Service Arrangements Communicated Over Phone Are Legally Binding

Service Arrangements Communicated Over Phone Are Legally Binding

I have been a Uverse customer for 3 plus years. I have the bundled service internet, cable, and house phone plus I have my cell phone service through ATT as well. In total I have been an ATT customer for 10 plus years. During this period, I have remained loyal disregarding competitor offers and sticking with ATT due to ease of use and quality customer service. In the Charlotte, NC area, we have Time Warner and Google Fiber both competing for new customers. Time Warner now has a Triple Play Package that offers internet and cable service for $106. Considering, this amount is 40% less than my current bill, I decided to contact ATT to see if a "loyal 10 year plus" customer could renegotiate his Uverse bill to a lower more competitive rate. I spoke with Tonya in the Charlotte Customer Retention Call Center and she gladly renegotiated, offering me a lower price $155(including taxes) plus providing me with additional channels (450  plan, adding all premium channels except Epix which she would still provide for 1 month). I gladly accepted and asked her to send me an email confirmation. I remember feeling proud of my relationship with ATT and my years of loyalty rewarded. However, when I got home I noticed that I didn’t have any of the features promised. I called Technical Support and they promised the updates would occur overnight but the following day nothing had changed. I called the service department again thinking there would be a simple fix or "flip of the switch" but was told that the Retention person (Tonya) provided bad information and they could not honor our agreement. As a local investment principal, I reactively confirmed whether lines are recorded during calls. I was told by 2 reps (Tajih-Charlotte) and a manager (Shah-Charlotte) that they can pull the calls and confirm the details of the new arrangement. Mistakenly, the manager (Tajih) said phone conversations are not legally binding, but in fact recorded calls are admissible in arbitration/legal proceedings. Its ashame that a 10 year customer has to employ his legal expertise to deal with a service issue. You might think that ATT would honor their agreement, apologize for any inconvenience, and be satisfied with another customer retention success. I hope this issue can be resolved amicably but I am prepared to take additional steps if needed. I’m also prepared to use social media sources to warn the Charlotte community of future potential retention issues with ATT. I’m sure aggressive sales campaigns from both TimeWarner and Google Fiber could potentially use this situation as an example of why to switch your service. 

If my business is a concern, please contact me to discuss further and we can hopefully work out a resolution where all parties are happy going forward.