it needed to go!

You ### should be ###ing ###s instead of blaming AT&T for your buffoonery.

I had the same problem. Awful service, then when I called to cancel I kept getting transfered from one person to another, because none of them knew what to do, or how to go about sending me a return label. I finally got the return label and sent the modem back and AT&T is still trying to charge me for the modem even though I barely had it a month and it only worked for 10 minutes at a time for about two of the four weeks I had it!