NO compassion or assistance from AT&T for struggling Americans at this difficult time

Hey Juniper are you the official spokesperson for AT&T? No one and I mean no one pays my bills for me!!!! If you think that my message suggested that I wanted or meant to pay my bill your dead WRONG!!! I contacted AT&T (Direct TV) in order to reduce my future bill which I and I wager many more customers have done in the past. Don't try to deflect the real issue here by suggesting I am looking for a hand out. Your right that Direct TV is a luxury but it is also a business and as a business it should show some degree of understanding of the economical hardship that many Americans are facing at this time.

@sox7490

Of course I am not a spokesman for them as this is a public forum. However from many years of experience, I understand the reality of the situation.

By "lowering" your bill, I assumed you meant what you already owed. If you meant discounts for future bills, that is highly unlikely to happen. This is because their CEO announced publicly a few months back, that discounts would be pulled back. They are weeding out customers operating at a loss.

They do understand some hardship which is why they are waiving late fees per that process I linked. However, they still have to pay their bills. And as you will notice, essential services get more options than entertainment. So to lower your bill you lower your service. Regardless of the current situation, it is up to us (the customer) to make the financial decisions that work for us and not expect to simply be accommodated by businesses (especially when it comes to entertainment services).

So if you can't afford because of economical hardship, then reduce your service to within budget, even suspend for a few months if needed.

Juniper you stated my case of NO compassion or assistance for Americans when your CEO declared publicly pulling back discounts and weeding out paying subscribers like me and thousands of other AT&T Direct TV customers. By saying that AT&T understands hardship waving subscribers late fees to outrageous Direct TV bills sounds callous and insensitive in this difficult time. To AT&T regardless of the current situation, only the worse pandemic in 100 years and economic crisis since to great depression, your only answer is to say that AT&T should not accommodate its subscribers by working with their customers to lesson their monthly bill. Other entertainment services seem to pay the their bills and charge far less then AT&T. Like you said if your having a hard time paying your bill then reduce or suspend your subscription or in other words if you don't like it tough luck pal! That sounds compassionate!

Not my CEO anymore than yours. As stated, I am a customer like yourself.

I was pointing out they announced to the public that discounts would be pulled back, and this was before Covid-19. They are dealing with an issue of too many skating by on discounts operating at a loss. So they have made a big decision to catch back up. I would expect discounts would return eventually after that is taken care of, but in moderation.

Discounts should never be expected or relied on, especially with an optional entertainment service. We as individuals need to make wise financial decisions and not try to live beyond our means. You can change your services at any time, so reduce them for now and when it is comfortable to do so then raise them back up.

DirecTV offers a service. You pay for that service. If you are unable to pay then it is up to you to make changes that work for you, not expect them to adjust for you. That is the reality, regardless of what you find compassionate or not. They have to pay bills too after all, yet you have no compassion for them as expect it all for yourself. Seems hypocritical to me.

@Juniper It's not a luxury service when you live in an area that has no high speed internet or any other options for tv service other than satellite.

Agents who don't leave a note are a problem for any company, regardless if did it on purpose or forgot to save. And then of course if a call drops, or customer just hangs up, before they have a chance to save doesn't help either.

Many call centers closed temporarily, additional employees on extended leave, all from Covid-19 stay at home orders. So hold times are naturally through the roof since this doesn't cause less people to call in.

Many things done over the phone send an automatic email confirmation. That is as much "in-writing" as you will get, outside of anything that shows on the bill.

But bottom line, people are NOT getting discounts and credits just because they are "struggling". Covid-19 is a hard time for everyone, including businesses. They still have to pay their expenses, such as there employees and the networks that give them the programming. A business is made up of people after all.

Now in-writing they have an announcement page that shows what they are doing. Just make sure when you expand the topics if the details specifically mention DirecTV as not everything applies to all their services.

https://about.att.com/pages/COVID-19.html#consumers

If they keep conducting business the way they are, I think they'll be doing a lot less bowing in the near future.

If you end up in a bad financial situation, then call BEFORE you are to the point you are shut off. You can reduce services going forward so better matches your budget, including going all the way down to the Family package $29.99 (package cost only, before receiver services, etc). In a pinch you can even suspend your service for up to 6 months within a 12 month period.

Sure a reduction in programming or going without for some time from suspending is not fully enjoyable, but it is the wise thing to do if you cannot handle it otherwise. It is not up to the company, nor should it be expected, to pay bills for you (even partially) by way of discounts, credits, waive bill, etc. requests.

There employees have to be paid too. So do the networks they get the programming from. TV is optional entertainment, as such there are no governmental programs to cover costs for us like actual essential services (water, heat, etc.). So in the end if you cannot pay, then make changes that work for you instead of waiting until the point of shutoff as you kept hoping they would provide charity.

Here is what they are doing: https://about.att.com/pages/COVID-19.html#consumers