I noticed an article some time ago that cited a study where the telecommunications companies hold the distinction as the worst industry for customer service.
My experiences with AT&T over the past 3 weeks would seem to bear this out.
The DSL connection at home was driving us nuts for a few weeks. We'd go online and be OK for awhile, then suddenly the connection would fail. So I'd unplug the modem, let it rest a bit, plug it back in, reboot, and the connection would be working again. But whatever the person using the computer was doing typically was lost, and the process had to be started again.
I found out that a neighbor was having the same trouble, and they paid an AT&T service person for the service call and a new modem. Which seemed a bit unfair to me, having to pay the technician to come out and tell you your modem's bad, then add insult to injury by charging you for that "service" plus an overpriced replacement modem.
I called the service line and reported my problem, and of course, they called back a few hours later and said the line tested fine. That was expected. So I asked them for a new modem.
Too bad, the 1 year warranty just expired last month. So I'd have to purchase the new modem. But if I agreed to keep the service for 1 year, they'd waive the charge and ship me the new one for free. I wasn't terribly pleased with that idea, but under the misguided idea that it would at least solve the problem quickly, I told them to go ahead.
About 10 days later, the new modem still hadn't arrived. By now the internet is completely unusable, as at best the modem will work for a couple of minutes before failing. So I called again, navigating through about the stupidest telephone automation system I've ever encountered until I finally got a human. The pleasant Indian customer service rep asked me all the questions I'd answered about 3 times while navigating through their stupid system, then had trouble understanding my problem.
So when I finally got through to him that a modem was supposed to have been shipped and I still didn't have it, he got around to telling me that I can order one with a credit card. I responded, of course, by pointing out the fact that I'd already been told the new one would be free with a 1 year service commitment.
Well, that offer has ended. Apparently there were way too many people having trouble with those low-quality modems AT&T has been sending out all over the country. I'm guessing somebody found out they were giving thousands of new modems away, and of course before that cuts into profits and hurts some executive's bonus, it was decided to quickly do away with that bad idea.
So I took a deep breath, tried to remain patient, and suggested to the pleasant young Indian that it seemed to me the agreement was already in place for me to receive a replacement. Just because the previous customer service rep failed to properly process the order or the shipping department lost it or whatever other possible reason, should not mean the agreement was void.
Well, that's above his pay grade, so he puts me on hold while he tries to find a supervisor. When he returns, he says he was unable to get his supervisor. But he's a creative fellow, so he said he'd just call shipping and see if they could locate the original order.
I was back on hold for awhile, and was getting tired of holding the handset. So I tried to activate the speaker phone to free up my hands while I waited and accidentally hung up. Arrgh.
I called back, navigated through the stupid telephone maze again, answered all the same questions 3 times, then instead of a customer service rep I somehow got a salesperson. Who promptly tried to sell me an "upgrade" to make my internet faster (only $5 more per month!), tried to sell me a mobile phone, tried to sell me Cable TV, and generally harassed me before finally transferring me to Customer Service.
So after giving my information yet again to the new Customer Service rep, then re-explaining everything a couple of times before he understood, the long and painful ordeal finally ended. He informed me the new modem will be shipped today, and I should receive it Monday.
What would you be willing to wager that a new modem will actually appear at my home sometime Monday?
Yeah, I don't think I'd take that bet either.
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