As as a blogger, Facebooker, and Twitterer, it is hard to believe that I’ve managed not to complain on any of my social networks about what we have been going through since the beginning of the year. That being said, it is now time.
Let me start by saying that we have AT&T Uverse. We were one of the first people in my area to get it, and up until January, we had never had a problem. We have our phone, our internet, and our tv service through them. When Uverse doesn’t work though, you are screwed when all of that goes through one company.
Our service started freezing up in January. First, the TV would freeze. Then I had about 15 seconds and then the phone would go out and the internet too. We’d be down for less than 5 minutes. It was more annoying than anything, and we ignored it until it started happening daily. We aren’t talking about once or twice. We are talking about 25 times a day when it was at its worst. This was our service till April.
We had about 18 (give or take a couple) techs to our house. Now, when you have a tech come, you have to be home. In a 4 hour time period. Thank god for mother-in-laws who can pick up children. AT&T, here’s what I think you need to different with your techs:
1. Have information on your tickets. When you are 18 techs in and having to explain what the problem is and that is been going on for 3 months, it is frustrating.
2. Have what has already been done on the tickets. It’s a waste of my time to have a tech come out to do what has already been done at my house.
3. When you have problem people like me, have a person they can talk to. Nothing pisses me off more than having to call the 800 number and explain yet again what the hell is going on. (Now, I’ve got some more information on this one below).
4. Please give the techs more than 20 minutes at my house. There must be a 20 minute cutoff, because if the techs couldn’t figure out what was wrong, they blamed it on the other set of techs (there are inside techs and outside techs.) Without fail, this would have happen in that 20-30 minute time frame.
5. Do not let your techs blame one another. After this has happened twice, please have an outside tech and an inside tech show at the same time. Then they can’t blame one another.
6. Make sure your techs show up. I had 2 inside techs completely no show and at least one outside tech who did the same.
7. Calling me 2 days later after your tech doesn’t show is not acceptable. (Especially when you called the evening he was suppose to come to tell me that he was running late and that he was still coming).
8. When possible, have the same techs come out. They know what they did last time that they thought was going to fix the problem. It save both me and them time.
9. Don’t bill me every time you send a tech out and not fix the problem. You really want to piss somebody off, that’s a good way to do it.
Yes, I was ready to scream. We like U-Verse. We knew they could fix this if they just could figure out what it was. My last straw was the tech not showing up after receiving a phone call that he was running late and was still coming. That is when I went to twitter to ask for help. I have 25,000 Twitter followers and I take that seriously. I don’t want to bash a company on there that is trying to fix the problem. So I contact Customer Care on there and was given some help that night.
I have to thank both Alex and Mike. They did more for me these last couple of weeks than the 2 months prior. Mike even gave me his cell and I could text him every time I had a problem. Honestly, it made me feel better (and slightly guilty when it would be at midnight and we were having issues and I was texting). Mike pulled some strings, slapped a few people with some wet noodles, and got people to my house to fix the problem. Once Mike got involved, it still took time to figure it out. However, I could call him when the techs weren’t doing what they were suppose to.
So what was the problem? Water had gotten into our line which is why it was an intermittent issue. This is also why it was so hard to track down.
AT&T I hope you take some of tips and use them. I also think Mike and Alex deserve a raise. 🙂 We are happy with our service now, and I’m glad we stuck this out. What has been your experience with AT&T?
i haven't had anything like with AT&T as I just have the cellphone service and every time I call I get my problems resolved. I'd actually love to have the AT&T Uverse but I have too many trees for any sort of dish. A couple of the satellite people have already informed me of this. Glad you got it resolved, I think the Twitter customer care is the way to go as it is public.
This isn't a dish. It's more like cable.
One thing to remember… AT&T wireless and AT&T Uverse are two entirely separate divisions.
I've had AT&T wireless for years and on the few occasions I've had to call, I've been met with efficient, knowledgeable, friendly people.
U-verse is a different matter. In January I decided to switch from Comcast to AT&T for broadband, since I was cutting off the cable box anyway.
After a month, three techs, two of which said they had new equipment that they had no idea how to use, and couldn't get any kind of signal from our phone line, we finally got one who (without knocking to see if anyone was home, went in to the back yard, climbed up on our upper porch, on to the railing, so he could test the lines coming from the pole. He said that our phone lines were too poor a quality to get the 6mb signal, and we couldn't get Uverse TV at all, (which was fine, we didn't want it) and that we would have to downgrade to 3mb, or maybe 1.5.
I chose to cancel the order instead, which only took 45 minutes (I've never been off a customer support call in less than a half hour) and they told me to just send back the modem with the preprinted mailing label in the box. I did so and thought we were all done, until a month later when I got a bill for the modem, plus one day of 6mb service and one day on 3mb service, plus all the fees and charges they and the government add.
Another 45 minute call, and I was told that they had not received the modem, and if I couldn't give them a tracking number, they couldn't do anything. I pointed out that they had printed the mailing label and included it in the box they sent, but they don't keep track of those and if I couldn't prove I had sent it, I was liable.
My wife called the next day, and by some miracle got someone competent who punched a keys in their computer and said that yes, they had received the modem, and that he had adjusted everything and we would get a bill in April with a zero balance.
We got our bill in April, and the modem charge had been taken off, but we still had that one day of 6mb service and one day of 3mb service for $2.50. Milady called the number the rep had left her and he said he would take care of it. We're eagerly awaiting the May bill.
I do not have AT&T for anything. However, it would appear that there are some issues with the way they handle their techs. I could see how all of that would annoy you. I'm glad they got it figured out though.
i do not have AT&T but as with any company, i hate having to explain my situation 64 skillion times only to be told they hafta pass me on to someone else. wheres the easy button?
Sounds like At&T has some major communication issues.
Holy Cow!! I don't think I would have lasted as long as you did. 🙂
We have had similar trouble with our Shentel but it didnt take as long to get the problem fixed. We do have AT&T for our cell phones though and havent had any troubles with them in the 5 years we've been with them.
We went through the same thing with our cable company which we use for our phone, TV and internet. Finally I asked to speak to a supervisor and said that the problem would be fixed the next time a tech came out or I was changing to another service. It is awful when you have to repeat your issue and not get answers.