Why is AT&T/directv customer service so awful?

Hi @Mat849,

We will be delighted to help! Please inform us more about your issue. We look forward to your response and the opportunity to assist you. 

Lafayette, AT&T Community Specialist

Yes, many many of your associates on the phones have been pleased to help me too, but none have. I need my internet and cable to be bundled as I was told September 2018 would be the case. I need easy access to set them up to be auto billed. And I need someone to finally send me the $200 Visa gift card that I was promised. Each of my prior attempts ended with another person telling me that all of this had been accomplished. Each time it was a lie. It seems common practice there to promise the customer whatever they want with no intentions of ever following through.

No one within customer service seems to be able to do anything but restate the problem and take a payment by phone. But still never for both. One will take a payment for internet and then transfer me to someone else to take payment for cable. 

Most recently I was charged over double for internet because it says that it is a stand alone service vs bundle. The gentleman who I spoke with a couple days ago "solved" the issue by opening a new cable service I think. If I find that I am in an extended 24 month contract I am going to be even more angry. 

If you can solve even one of these issues it would be a miracle. I really would rather be done with at&t forever.

If you can tell your boss's boss to contact his boss's boss, I would be willing to talk to them maybe. Otherwise I'll just keep telling everyone how awful at&t is and how horribly they treat their customers.

@Mat849,

We would like to review your account for you! I am sending you a private message (PM) to help in this matter. Please check your forums private messages by clicking the envelope in the top right section of this page or click Forums Inbox. Locate the PM and reply to my message with the requested account details. We look forward to your response and the opportunity to help you!

Lafayette, AT&T Community

I sent a response to your message. I would like to point out that At&t has already had 9 months and between 30 and 40 "capable" customer service specialists to resolve this issue. It should not have to come to this or be this hard. That is now my primary complaint. I truly hope that you can resolve this issue but if you do I will finish out my contract and then spend the rest of my life lobbying friends and relatives to spend money anywhere other than at&t. There is no excuse for this level of incompetence and disregard for paying customers.

I agree. ATT customer service is awful. Furthermore, the company is stealing money and cheating customers. I have ATT home phone and DirecTV on a combined bill. On 6/12/19 I woke up to find that my DirecTV service had been suspended. I called and was told that my bill had been de-combined because they couldn't verify my address. This was the first of several lies from ATT customer service. I have been at the same address for almost 20 years. The agent told me that DirecTV hadn't received a payment in 2 months. I have paid every month so I asked him where the payment was going. My home phone bill alone couldn't be almost $300. He told me he couldn't answer, and that I needed to call ATT. I thought it was all ATT, but OK.

I called ATT and was given no answer at all. The agent just left the phone without saying "hold on" or anything. Just dead air and never returned. I called ATT again. This agent said the payment wasn't applied to DirecTV. She couldn't apply it. I would have to call 855-250-4777. I called and spoke with Jamel Williams out of Atlanta. Jamel said the payment had not been applied to DirecTV, but he would transfer it and my service would be restored within the hour. I asked for his direct number in case there was a problem. Jamel told me he didn't have the extension there but I could call back and ask for him. He is the only Jamel in Atlanta. More than two hours later and the service wasn't restored. I called Jamel and surprise the agent told me I couldn't speak to him. She said he was on a another call. I said I would wait and she said they have no way of transferring the call. She even told me he was sitting right next to her. But she still refused to connect me to Jamel. 

I called ATT again and asked for a manager. I was told no manager was available. I called ATT again. Once again, no manager, but the agent told me my bill was de-combined because ATT de-combined everyone with home phone service. She told me I didn't understand billing and that ATT pre-bills. Because I paid my bill a couple weeks late each month, that's why I owe DirecTV 2 months. I pay every month. Each bill has been the normal amount of about $262. If I pay every month how can DirecTV be behind 2 months? If I have been receiving ATT bill of my normal amount how are they saying the bills have been separated? The payments I made have gone somewhere. We went around and around. She called DirecTV and the agent gave me the same answer about pre-billing. I pay every month. There is at least one payment that has not been applied to DirecTV. It's not possible to make a payment every month and be behind 2 months. Whether the bill is pre-billed, post-billed or anything else. She insisted that the bills had been un-combined into two separate bills. As of the day of the calls the ATT bills I have received have been the normal combined amount. The automated system gave me the normal combined amount when I called in to pay.  

The agent finally said that when the bill was de-combined it generated two charges - the regular combined bill and a separate DirecTV charge. Despite my husband being out of work because of a heart problem we make a payment every month. we have been customers for almost 20 years. ATT is cheating customers and over-billing. The customer service I have received was awful. They all just lied to get me off the phone. They didn't do anything to fix the problem. I will tell everyone I know about this horrible experience. I hope ATT continues to lose customers.  

My experience has been beyond awful.  I moved in May 2020.  I called to cancel my service, but planned to reconnect in my new house.  The rep told me the best way to do this was to suspend the service for six months.  I did that, and then had a DirecTV install in my house in August once the moving dust settled, well within my six month period.  In October, I was sent a bill for $416 dollars for an account at the house I no longer lived in.  Thinking this was an error on their backend (used the same name, email, phone number, SS#) on the account, and being I was a 20 year DirecTV customer, this would be a simple call to rectify.  NO.  They are claiming this is MY error, the reconnected account and the new account were both valid, they have ZERO responsibility since I agreed" to the disclosures, and now are seeking the $416 PLUS and early termination fee.  This is to a current and 20 year customer!  I am dumbfounded.  ATT has pretty much destroyed a great service, and looking at their customers as easy marks to squeeze is disgusting!  Plus, I've spoken with at least ten reps who have given me the runaround - they are all reps in a call center in Florida with NO POWER to solve the dispute, and no one from corporate to help in situations like this.  I am beyond disappointed and disgusted.

My experience has been beyond awful.  I moved in May 2020.  I called to cancel my service, but planned to reconnect in my new house.  The rep told me the best way to do this was to suspend the service for six months.  I did that, and then had a DirecTV install in my house in August once the moving dust settled, well within my six month period.  In October, I was sent a bill for $416 dollars for an account at the house I no longer lived in.  Thinking this was an error on their backend (used the same name, email, phone number, SS#) on the account, and being I was a 20 year DirecTV customer, this would be a simple call to rectify.  NO.  They are claiming this is MY error, the reconnected account and the new account were both valid, they have ZERO responsibility since I agreed" to the disclosures, and now are seeking the $416 PLUS and early termination fee.  This is to a current and 20 year customer!  I am dumbfounded.  ATT has pretty much destroyed a great service, and looking at their customers as easy marks to squeeze is disgusting!  Plus, I've spoken with at least ten reps who have given me the runaround - they are all reps in a call center in Florida with NO POWER to solve the dispute, and no one from corporate to help in situations like this.  I am beyond disappointed and disgusted.