We're AT&T. We don't have to care.
Written: Nov 29 '01 (Updated Feb 02 '02)
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Pros: Timely install
Cons: Billing blows. Programming blows.
The Bottom Line: Billing sends you into Collection when you have a credit balance!
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| rightbrain's Full Review: AT&T (TCI) |
Sorry, but I'm not going to discuss the technical service merits of AT&T Broadband and Digital Cable, even though I'm paying for their service now...in more ways than one. My focus now is on their "Customer Care" (I mean, "Customer-I-Don't-Care") billing service.
Some background info first. I had cable TV in one location. I moved 30 miles to another location. I switched to Digital Cable and added their Broadband Internet access. The tech rep came to do the install on time and was friendly. Okay, enough of the stuff that worked.
After over a month of my service in the new location, I get a $179 bill. Okay. I pay it. Then I get a bill for $15.31 from the old location. Hmm, must be a mistake. I try to call them at the "Customer Care" number on the bill. No answer. I call the new location service number. They can't tell me if the $15.31 is due or not. You see, they've switched billing systems, blah, blah, blah, cost centers, blah, blah, blah, ad nauseum "I don't knows."
I put the bill aside for a couple of weeks and then decide to pay it, even though I'm certain it's an overbill. A week later I get a notice from a collection agency for the $15.31, which I paid!!!! I call a second "Customer Care" number on the old bill and get into a menu system. I hold for over a half hour until I finally click into a ringing phone. Finally! A rep will help me! Nope. I got disconnected and told my call could not go through.
Okay, so I try the "Customer Care" number from my new bill. After a while, I spoke with Kiki, who took down the same info from me (old address, old phone number, new address, new phone number) five times. But I was still nice. Still cool, calm, and collected. Still hopeful this would get resolved. She was going to have her boss Rhonda Nash contact me. In addition, I went to the ATT Broadband web site and filled out their "Contact Us" online form with all this information.
Two days pass. No call or email from anyone. I call back to the "Customer Care" and get Kevin. This time I'm kinda impatient. Kevin goes into the billing spiel (different cost center, blah, blah, blah). He tells me he can connect me to their Collection people. I only have to give him my information once (Kiki failed to document our conversation two days earlier.) He connects me to Debbie, who says she can get me off the Collection Agency list that day. I ask her for a letter from AT&T stating that I was turned over in error. She said she couldn't do that. I request she escalate me to her boss and I speak with Donna. Donna repeats what Debbie said to me, only less flippantly and more professionally. I ask her to have her boss get back to me.
I fail to understand how a business as huge as AT&T Broadband is unable to generate a letter stating they made a mistake in billing!!!!! And here's the kicker. On my last two calls to them, I used the menu to get my balance and I was in a credit balance with them!!!!!
They can mar my credit status but they can't admit it was their error!
In addition, the cable programming is terrible (of course, I don't have to tell you cable subscribers that). I get Expanded Basic plus Encore and Digital Music. It's network stations, god stations, and buy-my-stuff stations. But the music is good. It's like listening to the radio.
I keep getting promotional mail to get their phone service, too. Yeah, right. I'll be charged for $100 calls to Singapore every day I don't make, be put into collection, and I'll get from them, "Well, we just switched our billing system and..." Arggh!!!!!!
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Update from my original Nov. 29 review:
12/7/01—No one ever called me back or returned an email (or sent a letter stating they billed in error!). I did learn (after many calls in a transfer-of-service fiasco) that I was removed from their bill collector's list.
12/13/01—I got a $700 bill from them. You see, I had moved yet again, and they told me to keep the equipment until the tech could collect it during my new install. And then they sent me the bill anyway for *stealing* their equipment!
2/2/02—Remember that $15 bill they put me into collection for non-payment? I just got my $54 overpayment check from the old cost center! I knew I never owed the stupid $15!!!!!!
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 80.00
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Epinions.com ID:
rightbrain
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Location: Boston, MA, USA
Reviews written: 16
Trusted by: 16 members
About Me:
NEWS FLASH: Pigeons don't poop in flight, and they don't lift their heads to drink.
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