Enough is enough!
Written: Nov 11 '00 (Updated Nov 30 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: At least they have color programming!
Cons: Bad reception, horrible customer service
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| ejjiii's Full Review: AT&T (TCI) |
I have to start out by saying that I have a very short fuse when it comes to incompetence or deceit when dealing with service providers. Whether it be insurance companies, banks, lawyers, utilities or retailers, you run into poor service all the time. Are these ironically named “service providers” lying when they promise something that doesn’t occur, or are they just plain inept? Overall, it’s probably a lot of both, but you never know which given any individual incident. Let me just say that when dealing with the AT&T Broadband service department, it’s one or the other. There are no other choices.
I have had the same cable service at my current location for eight plus years. The service was originally called Hearst Cable, then TCI Cablevision, and now AT&T Broadband. The very nature of cable service lends itself to falling into the category of legal monopoly. Obviously, consumers wouldn’t want every Mom and Pop service provider threading cable all over your neighborhood. Nor should the cable companies spring for wiring the city, and have someone else get to reap the benefit. The flip side of this situation is that you end up with arrogant utilities that could care less about customer service, because there are little or no alternatives for the consumer.
For the last few years, I have had periods of time when I would lose clear picture on certain channels, typically between channels 10-13 on the “A” side of my cable line. (This is another example of the poor service we have in San Jose. Most other cable providers have ditched the archaic “A-B” service by upgrading their infrastructure. Apparently, AT&T Broadband couldn’t be bothered. But I digress…) Within days, the problem usually took care of itself, so I never bothered complaining. I chalked it up to a minor inconvenience. But when the problem hung around for over a month, I figured I should call for service.
AT&T Broadband has a 24-hour service “hot-line” (another ironic term), which I called for service. After waiting a good ten minutes, and hearing about a litany of power outage locations and pay-for-view commercials, you are asked to punch in your phone number. A person finally comes onto the line. Question one: “What is your telephone number?” Jeez, you would think I was calling the Palm Beach County voter registrar’s office! Why did you have me input my number in the first place? (Note to myself: When I call back to cancel my service, I’ve got to ask them why on earth they do that!) When I asked to make a service appointment, I was told that the appointments could only be reserved in two-hour blocks, and only during working hours or weekends. The problem is that if, for example, I was given a 12:00 to 2:00 block, I would have to leave work at 11:30 to be home at 12:00, they may not show until 2:00, and if it takes an hour to fix my problem, I wouldn’t get back to work until 3:30. I don’t know about you, but most people I know have trouble blowing a four-hour hole in their workday. So I asked for a weekend slot. The next weekend was booked, but I was told I could have the 10:00 to 12:00 slot two weeks out. I said fine, but please show up during that time because the rest of my day was already planned. No problem, I was assured.
Two days before my appointment, my wife was called to confirm that I still had a problem with the cable reception. She said that she wasn’t sure, and she asked that they call me directly at work to verify. They never did. So when 11:30AM Saturday rolled around, and no one had showed yet, I started getting suspicious. After spending 10 minutes on hold, I got a customer service agent (again, more irony!) who assured me that my service technician was on the way, and he would arrive by 12:00 as promised. When 12:00 came and went I called, waited on hold for 10 more minutes (which seems like an hour when you want to strangle someone!) and got the same customer service person who proceeded to tell me that my technician had been re-deployed to an outage call. I asked why he didn’t tell me this before, why he didn’t call to reschedule. (Actually, this William F. Buckley in waiting couldn’t understand the word re-deployed when I used it. He also managed to screw up my telephone number both times that I called Saturday. That may be why I hadn’t been called back.) At this point, I lost my temper, used a multitude of “common” words and phrases that I was certain that even he could understand, told him to cancel my service call because I could not wait.
After wasting my morning, I spent the rest of my Saturday running errands, and got back home just before 5 PM, and guess who was in my driveway? The service technician. The dim-witted customer service guy couldn’t even get the cancellation right. My was wife was trying to get the technician to leave before I got home to avoid the inevitable confrontation, but my next-door neighbor had come over to tell the tech about the lousy reception that he was getting on his cable. The technician told him that AT&T Broadband already knew that my neighborhood had this problem, which begs the question “Why isn’t it fixed already?” He did not offer to fix my neighbor’s problem. I told him to take a hike, and that I would be canceling my cable service as soon as I picked a satellite service provider. The technician did politely say that he was sorry that he couldn’t help.
Outside of billing (which is never late, yet forever rising in price with no increase in service), AT&T Broadband can’t get anything done on time.
My next review just may be for Dish T.V.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
ejjiii
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Member: Edmund Johnson
Location: San Jose, California
Reviews written: 62
Trusted by: 27 members
About Me:
I still dream of playing the outfield in beautiful Fenway Park!
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