I wanted to tell you about an experience I had with AT&T recently. I signed up for their "Dry Loop" DSL service (which you mentioned in a recent post) back in September.
I didn't have any issues with signing up for the service. However, when I attempted to cancel the service in December (I was moving from my apartment), I ran into several issues.
When I called to cancel, the Support rep informed me that I could not have DSL service with AT&T because I did not have a landline. After trying to explain the "dry loop" service several times to the phone rep, she placed me on hold. When she returned, she informed me that she had successfully canceled my service, and that I would be receiving a final bill in the mail (pro-rated for the days I did not use the service).
About a month later, I received a bill for an normal month's service. When I called, the stubborn support rep told me that there was no record of me calling to cancel my service, and that I would be obligated to pay my bill in full. I asked to be transferred to a supervisor. She understood my situation, and told me that AT&T would honor the cancellation date, and that they would credit my account for the additional service days.
A month later, I received an additional bill, with a late fee tacked on! After about four more conversations with AT&T supervisors, I was FINALLY able to receive an account credit. However, they had submitted my account to a collections agency.. and the agency had started reporting negatively to the credit bureaus!
My advice to your readers: Don't purchase the dry loop service. It's more of a hassle than it's worth!
Yuck!
(Photo: jetsetpress)
]]>1) It's always legal to record a conversation with a company that you have a "business relationship" with (same definition as for telemarketing laws) if the call is about your business with them. It's always illegal for the business to refuse to talk to you if you're exercising your right to record. You don't have to explicitly notify them.
2) If a company notifies you that it is or "may be" recording, it de facto grants you the right to do the same. You don't have to explicitly notify them.
Frankly I think this would do a whole lot for the consumer experience...
]]>The problem is NOT with the 'dry loop'. It is with AT&T. The major companies use call centers, where someone answers your call, and reads form a 'script'. These folks have no authority to change anything, or diviate from the script. Talking to them about anything but the simplest subject just will not work.
Remember... they can not change anything. And... they may not even be in the USA. Most major call centers are in India.
]]>When you sign up for Dry Loop, you are provided with your billing telephone number in your initial billing statement and install kit - just because you can't receive calls on the line does not mean that it doesn't have a number. You need to use this number if you want to get helpdesk support, otherwise the reps won't be able to pull up your account. It's like calling the power company to get help and not giving them your account number.
]]>If you want to get technical, 40% of Cingular changed ownership, while 60% was retained by the original (but re-branded and expanded) owner.
Here is the key to naked DSL - you still have a phone number, even though you can't take calls on the line. If you can't remember your number, it's really hard to pull up your account. I'd be interested in knowing if the reader was aware of his billing telephone number and provided that to the reps. I'd also be interested to know how the gentleman handles himself with CSR's - sounds like he was just getting messed with...
]]>They wouldn't bill me, only withdraw right from my account. Then they just started taking whatever amounts they wanted. $100 one month then $5 the next then $65 another month then $150 for no good reason. I was supposed to pay $55 a month.
At the end of the year I calculated everything I should of paid vs what they took and it turns out they stole $50. Even after making 3 different service reps go through all the calculations with me (and all ending with me overpaying $50) they wouldn't return my money or acknowledge the mistake.
Needless to say, I will never use ATT for any service ever again for as long as I live.
]]>I have AT&T dry loop and concur with Brent. It has been one big hassle after another. Service is almost non-existent because most customer service reps are not trained to even know dry loop exists in the AT&T portfolio. Even the AT&T systems don't know it exists.
]]>I always wanted to get a bright red phone and leave it plugged in, and call it the "emergency phone".
As another interesting fact, if you plug a phone into a jack where you have DSL (with a filter) people can apparently dial in (depending on service provider), you just cannot dial out (except for 911)... haven't tested this nugget I picked up from the nice lady who I hand my bill to every month, but if it works it would be interesting.
]]>I mean, if you're suing a company, and one part of the company should have known that the charges (and effectively accusations) were wrong, then wouldn't that make other parts of the same company responsible for acting on that knowledge?
