Goodbye AT&T-You Lost a Customer
Written: Dec 11 '00
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Local Coverage: |
 |
|
| Plan Flexibility: |
|
|
| Customer Service: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Loaned us an antenna to try before purchasing.
Cons: Dishonest, bad customer service, don't follow through with what they say they'll do
|
|
|
| djgeiger's Full Review: AT&T Mobile Phone Service in Sacramento |
In the category of AT&T Mobile Phone Service in Sacramento all three of the reviews have given this service 5 Stars. I’m just going to have to throw in a wrench, no, make that a very large pipe wrench into this rosy picture. I don’t care how wonderful their little Nokia phones are. Customer service is dishonest, not only that they don‘t know the truth if it bit them on the toe. This review has been placed in the AT&T>Sacramento category because Sacramento is where I am now and where our sour experience with AT&T ended. AT&T how low can you go?
We first became AT&T customers a couple years ago in Claremore Oklahoma. We walked into one of the stores to inquire of their service. At that particular time we didn’t need a lot of cell time and wanted a very basic service. We made it very clear to them that in the near future we would need to upgrade to the Digital One Rate.
We went with the limited plan and bought a Nokia 5120 digital phone. We also committed to a one-year contract. The phone never gave us any problem. When we returned home from the AT&T store about 10 miles away we noticed we had no service. Three miles from our home was a campground we camped at frequently. Heading to the campground approximately 1/3 of a mile from our home we went from AT&T to roaming. When we arrived at the campground we had no service. Our love for camping was the main reason we bought the phone. If our daughter had an emergency she would be able to get a hold of us. The campground locked us in at 8PM. No one could come in and we couldn’t get out.
After our camping trip we headed back to the AT&T store and explained to them we weren’t getting enough of a signal to use the phone. They had a nifty little antenna. One very nice thing they did was let us tried out the antenna for a few days before we had to commit to it. Using the antenna did help us pick up a signal at our home. So we returned and paid for the antenna.
Though we were told there was widespread coverage of AT&T we rarely were on AT&T while we traveled. We covered many states throughout the US. Usually in the places you’d most need a cell phone we couldn’t pick up a signal. You know what I mean those wide-open spaces with no towns nearby where your most likely to breakdown. That's not the fault of AT&T its cell services in general.
Our major discontent started when we moved to California. We decided it was time to switch over to the AT&T Digital One Rate plan. When we called to switch we were informed that the Nokia 5120 couldn’t be upgraded to this plan that we would have to purchase yet another phone. We had to purchase a 5160 Nokia for this particular plan for the cost of $99.99. We explained to them when we first purchased the 5120 that we wanted to make sure we could upgrade. They basically said don’t know what to tell you. After a bit of haggling they agreed to give us the phone for $49.99. OK, fine. When we purchased the new phone and one rate plan we had intended on using it for our primary phone since both our phone lines were tied up to computers full time. We also wanted no more contracts since our year was already over with the first contract and AT&T informed us that we would be on a month to month basis. We have our AT&T charged to our credit card that comes right out of our checking account. The next month they deduct the service plan from our checking account and $99.99 for the phone. Since our checking account was still in Oklahoma we only kept what we needed in that account. The extra amount they charge us caused an overdraft charge of $20. Back on the phone with AT&T.
On 6/21/200 they charged our account $165.12. With the overdraft that changed the amount to $185.12. The charge should have been $109.94. At this time they agreed to credit us the difference of $85.18. The next month they didn’t bill us. The bill should have been $59.61. So at this time they only owe us $35.57. The next month they billed us $64.88. They never credited us the $25.57. During this time we connected our computers to a cable modem so no longer needed the one rate plan. So not only did we not get a credit for what they still owed us they over charged. We called again. The next month they didn’t charge us. At this point in time we were even. The next month they send a statement that we had owed for the previous month ($35.39) and also the current month charge of $47.86. Leaving us with $83.25. Again we called and explained they hadn’t billed the previous month because they owed us the credit. The representative on the phone said no that we owed both months. Keep in mind that it is that they bill our credit card direct each month. He was so rude that we just told him we have had enough of AT&T to just stop our service. Then he tried to tell us that we would still owe $10. a month because we had a year contract. No we tell him, we no longer have a contract we made it clear we were on month to month. We will see soon if they do charge the $10.
We are very dissatisfied customers. They lied when they told us the original phone was upgradeable to the one rate plan. They lied when they told us they would “give” us the phone for the one rate plan at $49.99. They lied when they said they would credit our account. They lied about the month to month service. We now have two Nokia phones that we don’t need. We’re hoping that we can use at least one of these phones with another wireless service but I have my doubts. Good bye AT&T!
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 35.39 (last plan)
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
djgeiger
|
 - Top 200 |
|
Member: Diana Geiger
Location: Huron, South Dakota USA
Reviews written: 150
Trusted by: 343 members
About Me:
I am a writer and the Exotic Pets Editor for BellaOnline.com.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.