There's a subject I've brought up on other social media -- both Twitter and Facebook -- but not in this blog. I'm in the middle of a frustrating dispute with my cell service provider, AT&T.
Without going into excruciating detail, on August 8 I went into an AT&T store to replace my cell phone. They didn't have the one I wanted, but ordered it for me. With AT&T you can buy a phone and pay for it over 30 installments on your monthly bills (essentially an interest free loan), but you have to pay the sales tax up front. I would guess that that (or something similar) is the case with other major carriers, but I don't know for sure, which is why I am explaining it here. So I paid the taxes, planning to switch phones when the new one got to the store.
The store got the phone a few days later. But they sent it back to the warehouse before I could pick it up. That shouldn't create an intractable problem, but it did. For whatever reason, the warehouse doesn't have any record of receiving the phone back. Because of that, AT&T insists on acting as though I got the phone. I paid the sales tax up front, and the two statements since then both include installment charges.* By all appearances AT&T intends to continue charging me for this phone for another 28 months. I want the whole transaction reversed, so that I get refunded what I have already paid, and do not have future installments added to my bills.
I want I have made several trips back to the AT&T store where this started, and have spent many hours on the phone with AT&T's customer service. At the store they say they can't do anything for me -- that I have to call customer service and have them reverse the transaction. Customer service insists that this can only be handled by the store. I will (for now) spare my reader details of the cases opened by customer service and the multiple false promises that the representatives made to me.
At this point, I am not sure where to go next. Tonight I will be writing a letter to AT&T's CEO, John Stankey. Some friends suggested that I turn to one of those TV news advocates with names like "Seven on Your Side." I may pursue that. We'll see what else I can do, but it's dang frustrating.
FWIW, if you trying to decide what cell carrier to go with, or whether to switch carriers, please keep AT&T's egregiously bad customer service in mind.
Happy Tunesday.
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*In addition, I was charged an upgrade fee at the start of this, but that was refunded. In addition, there is a $5 monthly charge for AT&T's optional "Next Up" program, which would give me the right to upgrade early and have AT&T waive future installments. This charge and program were not explained to me at the time and I did not consent to sign up for it.
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