Annoying user experiences
A little background, I was charged outrageously $4 per minute during the month of September and after fighting with AT&T for 4 to 5 hours one manager agreed me to provide some credit.
I didn’t see the promised credit reflecting in my account for past three months. I had to call AT&T customer service again yesterday. I called from my mobile and an automated voice responded. I said I need help with billing , without further annoying me(usually hit will harass me to the core) the automated voice said it will connect me with an agent. After a couple of minutes I was greeted by an agent who asked my first and last name on the account and asked about the the issue. I took few minutes to explain her and suggested her to look my call notes from the past call / chats to get a clear picture. After 10 minutes she acknowledges that credit need to be applied yet. Since this was credited by their international calling department, she said I will be transferred to that department.
While the call is in transfer I was prompted again to enter the phone number and pin. After few minutes I got an agent who asked me the details that I entered in IVR, again. I patiently replied all the questions and agent asks me why am I calling and went through the story again. After verifying for 10 more minutes she comes back saying that mine is a “Unified bill”( I have internet and phone lines bundled) and agent cannot process the credit so I have to be transferred again. This time I warned her to transfer me properly by introducing me and my issue to the new agent. Letting my request into deaf ear, agent just transferred me again and I had to enter the pin and phone number one more time.
After couple minutes the agent comes on, the agent sounds as if she was out on some distant planet. Now I am getting both anxious as my call may be dropped and I had to repeat the fiasco all again. I had to put all my 100% concentration to convey her that she is not audible. Agent adjusted something and now they call quality was around 25% which I thought I can live with. The agent goes on asking all the details again and I have to play back my story uttering each word with utmost care with my nerves already heated up. Agent takes another sweet 10 minutes and finally says that I am transferred to a wrong department and will transfer to a right one. Are you kidding me?
Finally I got another agent after entering the pin and now I have to convey my story again. Agent is trying her best to misunderstand the problem. Agent states that I want to know how much credit I have in my account. With all my patients wearing out I am still able to hold the phone line and ask her to connect to her manager. After multiple such demands she kept on saying that she is looking into it and requesting me to be patient. I had to give her a clue to look into the calls chat history to get a sense of what I am calling for. After 35 minutes she was able to understand and process the credit. As agent process the credit, she wants me to talk to her manager so that I can be shown as another happy customer in so-called customer satisfaction.
I took a few minutes to talk to manager and explained him how crappy the whole experience is. As usual the manager apologized and said that my concerns will be taken to appropriate authorities.
These Giants are not less than criminals. They enable international calling by default. By accident if you dial an international number using the carrier number, they charge you $4 per min ( outrages charge — most world is charging 1–2 cents per min). There won’t be any IVR/VRU speak that says that you are calling international number and you will be charged so many dollars per min. They are super sneaky and are after people money to build their giant empires. I had a decade-old relationship with AT&T and I am going to severe this December.
Can I dent AT&T business or bring down AT&T? I don’t know. I will try my best to take the story over to the internet and at-least bring awareness for those poor souls out there.
As a side note I started a chat with AT&T to disable a line on my account this month. I was greeted by chat bot and as soon as it read my request it transferred the chat to an agent. Agent comes in after 6 minutes and got all l the information on the chat to say you have “Unified” account and agent cannot disable the line. I am asked to dial 1-800 number!
Maybe I have a room for sequel here!