]]>I was paying $22 for DSL and $37 for phone to Qwest, plus $17 to my ISP. There's a wireless ISP in my area, and for $50 I get 10Mb from them. And for phone, I just signed up for T-Mobile's $9.99 VOIP. I'm saving almost $20/mo and I get faster internet and unlimited long-distance.
When it came time to cancel with Qwest, I was hoping they'd beg me to stay -- just for grins. But, it was anti-climactic. They were so friendly, and actually seemed interested in my new setup. Hmm.
]]>Because of experiences like this in the past, I now always always always ask for a cancellation or confirmation code when dealing with utility companies (and other companies sometimes too).
]]>until recently, I couldn't sign up for online bill payment. their computer system wasn't set up for it. I've had the service for just about a year.
]]>Don't do it over the phone or online! Dry loop is offered in their corporate stores. Go in and set it up in-store, as they generally know what they're doing (they deal with DSL, cell, landline, & TV, rather than the specialized call centers) and have incentives to make sure you get it (commission).
]]>I have AT&T for regular phone and DSL but I refused to do their long distance because it was so expensive. I've had Vartec for years.
]]>Mine is going out from time to time too! Mostly at night. I called the DSL help and all "Roger"managed to do was trash the security on my wireless router, which he blamed it on.
Now my wireless is unsecured. :(
]]>[en.wikipedia.org]
So glad you're having so much fun.
If you run it through the English-to-12-Year-Old-AOLer Translator, it will take less effort on your part.
...just saying.
]]>My problems exactly! Well almost, but it has been a nightmare. I switched from AT&T U-verse to AT&T Dry Loop DSL, because where I was moving didn't have U-verse. Now U-verse is nice, but making this switch to Dry Loop DSL royally screws up AT&T. I'm guessing that not a lot of people make the same switch I made, but I would highly advise against it as U-verse and DSL are handled out of different departments, both of which do not seem to talk to each other.
I found out my previous email under the U-verse service at sbcglobal.net could not transfer to my DSL service so I had to register a new email under attworld.net instead. It took a week to figure this out with AT&T and only then could I activate my account and get on the net.
In addition, my Uverse service was still being billed to me because they couldn't close my old account. Plus, 6 months later they bill me for $150 because they said I didn't return my U-verse Gateway Router (which they told me I owned and never sent a return box) I have since resolved this.
Plus they promised me a voucher for my new DSL router as a moving promotion (to keep me as a customer) and I have yet to receive it. It's been since July 2008 and I have called them over 10 times to resolve the issue. I found out the guy should have never offered the voucher to me in the first place since the offer wasn't valid on a Dry-Loop account (but he didn't know.) I now have a Confirmation Number for a Visa Gift Card that should be coming my way in 4 to 6 weeks for the voucher, and I have been credited for a month of service (even though my company pays for my DSL service). Complete nightmare.
]]>@richcreamerybutter: Yes they can. After you spend an hour waiting on hold to talk to a real person.
]]>@Brianne Gibson: I was wondering the same thing. It is very rare for people who have FiOS in their area to choose DSL rather than FiOS especially when the monthly service cost is about the same price for twice the speed
]]>Jst s y knw, T∓T ddn't mrg wth Cnglr. Thy mrgd wth Bllsth. f y'r gng t rn blg tht s bsd n bshng crprtns, y shld prbbly gt yr fcts bt sd crprtns strght frst.
]]>@outoftheblew: Because AT&T owned part of Cingular. Bellsouth owned the other 50%. AT&T merged with Bellsouth and changed the name of Cingular, but the ownership didn't change. Drats! I guess you guys didn't get me after all!
]]>My advice to your readers: Don't purchase the dry loop service.
Too late...
I don't understand why companies insist on screwing things up at the end. I had the same problem with Charter.
]]>I've also had issues getting through AT&T's automated phone systems when I don't have a real phone number.
]]>Also, I naively assume that the nightmare stories that end up on Consumerist are (knock on wood) proportionately rare. There are dozens (or hundreds?) of unnoticed times the system more or less works properly, for each time a customer like Brent gets wrapped around the axle.
