It all started with a very short phone call to a sales rep named Monique. She was seemingly helpful and set me up with the fastest DSL plan that AT&T had available. I was supposed to notice the new speeds in two days......
Two days go by, and no new speeds! I wasn't too concerned at this point, but contacted a tech support rep on their website, who informed me that he could not help me and that I needed to call the order department in the morning.
Fine, fine, sometimes things don't go as planned. Still not very concerned at this point, expecting them to say something like "Oh sorry! We meant THREE days not two". I called the orders department that morning. The orders department informed me that I was misinformed, and that they were transferring me through to tech support.
Tech support consequently let me know that they could not help me and transferred me through to the orders department. I'm not clear on how many times I got transferred but at some point of this back and forth I told them to STOP!
Fine, fine, sometimes things don't go as planned. Still not very concerned at this point, expecting them to say something like "Oh sorry! We meant THREE days not two". I called the orders department that morning. The orders department informed me that I was misinformed, and that they were transferring me through to tech support.
Tech support consequently let me know that they could not help me and transferred me through to the orders department. I'm not clear on how many times I got transferred but at some point of this back and forth I told them to STOP!
I finally got someone to explain to me that the package that I was sold previously by Monique, was not at all available in my area. The representative, named Ollie, suggested that I switch to U-verse service. That I could get the same speeds for the same price or less! Great! Why had no one before mentioned this? As he was setting up my new account, he said "well if you sign up for TV also, I can throw in free installation and modem." A bit baffled that they wanted to charge me for installation and a new modem when all I wanted to do was upgrade to a faster speed, I let Ollie know that he should give me that deal without TV service.
A little bit later Ollie called me back and left me a voice-mail confirming all details of the new order: Free modem, free install, someone would be out on Wednesday to turn on the new service, the old service would not be cancelled until Wednesday so that I would experience little to no interruption, etc.
Not much longer after Ollie's voice-mail saying that I would experience little to no interruption of service, I lose my service! Big shocker there! I called AT&T to find out why, and ended up again getting transferred from department to department, speaking to at least 4 representatives. Finally got someone to tell me that sorry, nothing they can do about it. They explained that the DSL service needed to be shut off several days before the new U-verse service was turned on. Also they had no sooner dates for someone to come out.
Wednesday rolls around, and the installer gives me a call to let me know that he's on his way and that everything he needs to do can be done outside. Awesome. I call him back a couple hours later to confirm that he was all done, as I hadn't noticed him outside. Yep, done and gone, also the internet service will start working by 8pm.
8pm comes and goes, and the net does not work. Big surprise there! 9pm and it still doesn't work. Sometime after 9 I call the tech support department (as orders is closed for the night). I ask one question "I supposedly had an installer come out today to turn on my new U-verse service, could you tell me *where* he was sent to?" The address the tech gave me was not even close to my own. Actually about an hour away. Not even remotely similar to my address, no chance it was a random typo.
I asked the tech support representative what I was supposed to do now. He tried to get in contact with dispatch to see if someone could come out to the correct address tonight or tomorrow. Nope, they cant. Then he tried to get me on the line with tier two support. Nope, after 30 minutes of waiting they won't talk to me. His suggestion was that I consider cancelling my service. Nice. He also gave me some local phone numbers, as well as the cancellation department's number.
The next morning, I start at 10am, calling the local order department. Asked to speak to a supervisor. A woman named Nancy asked if I would tell her what I was calling about while we waited for the supervisor. I told her the whole story, and she cancelled the erroneous order that was set up an hour away from my house. She also put in the new order for my ACTUAL address, and let me know that someone wouldn't be able to come out until next Wednesday. What is it with AT&T and Wednesdays?
Lance the supervisor was finally able to speak with me, and I told him what all had happened and asked if he could please make it so that someone could come out much sooner than Wednesday, since I had gone through so much crap with them already. He said he would escalate the issue and get an installer out sooner. He also promised to call me before the end of the day (7pm for them) regardless and let me know when someone was coming.
At 6pm I got worried, and called up to the local number again as I had not heard a peep from "Lance the supervisor". Spoke to another woman who I had to explain my whole story to again. Her name was Tracy. She said she would look into this and get an installer to come out asap. Great, more promises that will not be fulfilled. I no longer wanted to wait hours on hold while another AT&T representative pretended to do their job, so I asked Tracy to call me back when she got it sorted.
6:30pm, Tracy ACTUALLY called me back. She said that she had gotten the service turned on and if I went home it would be working! No more waiting! ....supposedly.... She also gave me the direct number to call tier two technical support and to tell them that I had a "disconnect in error, and they need to sync my router to my new band number" if my service was not working when I got home.
Called tier two tech support, the guy who answered had NO idea what I was talking about. Also said there was nothing he could do to help me, and that my service is not scheduled to turn on until tomorrow. I explained the whole situation to him, and he did not really care. All he could offer was a "sorry, nothing I can do about it, just keep waiting".
At this point, nearly two weeks from when I simply tried to upgrade my existing DSL service, I gave up. The next morning, an AT&T truck was in my driveway. Gee it would have been nice if "Supervisor Lance" had ever actually called me back to tell me that someone was scheduled to come by.
I now have internet. Although this entire time, no one bothered to offer a credit for all the nonsense. Not once. Needless to say I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, we shall see what comes of that!
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