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Welcome to AT&T! (Consumer Reports has rated AT&T as the worst of all major cell phone carriers)
American Thinker ^ | 12/11/2010 | Paul Schlicta

Posted on 12/11/2010 1:59:43 PM PST by SeekAndFind

I'm pleased to inform you that Consumer Reports has rated AT&T as the worst of all major cell phone carriers.  I can assure you that they deserve the honor, at least with regard to their customer service telephone line.

A few months ago, I had some trouble with my broadband connection.  I was told to call the AT&T customer service number for technical support.  Half an hour later, I wearily hung up the phone after having endured something like this:

(1) Welcome to the American Thinker! Si Usted lee sola en español, por favor vaya al (14).  If this is a life-threatening emergency, stop reading immediately and call 911.  Please select from the following options:

(2) Oops! You have reached the wrong paragraph. Please go to (19).

(3) If you are dissatisfied with this column, please call 1-800-331-0500 and state your complaint. Then go to (5).

(4) Please answer the following questions:

Then go to (17).

(5) I'm sorry but your identification does not match our records. Please go back to (1) and start over.

(6) This is not an operating paragraph. Please go to (4).

(7) You have reached the wrong paragraph. Please go to (19).

(8) Please go here and have your checkbook ready.  When you have sent in your donation, go to (11).

(9) If you work for AT&T, please go to (7); if not, proceed to (22).

(10) You have reached this paragraph by mistake.  Please go to (3).

(11) Before you proceed further, you must identify yourself.  Please go to (9).

(12) Please wait five minutes and then go to (13).  While you are waiting, you may wish to listen to music, but please hurry back.

(13) This information can be found only at (10).  Please go there immediately.  Do not be discouraged by any "this paragraph cannot be found" messages; keep on trying until you get through.  If this fails after five minutes of trying, go to (3).

(14) Lo siento, pero este artículo no está disponible en español.  Aprenda inglés, por favor, y vaya entonces al (1).

(15) Please go here.  Then go back to (1) and start over.

(16) Please go to (7).

(17) I'm sorry, but this paragraph is under construction.  Please return after September 1, 2011.  We apologize for the inconvenience.  Please go to (3).

(18) I'm sorry, but you have reached the wrong paragraph.  Please go back to (1) and start over.

(19) Please pat you head while rubbing your tummy for one minute and then go to (16).

(20) Go to (2).  Do not pass Go.  Do not collect $200.

(21) We are conducting a survey on the helpfulness of this article.  If you wish to participate, please go to (12).  If not, go to (18).

(22) Please enter your name, address, date of birth, Social Security number, primary bank account, and password.  Then go to (21).  If you do not wish to provide this information, please go to (20).

(23)  Thank you for reading the American Thinker.  Goodbye!



TOPICS: Political Humor/Cartoons
KEYWORDS: att; carriers; cellphone; consumerreports
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To: SeekAndFind

Get a pay as you go, cheapo phone from Virgin Mobile. If you ever have to call customer service or support, you will get the equivalent of a fairy godmother. And they’ll speak perfect English. Product A+. Service A+. Cost $7/mo or buy a $20 topup card every 3 months.


21 posted on 12/11/2010 2:38:43 PM PST by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast (Grammar police off-duty. But I saw what you did.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I find it hard to believe there’s a service worse than my “T-Maybe”


22 posted on 12/11/2010 2:39:58 PM PST by diverteach (If I find liberals in heaven after my death.....I WILL BE PISSED!!!)
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To: SeekAndFind

I have my land line, High Speed DSL and family cell phone plan through them and have had little trouble.


23 posted on 12/11/2010 2:44:05 PM PST by McGruff
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To: Sylvester McMonkey McBean

ATT has given the entire family wonderful service for four years. No complaints whatsoever.


24 posted on 12/11/2010 2:46:27 PM PST by Judith Anne (Holy Mary, Mother of God, please pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death.)
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To: SeekAndFind

ATT is incredibly bad
Dropped calls, poor reception, poor cs, high bills
Going to Verizon


25 posted on 12/11/2010 2:49:39 PM PST by cowtowney
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To: cowtowney

Bookmark for later tonight. Have at&t and it stinks.


26 posted on 12/11/2010 2:57:12 PM PST by texmexis best (`)
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To: SeekAndFind

I have had AT&T cell service for years. When I lived in Chicago it was horrible, but since I moved to South Bend , IN. it has been very good.

Although I did need to call customer service the other week and not only was there a language problem ( he wasn`t Indian , probably eastern european from what I could tell ) the guy had no clue as to what he was doing. In the end he asked if the service was satisfactory I told him NO ! There was the moment of silence and then he thanked me for calling.

All the other times I have called customer service its been fine.


27 posted on 12/11/2010 3:00:20 PM PST by Bud Krieger (Another President, another idiot....)
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To: SeekAndFind

We have been with ATT for 9 years without problems. I have found their tech support for internet to be excellent and the cell phone does what I want when I want it, no problems. No reason for me to complain. Years ago, because of my wife’s employment we had Sprint, couldn’t get way from them fast enough.


28 posted on 12/11/2010 3:01:03 PM PST by engrpat (A village in Kenya is missing their idiot...lets send him back)
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To: Judith Anne

Right On! Never had anything but AT&T Cewll Phone service and never had an issue. I’ve used it all over the US. My son has Sprint and I have service where he dosen’t but never vice versa.


