AT&T: The Odyssey
So, to begin with — I don’t have a great opinion of most telecom services. I’ve used Bellsouth before it was acquired by AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, and RCN. I’ve had a lot of problems with most of them, from lack of service reliability to bad support. RCN is the smallest and the one I’ve had the least amount of trouble with. But back to AT&T.
I first dealt with AT&T when my partner Rebecca & I moved in together, a little over 2 years ago. Rebecca wanted to move her AT&T internet service from her old location to a new location, which you’d think would be easy enough.
It wasn’t.
Basically, I took off work on a Friday to meet a repair person that didn’t show up. This happens continually until the Tuesday after, each time being told by support a technician is on the way and that ‘today will be the day.’ They even flat out told me a technician was currently working on the problem when nobody was there.
So that was my past experience from 2 years ago. It was pretty frustrating and time consuming, but I’m overall a pretty patient person.
But this is a different story. Let’s talk about this past weekend.
Thursday
On Thursday I call AT&T and tell them I want to schedule a move for Friday. After confirming the new address and a time for a technician to swing by, everything sounds good — but then they say they’ll charge much more for the new service.
I mention that I switched my cell phone plan from T-Mobile to AT&T a year ago to take advantage of their ‘Free Internet For Life’ promotion; basically they’ll give you free 100 mbps internet ‘forever’ if you switch from their competitor. Forever lasts about a year.
After some back and forth about a new address not qualifying for the forever package, they relent and mention I can have the fiber internet for free at the new address. All seems good.
That night I get an email confirmation saying a technician will arrive at the wrong address at the wrong time. They got the number of the street right but the name wrong, and they scheduled me for the morning instead of the evening.
I decide to call them early Friday morning during business hours. Friday was my moving day, so I figured I’d call early around 8:00 a.m. and get it out of the way before our move began at 10:30 a.m.
Friday
Friday morning I call customer support. I mention the address is incorrect. After being put on hold a few times, they ask me to confirm the holder of the account and the PIN for the account. It’s under Rebecca’s name, so I give them the same PIN as before; today this PIN does not work.
They ask for another PIN and I assure them this is the same PIN we’ve used each time. I give them a second PIN anyway, which also does not work. They ask for her favorite restaurant (a security question) — I give it to them (and ask Rebecca again just to make sure). They let me in, so I’m guessing this worked.
Next up — we work back and forth to get the address corrected. Unfortunately their system won’t let them update the address. After more back and forth and being put on hold, they redirect me to another support representative.
Unfortunately the new representative has to validate who I am again, so I give them Rebecca’s favorite restaurant again to gain access to the account. This does not work this time.
They say they can validate who I am by calling Rebecca’s phone number — if I answer on her phone, then that’ll be proof enough that I should have access to the account. So I run into the bedroom, grab Rebecca’s phone, and they call.
Boom, it works — we’re in. Let’s continue.
They’re reaffirm they’re not able to update the address on the work order. I’m put on hold again.
Rebecca comes in and grab her phone; she’s out to grab some McDonald’s for us before we start the move.
I’m off hold — they say they can’t update the address, so they’re going to attempt to cancel the work order and create a new one. They put me on hold again.
I’m off hold — they say they can’t cancel the work order for some reason. They’ll have to get in contact with the Retention department for some reason — it sounds like the internet service has to be canceled because the work order is canceled? I’m not sure. I’m on hold again.
I’m off hold — they say I need to get redirected again to super, super super level support. Alright, let’s do it.
I’m redirected. They have to validate who I am again. Shit. Rebecca’s gone with the phone, so I can’t validate using that method until she’s back picking up breakfast. I enter the PIN and the favorite restaurant again as part of a futile attempt to gain access. It does not work — I’ll have to call back.
Rebecca arrives, I grab her phone. I call back.
We start the process all over again. Each step. I explain to the representative what’s happened and where we are in the process, but either way they decide they need to try and step through each process again.
We continue. Now we’re going to some technical support to understand why the work order can’t be canceled.
They need to validate who I am again. I explain to this guy that we can’t use the PIN or favorite restaurant — we’ve been using the phone call method.
“The phone verification method is not set up for this department.” he says.
FUCK.
So I just say, “Look — I’m not trying to update the account, charge anything, or do anything malicious here. I understand you guys have a process. But basically if we don’t correct this address, a technician is going to show up at a nursing home in about 10 minutes trying to install internet for the wrong address.”
To my surprise, this works. They ask me to ‘confirm the current address of the internet service’ as a last-ditch security measure, and I do — they let me in.
I’m on hold again.
I’m off hold — they’re not able to cancel the work order. I have to get elevated to Super Duper Support X-Treme.
We redirect. I have to verify who I am again. We do the phone call verification method; looks like this department has it set up.
We continue.
They’re struggling canceling the work order still, and everybody is confused as to why they can’t cancel the work order.
I say, “Is it because it’s scheduled for today? Like are you not able to cancel the work order because it’s in progress?”
This is why. So they mention they don’t have a work around here; we’ll have to wait for the order to be marked ‘complete’. I ask if they’re able to attempt to reschedule the work order for the future instead of updating the address to see if that will let them cancel it today.
This works. Somehow I’m creating a workaround for their own process.
It’s updated! Awesome — they say the internet can be on Saturday, and they apologize for all of the inconvenience. I wanted it for Friday, but I’ll be unpacking all day so this is fine.
Saturday
Saturday morning we received a FedEx overnight package. It’s from AT&T. It’s a new router that we don’t need — I brought my old one. I’m confused, but excited to get everything installed. I plug everything in and check the lights — there’s a red light next to the ‘alarm’. Looks like the router is working but the service from AT&T is not working.
