Everyone knows that at&t has terrible customer service, right? It’s a nightmare, yes? Heaven knows I’ve said as much myself. We all know the score: the first slow activations, confused support, weird billing, yada yada yada.
Ok, so I’m here to tell you that today hell froze over. Yes dear freaks, today I met an actual helpful at&t customer service rep. There. I said it. Because it’s true.
Here’s the gig. So I get my iPhone bill. I look at the giant overage charges: US$28!
Omigod what did I do, call Mars while sleepwalking? Accidentally take the iPhone to Easter Island and forget to order up an international data plan?
Don’t let their deathstar logo fool you here, though. So I called up the customer service line, waded through the voicemail menu — just keep pressing 0 and promise to answer the survey — until I finally got on the queue.
A mere 3 minutes later, which for at&t’s reputation is the speed of light, a happy-sounding lady asks how she can help. I point out to her that I have extra minutes by the pound — it’s true, i rarely use all my iPhone minutes, so freaks, as Stephen Colbert says, "call me" — meaning this must be a billing error.
On no she sweetly replies, this is the cost of about a gazillion text messages over the 200 limit that comes with the standard plan. D’oh! But my colleagues at my job and my vendor’s project manager have taken to texting me about 10 times a nanosecond, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. (Do you know at&t appears to charge an extra fee for international text messages on top of the new price? So my colleagues in the UK really need to Skype me!)
Then said customer service rep says, well, that is a lot. Why don’t you save money by paying just US$10 for the extended text plan that gives you 1500 sms? The unlimited is US$20, but it seems 1500 would be right for you, based on your last 2 bills.
Golly gee whilikers, she was actually right! And then she actually — please sit down — gave that plan to me retroactively, knocking US$18 off my bill this month alone. You read that correctly. She actually wrote off 18 bucks.
In shock that at&t would act against its reputation of using any and every opportunity to vac even the last lira out of a customer’s pocket, I nearly didn’t know what to say. So I said, thanks. Thanks to at&t.
Ice-skating on the fifth circle anyone? (We all know the 9th has long been cold.) How about ice-skating while texting?
April 18th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Have them twitter you. Then you are not dipping into international texting.
April 19th, 2008 at 12:07 am
ooh twitter! cle-vvvv-er! thanks!
April 19th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
I experienced a similar situation when I blew through my anytime minutes and over 2000 rollover minutes a couple of months ago. A fantastic young lady adjusted my plan mid month to give me unlimited calling for a mere $20 on my next bill after using 80 minutes at $0.30 per minute. My attitude toward AT&T has completely changed.
April 19th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Since switching to AT&T, I have never experienced poor customer service. Of course coming from Sprint, ANY customer service is better that what they provide. I went on a cruise and came back to a $400 phone bill even though I purchased an international plan. I contacted AT&T and they knocked off $200 with no problem.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:34 am
“A mere 3 minutes later, which for at&t’s reputation is the speed of light, a happy-sounding lady asks how she can help.” I knew this by you thanks.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Thanks for this story. I’ve had very little problems with AT&T’s customer support. In fact, I find their customer support personnel very helpful and quick to respond to requests. To go even further, I’d go as far as saying AT&T’s Wireless customer service is among the best customer service I’ve experienced! I know that in the distant past, they were not very good, but in the last year or so, I’ve found their service to be excellent. Certainly, much better than any of my banks, better than my ISP and a lot of restaurants I frequent!
One thing that I do to ensure great service from AT&T? I only call during normal USA business hours. I find if you call really late, you may get some off-shore support and that’s always a bad experience. Same thing with AMEX–call during the day and you get great telephone service, call at night and you get India.
Anyway, AT&T should keep up the great work.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:54 pm
I called AT&T just tonight for a simple question. I agreed to the post call revue and was ready to flame them. To my own surprise, I gave the young lady the highest marks. Perhaps AT&T’s land line and in store help could take some pointers from their mobile service bept.
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:04 am
Hmm. Are we all at&t paid plants — or is this new CEO guy Randall L. Stephenson’s hyped customer service initiative actually producing tangible results (even if he apparently can’t find enough qualified on-shore customer care agents, http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/27/what-does-it-mean-if-att-is-having-trouble-finding-skilled-us-workers/)?