Bill and Service Rant - Chapter 2

The saga continues -

This morning I checked my e-mail and found that Jamison's actions had generated a confirmation. I clicked the link in the confirmation and found that the site was down temporarily. No problem - it happens to the best.

A couple of hours later I had time to try again and low and behold my order was - still wrong! Then there was that little beckoning "chat now" button. Why not? What's the worst that could happen?

Green enters the chat. I give Green the order number that I have and tell Green what is supposed to be going on with the order. I also let Green know that (s)he is my seventh contact trying to resolve this situation. No problem. I guarantee by the time we're done things will be resolved says Green.

A few more basic verification questions concerning the account and service that is supposed to be changing and Green asks me for my contact info. Then tells me that someone will contact me within 5 - 7 business days to confirm that everything has been fixed and guarantees me that it will be done before my next bill is generated. I explain that the next bill will be generated on Friday. Green says "I will mark this ticket immediate so it can be fixed before then".

At this point I was straight shooting with Green as I told him/her that if my bill lands and it isn't what I was promised I will be calling the competition and I will be done with you. This seemed to scare Green as Green. Green was even more concerned when I reiterated that (s)he was my seventh contact at ATT over this matter. When I further explained that my contacts had taken close to eight hours by this point Green hooked my up with Zach the supervisor.

Zach's name has not been changed as the others have been as Zach needs to be called out for his actions. Everyone else up to this point I could chalk up to human error or likely even ATT policy that prevents folks from telling customers "bad news" and forces them to blow sunshine and smoke instead. Zach is several orders of magnitude worse than that as you'll see in a moment.

Zach enters the chat. No information no contact for a couple of minutes.

I send a greeting. No response.

Are you there? After five minutes or so - yes, I'm here to help.

I ask to verify that Zach is indeed Green's Supervisor. After several minutes Zach confirms that he is. Then notes that if I need further assistance I will have to call the toll free number.

My reply was simple and to the point - If I have to leave the chat to call someone - it will not be you.

Zach seems to get the message and asks for a moment to review my prior conversation with, I'm assuming Green. I say OK and Zach says Thank you.

Ten minutes go by without any further interaction. Then I hear a chime to notify me that there is a message on the chat screen. By the time I turn to the computer and read the first message there is a second chime and message. The messages are quoted below:

Zach : Just checking to see if you are there so we can continue.

Zach : Please let me know if you're receiving my responses or I will need to end our session

By the time I had read the first message; Zach was gone. The time elapsed from first chime to Zach's exit was less than five seconds. Zach clearly does not need to be anyone's supervisor and likely does not need to work in a contact center. I know that is my opinion. But, that opinion is backed up by decades of customer service experience. A large potion of that experience was in a high volume call center. So, take it for what you think it's worth.

So now the sort of dilemma.

Do I follow through and call the competition? Their current packages are pretty sweet and the price is competitive or better.

Do I wait to see if someone calls me based on what Green put on the ticket he sent over to the nebulous "back office"?

I would hope that ATT actually monitors these forums like they used to and I would hear something based on that. But, that apparently isn't the way of things any more because a post like my original one would have garnered at least a "hello" within a few hours in days past. That post today has nothing but crickets chirping and it has been almost twenty four hours.

I can say that I'm seriously considering cancelling or at least changing the appointment that I have for someone to update my system on Friday. And straight out cancelling it is at the forefront of my thoughts.

So, why cancel?

Pretty simple; I expect to be slammed with a high bill for services I won't have and won't be using with the promise that all the overages will be credited back to me next month. This in spite of the fact that I have done everything right on my end. I have made the contacts I should have. I have done it in plenty of time to prevent the issue.

So, why will there be an issue?

ATT is big.

ATT is old.

ATT is slow to learn.

ATT simply doesn't give to squirts of rat's tinkle about me as an individual customer.

I dare anyone at ATT to prove me wrong.