]]>@Joseph Blake: Then why did my husband's Cingular cell phone service become AT&T?
]]>We had AT&T naked DSL for less than a year. In that time we had to request a replacement modem because the first one died and they changed our account number. They managed to credit our payment to the discontinued account number and then tried to charge us a late fee on the new account number. And there's virtually no way to get through to customer service on the phone because it doesn't accept your "account number" because it wants your phone number.
]]>@ponycyndi: Why wouldn't you get the Fios if you had that option? It's wonderful so far.
]]>@Joseph Blake: Just so ya know...
AT&T and Cingular did merge, or at least *they* think they did. If you are going to post on a blog being all uppity about it's content, you might want to check that you are correct in the first place.
I had issues with Verizon as well. WORST SERVICE EVER!!!
I had dry loop service and was moving to another city with verizon service...after setting up the cancel date and the new install date for 2 months later (when we were closing on both the old house and new) they cut our service the next day and set it up at our new address, even though we didn't live there yet.
They refused to set my service right at my then current house, because, as the manager stated, they dont make enough off my extra two months of service to make up the cost of sending a tech to get it working again.
They then sent a bill to me for the house I did not even own yet...Another nightmare ensued, because they wouldn't disconnect it unless i was there to meet with a rep, which I couldnt do, because I didn't live there. Yadda yadda yadda...They now lost me as a customer forever because of their incompetence.
]]>Oh nohs! Someone made an error on the interwebs!
Thanks for pointing out the error in such a kind and constructive manner, as your first post on this site.
Now go back to Facebook where you came.
]]>If you're gonna' bash a blog that is based on covering corporations, you should probably get your facts about said corporations straight first.
]]>DSL Elite Direct was $45/mo plus sales tax (on at least a portion). Would have been 48-49. Required 2 year contract and offered a rebate for installation
Got a Messured Line for 12.95 with tax and added DSL Elite for $35. No contract, and got a $125 rebate since I was "switching" from cable.
I pay less than $52/mo tax and fees included, and get full 911 access (again, Texas doesn't require dialtone on inactive lines as some states).
]]>and then i started getting letters from cingular about the switch to their service when the merge happened, then a letter telling me they no longer offered the $10 a month prepaid package and i could pay $40 now, cingular's lowest prepaid amount.
and then when i declined an upgrade in service for a higher price for three times the minutes i ever used a month and requested to be 'grandfathered in' i got a very nasty letter from cingular saying i had 30 days to buy a new phone because mine was too old to service or they were cutting me off.
[been a happy virgin mobile customer ever since]
]]>I think they run a great blog, and one that reports facts, not bashes. I am so tired of people bashing on The Consumerist, Giz, and io9 for such small things when they are still conveying the story very well. Can we get a disemvowel on stuff like this?
]]>Oh great. I have dry loop DSL w/ ATT. I've had problems convincing them that I am indeed a customer before. If you get their automated system and try to punch in your "phone number" (which is actually my account number and starts with 0), it acts like the number doesn't exist because it's not an actual phone number.
I'll make sure to get the Agent ID and other info when I call to cancel this fall. Ugh.
@chiieddy: Only in some areas. I have had inactive phone services in Michigan and Texas in the past few years and there is no dial tone and not even any voltage on the phone line.
]]>ATT loves creating tickets for any reason you call so make sure you get it.
]]>@Joseph Blake: Those poor, poor corporations! I feel so bad now.
]]>Someone at just read this and thought "Mission Accomplished."
]]>So have we "officially" established that this latest version of AT&T is such a large and disjointed series of corporations that getting lost in their system is almost common place? This article and the one from last week would indicate, "yes".
]]>I tried to sign up for dry loop with ATT. 3 times I called and was told that they don't offer DSL AT ALL for my area, and that I would have to pay for Verizon FIOS.
I called Time Warner and got cable internet, no phone required.
]]>In about 30 minutes (there was a line), I walked out with a modem in my hand, drove home, and plugged it in. I was on the net after a 10-minute phone call.
]]>I had the same problem with Verizon. AT&T and its children still all think they're monopolies...
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