Cust. Service Nightmare! Suggestions Welcome!!

[sluggish]

I deal with cell phone customer service every day. No one provider is any worse than any other; they all suck.  They are working from giant call centers and reading from scripts.  Their job is not to solve your problem but to placate you so they can move on to the next call.

[CAP1]

I deal with cell phone customer service every day. No one provider is any worse than any other; they all suck.  They are working from giant call centers and reading from scripts.  Their job is not to solve your problem but to placate you so they can move on to the next call.

i've ALWAYS had good service from t-mobiles customer service team.

[Denholm]

Success. The Virginia SCC apparently lit a fire under AT&T. They had a contract technician to the house this morning and the problem was corrected. According to my mom it was "a short" in the wall behind their single RJ11 jack. The technician, a contactor - not an AT&T employee, told my parents he get's yelled at constantly for AT&T's crap.

YAY! I'm glad you guys got it fixed.

[slyguy]

I've of course thought of an additional cell but I'm not in personal command of the situation. My parents valid point is that a hardwired landline is more dependable than either a cell or voip digital phone. Hurricane Isabel went through here a few years ago and rendered both cell and voip comms useless. Landline comms remained such as theirs were the only thing left functional. I can't argue with that. I have hardwired service myself for the same reasons. New tech is not necessarily better tech in all situations.

Beyond all that they're paying for a service they're not receiving. I could say many things here about a government that has created a business climate in which there is no penalty for offshoring jobs that American citizens should hold. But that would offend both repubs and dems alike who would then point fingers at each other when in reality both are equally at fault. They've both sold out this country for profit IMNSHO. We don't own our own country and government anymore. I'll probably get skuzzified by the thought police for having stated such a free thinking opinion... so be it.

Land lines can just as easily fail.  Hurricanes are known to blow telephone poles down.  And if "being smart" is the issue here it's probably smartest to leave town during a hurricane to prevent being blown away, drowning, crushed, impaled or any number of bad things that can happen.  The cell phone will probably work where you have fled.

This is what you do.  When you call AT&T immediately ask to talk to a supervisor.  Never EVER EVER EVER talk to the first peon you speak with when you call an evil corporation.  They can't make any decisions whatsoever so they are absolutely useless to your cause.  When you get their supervisor then ask to speak with HIS or HER supervisor.  If that doesn't work call the AT&T wireless number for customer support.  I always get an American there.  Explain to them what has been happening and see if they will put you through to someone.

[Denholm]

slyguy pwns reading.

[slyguy]

Here's a freebee advice for all of you too when it comes to cell phone companies.  I do this with success constantly.  See, a few times I've gone over minutes but I refuse to pay the fees because I know they accrued no additional overhead to pay for nor resources.  In essence, me going over minutes cost them no money at all but they still want money from me.  I refuse because this is unethical and pretty much steeling because they can.

How do I get out of it?  This gets less and less effective the later you are in your "contract" so the earlier you are in your contract the more bossy you can be.   It's like this.  Add up how many months are left on your contract.  Then multiply that number by your monthly bill.  Next, add the fee for going over your minutes to the charge for opting out of your contract.  It's likely that unless you are at the last few months of your contract that this total will be less than your remaining payable for our contract.

Let's say you went over $50 bucks on your bill.  The opt-out is around $160 or so.  That's $210.  After asking to speak to a supervisor two times your conversation should go something like this: 

"Here is your choice.  You can get $210 from me now and I am gone and will never come back.  Or, you can waive the 'fee' and collect the $560 remaining on my contract and keep me as your customer."

This is a simple math equation that they will probably figure out.  Remember, you are the boss of them because they profit from you, not the other way around!  They are not the boss of you!  They act like they are the ones paying us or something.  Incredulous. 

[Denholm]

That's some great advice there sly. I'm pretty certain I'll end up using that method in a few more months.

[Shuffler]

Great to hear about the service being corrected.


I have no land lines. I have had none for over 8 years.

My cellphone is through T-Mobile and their service has been great.

[slyguy]

slyguy pwns reading.

No, slyguy pwns stopping reading to quickly put down his thoughts on a subject.  For better or worse it's what I do   

[Irwink!]

To each their own. In my parents' case recall that if nothing else the landline is required for diagnostic monitoring of a pacemaker. They have lived in the same house for over 50 years. In that amount of time we have had ice storms, hurricane force and near hurricane force winds, noreasters, trees down, cell towers out, etc. In all of it they have never lost their landline phone. Also, as time goes by there is less and less overhead line exposure as everything's gradually being buried instead.

I've got a cell phone and use it. But I also maintain a landline. Call it fault tolerance if you like. I can put phones all over the house. The landline phone never dies because the battery needs a charge. No battery means never having to replace a failing battery. I don't have to worry about a weak signal. I can talk for 24 hrs straight or longer if anyone could stand to listen to me for that long and I never have to worry about if I've gone over my minutes and what it's costing me. If the power goes out the phone still works and will never need to be charged if the power remains out for days. Older people like my parents have a hard time dealing with a little teeny device with little teeny keys that they have a hard time seeing and manipulating.

Again - to each their own. I like having convenience and fault tolerance wherever I can get it if the cost/benefit ratio is personally acceptable.

[Anodizer]

I deal with cell phone customer service every day. No one provider is any worse than any other; they all suck.  They are working from giant call centers and reading from scripts.  Their job is not to solve your problem but to placate you so they can move on to the next call.

Having worked in several call centers in my day, I can absolutely affirm this....
Common corporate practice...