AT&T
Billing - DSL for the newly merged AT&T totally fouled up att.com Internet

I had been a loyal customer of AT&T for over 25 years. When they merged with SBC they offered a great deal on their DSL. I was ready to get rid of my dial-up, so I called and arranged to get DSL from AT&T.

The first thing wrong, that should have clued me off, was they told me I could not get the deal being offered both on TV ads and their internet site if I purchased it right away, as they were still in the merging process and could not accomodate my request at the sale price. Fine, I said, give it to me anyway.

The DSL worked fine for a month. After a month it stopped working. I called their customer service, and they sent a guy out to check my lines, etc. Everything was fine at my house, it was a problem on the line "somewhere." I was told I wouldn't be charged for DSL service while they tried to fix the problem. They sent out three technicians over three months, and no one seemed to know how to fix it. One tech said he was an SBC worker and had never even seen a modem like the one AT&T had sent me. Every month I paid my bill, not noticing they were still charging me for DSL while they worked on it.

After months of trying to get this fixed, AT&T called and said they were cancelling my DSL, as they could not provide me service in my area. There would be no cancellation charge.

Well, though I hadn't noticed the DLS monthly charges, I sure did notice the $200 cancellation fee they put on my bill! So I called customer service. After some difficulty understanding what they said, I was assured the $200 would be taken off my bill, as well as the months I had been charged when I had no service, and I didn't need to return the modem. (Made me think oh, it's an old, out-of-date modem, apparently. LOL)

The next month the $200 appeared on my bill again. I called customer service again, and was assured it would be taken care of. The third month I started getting collection calls from their service. I was extremely frustrated!

I decided to devote a whole day to fixing this, as it was affecting my credit. I called AT&T. After explaining the problem SIX times, to SIX different people, being hung up on, being cut off, and finally in tears, they said if I returned the modem I would get the charges for the three months I was without service, as well as the $200 early disconnect fee off my bill. I said where do I send the modem? They transferred me to another department. That department said to take it to UPS. I was told by the last guy I needed a box and a label, and this department would give it to me. This department, however, said they could only provide it if it was within 30 days of having received the modem. I discussed the situation fully with the guy, trying to get across what was going on, until the guy hung up on me. I called back, and had to go through the whole story yet AGAIN, with another service person.

Finally, one service person stayed on the phone with me through all the switches to different departments and all the craziness, until I finally got a person to agree to take off the $200, without having to send the modem back. At this point I was feeling so beat up by this system, that I didn't even mention the three months I had paid for DSL that I never received back.

I hung up the phone, waited for my next bill, and yes, the charges were finally off. I paid my final bill, then promptly called Comcast and ordered their TV/phone/internet deal they had going.

I will never go back to AT&T, nor use any service that outsources their customer service and help to another country. It was WAY too difficult to understand them, and for them to understand what I was trying to say. AT&T has no cohesion between their departments. What you tell one or have one department say to you definitely does NOT transfer over to other departments. I was told I would not be charged for DSL while they were trying to fix it, and I was. I was told three times that the charges for the DSL cancellation would be taken off, and it wasn't. I was transferred SIX times to six different departments, all on one day, just to get a charge taken off my bill.

This company's customer service and product has totally fallen below acceptable grade. They need to reorganize in a BIG way and bring their customer service and all other departments back to the US to service their US customers. Otherwise, people will be dropping them and going to cable/internet/cell phones instead, and the company will go belly up.

April
Lansing, Illinois
U.S.A.

Company: AT&T
Country: USA
State: Nationwide
Site: att.com

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