I have been a customer with AT&T for over 15 years. Overall I have had a pretty good experience with the company and so I have turned down working with other carriers because I am a loyal customer. You see, there are plenty of carriers out there that work with bloggers offering phones, service and other perks by exchanging blog post for reviews. I chose not to make a switch for I am truly happy where I have been all this time and feel paying for my service I am happy with isn’t worth changing to another service with perks not knowing how they work. I was really happy, until today.
AT&T Customer Service Check
Let me go back to the 29th of May, when I paid my bill that was $471.21 even though I was over charged by $180.00. I figured out really quick how that happened and called AT&T to fix the problem. Basically, my daughter got a new phone, and when she did, instead of changing out the phone they accidentally put her on her own plan alone instead of keeping her on our family plan. The people I spoke with at AT&T were great about fixing the problem, apologized and put her back on our family plan and informed me that I would be getting a refund for $180 back to my bank card. I asked if it would be a credit and they informed me that with that amount they would just refund my card. Great, right? I couldn’t have been happier with how easy that was and moved on.
While doing my online banking today I saw that the $471.21 was taken out but the refund hadn’t been applied so I called to see the status. When I called, the man that answered the phone, Tony was his name, said that I had a zero balance and my account was fine, but after explaining about he refund he found what I was talking about and said the refund hadn’t been issued but he would do it now. Weird and I am not happy about that since here we are 5 days later and I was told it would show in my account by today. So I asked to speak to a supervisor to make sure that it was done correctly and I would be getting this refund. He said that the wait was about 45 minutes so he could put me in a queue to be called back in that time period instead of waiting on hold and I agreed to do that. He did say that I could go to my account online or via the My AT&T app, I would see that the refund has been issued.
I waited for the call from the supervisor that I never got so I logged into the account online as he suggested and in bright red text I could see that my account was now past due $471.21. Wait. WHAT? So I called AT&T again, knowing this is just a mistake and they would see all the notes and such and fix it. Not quite the case.
The next girl I spoke with, Amanda was her name, she was a sweet person that empathized with me mentioning that she couldn’t imagine how I felt for having that much money out of a bank account let alone $20 wouldn’t be ok for her, and that she would fix the problem. After putting me on mute (not hold) to speak with her supervisor she stated that the refund was issued for $471.21 or that I must have had non-sufficient funds, but the transaction was cancelled on the 29th of May and that my bank is incorrect for I wasn’t charged that amount and that I need to call my bank and they could verify this for me. I know this is wrong, and asked to speak with her supervisor that was right there (since she put me on mute to speak with her, not hold) and was told that she was busy and that the wait time to speak with her was 25 minutes but that I was assured that she would for sure call me back. I was even told by Amanda that her supervisor was one of those that does call back. Amanda did take off the $180 and said that as of now I have $291.21 due to AT&T and it’s past due.
To make sure that when they called me back I could say I verified with my bank, I called them, and of course they confirmed that the $471.21 was taken out on June 1st with a transaction number and there was not any type of refund issued to me by AT&T. Well over an hour later, that supervisor that always calls back, she never called me back. So I called again, and needless to say, I am a little bit angry at this point. So much in fact that I requested to talk to a supervisor right away. Not in an hour, not in 25 minutes, I refused to wait another minute for a call back. I wanted to speak to a supervisor now. So, wouldn’t you know, I got a supervisor, she read the notes and that they refunded me the $471.21 today and that my bank would give me back the money in 5-8 days and that I owe $291.21. So I asked if I am supposed to have close to $800 tied up in AT&T for a mistake they originally made and it’s my problem and there is nothing I can do about it. Instead of listening to me and the events that have happened from the beginning she wanted to argue with me that the only thing she could do is work out a payment plan with me to pay past due amount by the 15th. I asked to speak to her manager. She said they were all in meetings and no one else was available to talk to me. (I can’t make this kind of bad customer service up).
Somehow, in the middle of stating how unacceptable this was to me I was abruptly put on hold and I got the last person I spoke with at AT&T today, Santana White #TVDCJW4, and that was a treat. She shared with me that my refund actually happened on the 29th of May, again my bank cleared the funds on the June 1st, and then when I stated all that I have shared here over and over, she continued to say, “all I can say is what I see in front of me”. So, all the people I have spoken with since the 29th and today should be in the notes there right? The refund that Tony did this morning when my account was showing no balance and a refund due, all the conversations to now having a past due account. The conversation saying that supervisors would call me back, the whole thing with names, and even recordings of the calls, they should have all of that right? She basically said this is how it is, I should have a refund in my account by the 5th. The 5th, in 2 days? When I was told that I would first have the $180 today, then I was told I would have the $180 in 5-8 days, and now I am being told that I will have a refund in my account for $471.21 on the 5th? Is this making any sense to anyone else here, for if so, please explain.
You know, I am not looking for service compensation, or a free phone, or anything but an explanation of how this is possible. Seeing I have chosen to promote AT&T on my site because of my experience not because I am getting paid, I want to know that when I promote a company I believe in that I am not giving my readers a load of crap. I stand by what I say. I want to know how what happened, happened. I want to know why treating me, a customer that OVERPAID to make sure service wasn’t interrupted and then figured out why I was overcharged and then gets totally treated horribly is a company I can’t feel comfortable in promoting. I am left just disappointed and in disgust.
One last note, I brought this to Twitter, with being an online influencer, I know and understand the power of social media. I knew a tweet and some re-tweets would have someone responding. I was very happy to see that they responded pretty quick.
Then I was very disappointed in the response for that number they gave me, it’s the same number I have been calling all day…not any help at all. Sad. Maybe this post will make a difference, maybe it won’t. But I am tired of bad customer service. When you deal with companies like Apple and even my local grocery store where they care about making sure the customers are heard and do all they can, within reason of course, to make the customer happy, to this, it’s just time for AT&T to do a customer service check once again. For I may be “stuck” in a contract for a long time, but it won’t keep me from sharing my voice.
***Update***
AT&T did refund my bank the $471.21 and as soon as they did I paid the new balance. So as far as that goes, it was resolved. However, 3 days later I still haven’t heard back from a supervisor as promised. I have been with AT&T as long as I have for they have always provided me with the best coverage for all the travel that I do, however I am currently researching other carriers for the whole package, meaning, great rates and coverage matter, but he with the best customer service wins. Any suggestions?
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This kind of service is unbelievable, especially with a loyal customer. They can be so quick to cut off service, but making it right for the customer takes all day just to be told to wait up to a week for it to be handled. Not acceptable and not a company I want to do any kind of business with.
Agreed. I am frustrated that more people don’t care about good customer service. A little bit of training goes a long way. I feel that loyalty means nothing here.
I have had this same type of experience before with other companies and understand how crazy it can be. There are some other companies offering contract buyouts! Sprint is one of them. Don’t let them make you think you are stuck with them.
I need to find the time to learn more about this Michele. I think that one of the big things I will need to figure out who works best in the areas I work the most, like LA. Overall, I rarely have any service issues, so that is part of the problem. How often do I have to deal with their call centers? Rarely ever. But the fact that if and when I do, this is the kind of customer service they offer up is very displeasing. And It makes me want to move on. So I will be doing some research on my next trip out there this weekend for sure. Thanks for the suggestion! 🙂