29 posted on 12/11/2010 3:02:41 PM PST by TaMoDee
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To: cowtowney

Had Verizon for years, and with one notable exception, the service has been great.


30 posted on 12/11/2010 3:05:00 PM PST by IAmNotAnAnimal
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To: pillut48
I wander around in circles forever before I happen upon what I am looking for—not very user friendly, that’s for sure.

Yes. The web page is a mess. Some parts are for U-verse, others for land line, others for DSL. It's like you are dealing with a bunch of different companies. I punch in my phone number and they tell me it doesn't exist. But on other parts of the site it does.

I had U-verse TV, land line, and internet. It went out 3 times the first year. Two times it took 5 days to get repaired. Their wireless goes into a coma every once in a while and it crawls. Then, 5 minutes later it's OK. Plug in ethernet and it's fine. I got my own wireless router and it works great. Unless the system is down, of course.

I canceled the U-verse TV and phone. I got a cheap land line for when cell phones are out. (That's Verizon for the cell, and THEY are ANOTHER story all together! I just got a voice mail from October. I can't get service in the same locations Alltel gave me 5 bars. Same phone.)

Recently the AT&T land line went out. I called service and 5 days later the service guy came while we were at work. He put a tag on the door that the phone had been fixed. No. Totally dead still.

When I called them, they sent another guy out 5 days later. He fussed around outside and told my wife the phone was fixed. Then he asked her something about the static we heard. No, not static. NO sound at all. The guy never plugged into our interface to even check the thing after he had 'fixed' it. He said the company told him we had static. He actually then went about working and fixed the phone.

31 posted on 12/11/2010 3:07:52 PM PST by Right Wing Assault (The Obama magic is <strike>fading</strike>gone.)
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To: Psycho_Bunny

Nice!


32 posted on 12/11/2010 3:09:39 PM PST by LayoutGuru2 (0BAMAC0RN)
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To: rockrr
after you wade through all the phone-tree hell and provide them with all the info they demand, the live operator asks you for it all over again!

Oh, yeah! I forgot about that feature. I don't know whether the technology for seeing your info is too complex for them to figure out, or if they are trying to see if you are lying to them, or if it is just a great way to waste time so they don't have to talk to as many new people each day.

And the U-verse repair people are weird. The are Americans, I think, but they sound as if they migrated here from the funny farm.

When you tell them something they say, "Oh, I see. Hmm. Let's try something else. Unplug your modem again. Now plug it in and lets wait 10 minutes while it reboots. Is it done yet?"

33 posted on 12/11/2010 3:13:47 PM PST by Right Wing Assault (The Obama magic is <strike>fading</strike>gone.)
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To: SeekAndFind

ATT is incredibly bad
Dropped calls, poor reception, poor cs, high bills
Going to Verizon


34 posted on 12/11/2010 3:13:56 PM PST by cowtowney
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To: Sylvester McMonkey McBean

I switched from Verizon Wireless to AT&T just because I got tired of waiting for Verizon to get the iPhone.

So far, I am pleased with AT&T’s service except when I go into Manhattan. There, the service is horrible!


35 posted on 12/11/2010 3:15:41 PM PST by alice_in_bubbaland (DeMint/Ryan 2012!!!!!)
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To: cowtowney

I was able to get a good price reducton on my monthly bill from AT&T. They keep records of dropped calls and areas with poor or no reception. We live near one of their no nos....

We keep our land line for emergencies tho.


36 posted on 12/11/2010 3:17:19 PM PST by Carley (ISRAEL.......NOT SO ALONE!!!)
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To: cowtowney
Going to VerizonGo

Good luck. See the 3rd paragraph in my post #31. Hope service is better in your area.

37 posted on 12/11/2010 3:21:27 PM PST by Right Wing Assault (The Obama magic is <strike>fading</strike>gone.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I was in a pretty good mood when I dialed the Uverse customer service number. But after a solid FIVE minutes of trying to navigate their voice prompts I was sorely annoyed. When I finally got to a live human being I told him this and complained about the system and he told me that a lot of people feel the same way about the voice prompts. I could tell that he sympathized with me.

I told him that CSR’s like him wouldn’t have to deal with such annoyed customers if ATT would just get rid of that system. Like I said, I WAS in a good mood when I dialed.


38 posted on 12/11/2010 3:27:38 PM PST by peteram
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To: SeekAndFind

who was ranked best?


39 posted on 12/11/2010 3:28:56 PM PST by Recovering_Democrat
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To: rednek
I went round with att over my internet service (or should i say - lack thereof). Ended up talking to Ms Petit in the office of the president of att. I have now dumped my business phones, 4 cell phones and my internet as a result of my conversation with her. She had nothing to offer to the conversation and about all she did was offer to expedite my exit from att. They aren’t the only telephone company in town anymore, but they damn sure act like it!....red

The company I work for has about 550 remote offices all over the country. The vast majority had service provided by what used to be independent providers after the AT&T divestiture, like SBC, Bell South, and a few others, including AT&T. We were more than satisfied with their service. But after AT&T started buying up those companies, we started to notice problems in customer service, to the point that my company is actively trying to dump AT&T as a provider at every location.

Since they've grown back into the monolithic AT&T, their attitude is back to what was immortalized by Lily Tomlin on Laugh-In... "We don't have to care... We're the phone company!

Mark

40 posted on 12/11/2010 3:38:02 PM PST by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
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