I’m worried that at worst it’s a broken fiber line or at best the service isn’t active yet.
I call AT&T support.
I again validate who I am using Rebecca’s phone. After some initial account lookup, the representative tells me they are confused; there is nothing to indicate any internet service exists on this account.
I am confused too — I explain to them a summary of what’s happened the previous day. They say they’re not sure what happened, but basically my internet service got canceled completely instead of transferred — they’ll have to set up the service again.
I’m okay with this. I mentioned the speed I want, everything’s good — except now they tell me I won’t be qualified for my free internet promotion again. I mention we’ve already been over this and the new address should already have the promotion. They say they’re not able to do this, but I can call the Loyalty department to talk about the promotions and the package I have.
Sure. I’m more concerned with getting the internet active at this point; I can complain to the Loyalty department later. I say let’s roll with $60/month package. They set everything up and tell me all is good! I’ll have internet by Tuesday.
I stop them and say I need internet before the work week starts, and that this was supposed to be active Friday, then Saturday. I tell them I picked self-installation and don’t need a technician as long as the fiber is working; I just need the service active from their end. Everything looks set up correctly on my end.
They say they’ll redirect me to another department so that I can talk with somebody about expediting the activate process.
They redirect me. I again validate who I am by using Rebecca’s phone. After explaining the situation, the customer representative tells me that this is the wrong department to talk to; another department could help me but they won’t be available until working hours Monday.
I have plans so I thank him and hang up. I talk to Rebecca and ask her to reset her PIN and security question to make things easier for me when I have to call back later. I should have done that earlier, I just didn’t realize this would be such a hassle.
Sunday
I decide Sunday morning to call support again to see if somebody can expedite the process. I go through the validation, this time with a PIN that Rebecca’s set.
The PIN works. We’re in again.
I explain the situation. The customer representative tells me they’re confused — there is no internet active for this account nor is there any service planned to be set up for Tuesday.
I’m glad I checked.
They elevate me to Super Duper Support X-Treme. I validate who I am again. I tell them plain and simple — at this point all I want is internet as soon as possible — just tell me my options.
I’m on hold.
I’m off hold — they come back with two options:
1.) Wait until Tuesday — they super promise it’ll be active this time.
2.) Start a new account right now and maybe it’ll be active Monday.
I ask again if there is anything to expedite the process; I reiterate everything is installed here. They put me on hold again.
I’m off hold — the customer representative says they reached out to a department to see if they could expedite this, but they’re not working on Sunday — I’ll have to reach out tomorrow morning. They’re certain that if I talk to the right people tomorrow I can have internet ‘much, much sooner.’ The latest is Tuesday, they say…so much, much sooner doesn’t sound all that much sooner.
Monday
I start off by calling the number I wrote down in the notes given to me by the representative yesterday. He said this was a direct line to support that could help me, and to save time mention ‘the account was deactivated in error and the same account needs to be reactivated.’
I’m not able to mention this for two reasons:
1.) The number he gave me takes me to ‘landline phone support’, and they have to redirect me to ‘Midwest UVerse Internet Support’
2.) The support rep I’m redirect to can’t hear me for some reason, then hangs up on me after 3 requests to see who was on the line.
Not a great start.
I decide to call the regular support number I’ve been calling to begin with. I’m on the phone with support again, and I explain the issue. I validate who I am again with my PIN. They put me on hold.
I’m off hold. They say the best course of action is to set up a new account at the address provided. I say okay. They put me on hold to ‘check and see if internet is available at the new address.’
I’m off hold. It’s available at $60/month for 1000 mbps down. I’ll receive a package in the mail and can have internet on Tuesday, he says.
I explain to him I already have the gear and don’t need the package. He’s confused, because according to him this account has never had service. I keep it short and simple — this account had some errors and it looks like I haven’t had service, but it was supposed to be active last Friday so I’ve already received everything I need and it’s all set up.
He looks at all of the notes left on this account and sees the history of this whole story and even comments “You must have the patience of Job!” That gets a laugh out of me.
I tell him I need him to prioritize the internet activation; I have been waiting since Friday and this needs to happen today. He says he totally understands. He puts me on hold.
I’m off hold. He asks me which plan I’d like — $60/month for 1000 mbps down or $45/month for 500 mbps down. I decide to go with the $45/month. He puts me on hold.
I’m off hold. He says good news! This can happen today — over the next few hours keep an eye on the router box and watch for any red lights turning green. He says he will call me back in a few hours to check on the status.
I’m very skeptical. I wait.
At 2:00 p.m. I call back — the alarm light is still red on the white box that’s mounted. They run a test and say there’s a problem with the line. They can schedule a technician to be out here by Wednesday.
I explain that I really need the internet sooner than that, and ask if there’s any way to expedite the process and get somebody out here earlier than Wednesday.
Good news! There’s a slot tomorrow from 10 a.m. — 12 p.m. That’s a win for me and I’m exhausted talking to support at this point. I can wait one more day.
Tuesday
A technician arrives around 10:30 a.m. and checks the status of the fiber line. He finds the issue immediately — looks like the line is damaged and a new one needs to be run.
After an hour or so he comes back inside, we check the status of the white box, and everything’s looking good! No more alarm light. We test the internet — it’s about 260 mbps instead of 500, but that’ll do for now. A total of 6 hours of talking to customer support, and we’re finally done.
I thank the technician and stop at the front door. There’s a package.
It’s another router from AT&T.
All AT&T customer representatives were amazing during this process. The procedure was awful and there was clearly a bad disconnect between departments, but every representative tried their best to follow the process they were taught and were respectful, and I appreciate that.
~ Isaac
