I am a frequent reader of the Consumerist. One of things they talk about frequently is the Executive Email Carpet Bomb, or EECB. This is where you email some high level executive(s) to see if someone can help rectify your problem. So, I decided to fire off an email. I got the following response today:
First let me tell you that I apologize for your negative experience. I recognize you as a long-term loyal customer. I have been able to review your account and have as a courtesy issued a monthly service credit to your account. Your account balance is now $0.00. Please let me know if this resolves your issue.
Yay! I am now a satisfied, happy customer. Two observations:
The standard customer service reps at AT&T are not empowered to help the customer. Only at the executive level was I able to receive a high-touch level of service. This was even true of technical support, where the 2nd-tier CSRs were the only ones that could fix my account troubles.
AT&T must learn how to empower their customers. Even though I am locked in to a two year contract, I have the ability to persuade potential AT&T customers. I am typically an early-adopter of new products and technology. As such, many people have asked me about my iPhone experience. Throughout my ordeal, I have been blogging as well as sharing the details with many friends. Everyone was completely baffled at AT&T’s incompetence, especially when they learned of the $2,000 bill. I even had a couple of friends tell me that they will not go with AT&T simply because I have warned them about their customer service. I recognize that technical and billing problems happen. However, AT&T could have made this a positive experience throughout the entire ordeal. Instead, the only happy part is the ending.
If you own AT&T stock, sell it now. My dad has been with the company nearly 35 years and all I hear about is how AT&T has become “money hungry” since they bought BellSouth. The company is focused on money only–not on serving customers or even their own employees. From my own personal experience, I can now say the same.
Most of you know that we spent 12 hours on the phone with AT&T last month trying to get our iPhones activated and working properly. That is 1.5 WORK DAYS. At the end of this ordeal we finally had working phones.
Then comes the ultimate smack in the face, the $2,000 bill. Do these people not have quality controls in place? Do they not have an automatic flag that says, “Hey, these people have NEVER paid us even 10% of this amount. Perhaps we should investigate it.” Of course not. When I called to get the excess charges removed, they told me it was MY RESPONSIBILITY to see that these charges are removed before my due date comes.
I have been a customer since the Suncom days back in 2000. In 2004, the week after we got married, we started a joint account. That is over 8 years of service. Because of my longstanding status with AT&T, I emailed them to ask if they would forgive the entire bill–both the regularly monthly charges and the excess bullcrap charges that jacked it up to over $2,000. Did they really think I needed to pay them a monthly service charge for the type of service that I have received? Here is their reply:
Our records show that credits totaling $1923.35 have been issued to your account Mr. Finney, and the remaining balance of $133.16 is due on or before 08/25/08. As there were a total of 565,472 kilobytes of internet access used by your mobiles, in addition to the 1247 minutes of airtime used for your voice calls during the previous billing cycle, although we do apologize for the problems that you experienced Mr. Finney, we will not be able to issue additional credit to the account. (Emphasis mine)
So, there you have it. Even though they apologize and acknowledge the problems that I had, they will not compensate me beyond the excess charges. (By the way, half of those 1,247 minutes was TALKING TO THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE.)
What do you think? Should I have asked for the free month of service? Should they have given it to me?
Michael has been looking at laptops for well over a year now. Ok, that’s a lie. He hasn’t been looking at them; he’s been studying them intensely, searching for the best laptop for the best price. About a month or two ago, he was delivering a typical update to me about his laptop quest when I finally exclaimed, “Will you pleeeeeease just buy a laptop already?”
I don’t think he was purposely trying to wear me down so that I’d be game for this impending laptop purchase, but man he’s sure good at that technique.
He narrowed his selection down to two laptops, and he’s shown them to me in great detail online. We’ve even visited a Best Buy to test them out. The one he likes the most has a horrid orange stripe all the way around it. But despite the lack of aesthetic appeal, Michael says “it’s a darn good laptop.”
Lest you think we’re making an impulse buy and not being responsible with our finances, I must tell you how we intend to pay for said laptop. Those of you who know about our xbox and play station schemes may have already guessed: it all has to do with eBay.
Apparently eBay has this deal going on right now that allows you to receive 25% cash back on a purchase (up to three purchases per eBay/paypal account). Sweet, right?
So Michael literally stumbled upon (maybe God ordained it) an awesome deal for two of the kind of laptop he wants. He also purchased a third laptop for a good deal; this is the one we will probably keep. All three will be at our house on Friday. Michael thinks he can easily sell two of these on eBay or craigslist for at least what we paid for them, if not $100-$200 more, and he should know because he’s been watching eBay auctions for the last year now. So once we sell two of them and once we get the 25% back from eBay (in about 30 days) for each of these computers, we will have made a nice chunk of change. He’s done the math (of course) and we’re guessing we’re going to end up spending about $125 on this laptop. Now that’s my kind of shopping! So as you can see, we’re not being financially irresponsible or impulsive. We’re a little crazy, but not impulsive. Remember, this did take more than a year.
A brief recap…
Step One: Sell two of the three laptops for at least what we paid for them, if not more.
Step Two: Collect 25% cash back on all three laptops.
Step Three: Enjoy the third laptop that only cost us $125, a little bit of Michael’s time, and a lot of Hallie’s sanity.
