Proud to sell it!
Written: May 14 '01
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Pros: Fantastic coverage, flexible plans
Cons: At times, a little pricey
The Bottom Line: Always remember, you get what you pay for. With AT&T you get a lot!
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| urbanpagan's Full Review: General Reviews of AT&T Customer Service |
Over the past year and a half, I have been a retailer for AT&T Wireless Services. I can tell you, I am proud to sell it too. Mainly because I know that when my customers walk out, they will be in good hands. Also, because if they have any troubles at all, it's a pretty simple fix.
I think one of the reasons that AT&T is so popular is not just the fact that they are a big name company, but because AS a big name company, they still work with their customers on a person to person basis. That's rare with big name companies. Most of them just let the little guy fall to the way side. One more than one occasion, I have had a customer (sometimes mine, sometimes not) come to me with a billing question or issue. It could be that they didn't understand how their plan worked or their sales rep did not inform them properly. Either way, a five minute phone call is all it takes to fix the issue. I recently had a customer that had bought a small local plan, traveled to Alabama and used around 500 minutes in the Alabama area. At $0.60 per minute roaming and $0.15 per minute long distance... you can imagine her bill! She never called AT&T to switch plans, even though my colleague (her sales rep) told her she could. A month and a half later, she returns to find a bill that could stop a strong person's heart. She calls me distraught asking if I can help. I called AT&T, explained the situation and even though it was the CUSTOMER'S fault for not calling and changing plans AND it was 17 days past the close of her last billing cycle, AT&T changed her plan, back dated it and re-rated the bill. On a bill that was nearly $400, it saved her a little over $350. What other carrier would ever consider doing such a thing? Most would say "Too bad" and you would have to pay the total bill.
Another reason they are so great is because they are such a flexible company. As with most other wireless carriers, AT&T does require you to sign a contract. Yet you are not bound to one specific plan for that one year. You can move up or down within your plan. You can transfer back and forth between plans. There is no penalty to do this. There is no fee either. And no need to sign a new contract. The only time that AT&T will ask you to sign a new contract is if you want a promotion that is currently on. If you could care less about the promotion, they could care less about a new contract. Also, they allow you to move within a billing cycle. Realize that the plan you are with when the billing cycle closes is the one you are billed for but after that, you can switch again. For example, you have a local plan and you go on a family vacation. You're only planning to use your phone for emergencies along the road. All of a sudden you realize that you have used it quite a lot and now you're going to have to pay roaming and long distance fees! Don't worry, call AT&T and switch your plan to something better for traveling. When you return home, at the end of the billing cycle call and switch it back. Or, you're out on the family vacation and you've already switched your plan because you are sure you'll use your phone a lot. But you don't. Switch your plan back to the one it was on and save money. Very few wireless carriers will allow that sort of flexibility at all, let alone without a fee or penalty.
Yet another reason I love AT&T so much is their customer service representatives. Most other wireless carriers, along with the other one I sell, do not have trained, professional customer service representatives. Most times you get someone that can only answer general questions and if you should have a serious concern, you start upon the "I'll transfer you" routine. Most AT&T customer service representatives are fully trained to handle almost any customer concern and most have the authority to process credits to bills, and give away free minutes and promotions.
Another reason that AT&T is number one is the quality of signal in some of the most remote areas. Being such a large company, they can maintain and operate a large network. This does not mean that AT&T has signal everywhere... no wireless carrier does, and any that tell you they do are lying. There are still areas where you will not get a signal no matter how hard you try. Protected areas such as national parks, sometimes in rough terrain like high mountains or deep canyons. But still, outside of these areas, you are almost always guaranteed a strong, clear signal.
One downside to all of this, is since AT&T owns and operates such a wide network and since they allow so much flexibility, it does drive their costs up. You will find that compared to most other wireless carriers, AT&T will be on the expensive side but like I tell all my customers "If you want quality service, you do have to pay for it." Most of them agree.
I think only a few times, to my knowledge anyway, have I ever had an issue that could not be resolved. Most times it was because the customer was either unwilling to work with AT&T or because there was just no way to resolve it. I.e. the customer demanding AT&T build a tower in Grand Canyon National Park so a customer could get signal there. It's impossible, it's a protected site and such construction is not allowed. (I did actually have a customer screaming at me about just that!) Or the customer running a huge phone bill, waiting three months and THEN asking us to fix it for them. After that point, there is little that can be done. Most times AT&T asks the customer to meet them half-way. I had a customer that had run a bill of over $1000 in a two month period. AT&T asked him to pay $400 and the rest would be removed at no penalty to him, even though he DID make all those calls. He refused. He wanted to pay only the plan amount of $29.99. Obviously, there is nothing that can be done for that kind of customer but yet, you can always see that AT&T does try to help.
In my opinion, they are just flat out the best wireless carrier on the market. They'll work hard for your business. They'll appreciate you as a person. And they'll try their hardest to help you out of a bad situation, even when you put yourself there. And the whole time, when you are done, they'll say "Thank you for calling AT&T, and you have a great day."
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): ~20 and up
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Epinions.com ID:
urbanpagan
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Location: Mebane, NC
Reviews written: 63
Trusted by: 9 members
About Me:
Animal loving, walking barefoot in the woods, witchy woman.
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