Shouldn't Big Corporations have Big Customer Service? (Or, why AT&T sucks)

When you pay for a product, you expect that product to be delivered with a smile. And if something goes wrong, you expect the seller of that product to fix it; right? It's the same thing if you pay for a service - or at least it should be.

The problem with paying for a service, is that all of a sudden you can't prove whether that service is faulty... And they never seem to be able to prove that it's faulty; so, all of a sudden you have to pay for something that you never got and fight tooth-and-nail to get your money back.

Normally, this type of bad service is associated with small businesses who just plain don't know any better. Maybe they're new, or just really really tiny. Who knows. But with consumers today becoming more and more finicky about the types of service they're willing to pay for, it just makes sense to ensure that you have a good customer service team in place. To not have one is stupid.

And this is where AT&T failed horribly. What's the really, really sad part? I'm not even an AT&T customer! But the morons running their customer service department, apparently, fall short of basic comprehension. Well, perhaps that's a requirement to get the customer service job at AT&T. "People with brains need not apply"... Who knows.

At any rate, no I am not a customer. But, my credit card was billed for someone else's account. The backstory? A good friend of mine tried to set up a DSL account with AT&T. They required a credit card to activate the account. I talked to the customer service agent (mistake number 1) about my credit card; and he assured me I would not get charged. Would not get charged - remember that. He promised me, "The only thing I need a card number for is to activate the account, after that, your friend will be billed every month and he can send in his payments. You card will never be charged."

Now, before you tell me that my mistake was letting my friend use my card - you should know that I have done this for this particular friend several times, and have never had any problems. He's a long time friend who has never gone delinquesnt on a bill or forced me into any tight spots because of failure to pay something. He's very trustworthy as far as these situations go.

Well, my friend was never sent a bill. Hell, I wasn't even sent a bill. But at the beginning of October, my bank was charged $186.22 for my friend's account (which is outrageous for a DSL account/phone line without long distance). I called and complained to AT&T, and after fighting with them for hours, they finally decided to reverse the charges - which took a week. And in that time my water bill bounced, which cost me an additional $58.00 in fees. I was not in my happy place at that time.

But, once the charge was reversed, I spoke with my bank who immediately refunded my $33.00 NSF fee, and faxed a letter of verification to my water company, who credited my next bill the $25.00 bounced check fee. I was satisfied.

But my friend was not. He called AT&T to have my credit card removed from his account. They refused to do this, saying that only I could have my card removed from the account because I was the card holder. So I called them. According to the circus clown I talked to, I couldn't remove the card because I wasn't on the AT&T account. My friend called them back and closed the account, asking for a bill to be sent to him with the final amount so he could go to a payment processing center and pay the bill in full with cash.

Well, they did close the account, yesterday. But, instead of sending a bill, they charged my card for $292.69 (which is sitting as a pending charge as we speak). As of right now, if that charge clears, my account will be at only $2,893...And guess what the best part is :) My tuition payment for college, of $3,000, is also scheduled as a pending charge and will bounce. So, back to playing phone tag.

AT&T tells me that all they can do is reverse the charges, but since it's still just a pending charge, they can do nothing until the money clears my account; once that happens, it takes 3-5 business days to reverse the charges and refund my account.

My bank tells me that AT&T doesn't have to reverse the charges. If I can get someone from billing to fax my bank a letter stating that it was charged in error, my bank will release the funds, drop the charge, and my tuition payment will go through as planned. Now, back to calling AT&T...

They refuse to send a fax, or even call my bank, to verify anything. They claim it's my mistake for signing up for automatic bill pay. I remind them that I did not sign up for automatic billpay, and to please furnish me with a copy of what they have. They send me a copy of the account contract - no signature of mine attached, no mention of automatic billpay. Now, I'm angry, but still polite. "Please send the fax so my tuition does not bounce"...

"I'm sorry ma'am, it's against our policy to send out faxes and having banks release funds. Once the payment goes through, I will reverse the charges and that will take 3-5 business days."

What the hell. A fax, that's all I wanted.

So, now, instead, I went into my bank. By this time I'm crying because I've also missed the cut-off to be able to deposit cash to cover the overdraft. My bank - an awesome bank - finally helps me.

They placed a stop-payment on the AT&T charge, and refunded me the $25.00 fee that it would normally charge for placing a stop payment. They also notated in my account that no charges from AT&T are authorized for my account at all (I don't have AT&T service, and after this, you can be sure I never will). They assured me that by doing this, should AT&T try to take any funds, it will immediately launch an investigation into fraudulent charges.

They also told me that I was not the first person to report this problem at their bank. According to the manager at my bank who helped me, they've had over 100 similar complaints about AT&T charges on their account holders this year. Who knows how many other banks have had similar problems?

When a company reaches the level and prestige as AT&T has, consumers expect a level of protection and service. I urge you all to consider any other company over AT&T, and if a friend of yours needs a card number to open an account with AT&T, refuse. Not because your friend isn't trustworthy... but because AT&T is not trustworthy.

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