Why does AT&T insist on being difficult to do business with?

I feel your pain..... Dalvin in the Philippines and Mae have frustrated me to the point of calling Time Warner. My receiver Motorolla VIP2250 has been out for several days. I was told that a technician would be out June 1,2016 between 4pm and 8pm but of course the order was not keyed in properly. When I asked for a tier 2 tech in the USA I was placed on a silent hold for 48 minutes. I called back and asked for a tier 2 tech and was told that she was a tier 2 tech in the Philippines. I finally got a tech in Detroit and got my receiver ordered. If I know that my receiver is out why must you ping my Modem and read all of the crap off of that script sheet telling me Federal Regulations require that they ask me for my phone number. Oh by the way I have AT&T Wireless, Internet and Uverse but it is obvious that I am not a VALUED CUSTOMER.....

Hi

Sorry for the experience you had with us here in support.

For your first issue, we are required to ask for your cellphone number, as dispatch info & equipment replacement info is sent thru text or automated phone call. You can always decline the cellphone number. We will understand and not force you to provide one.

For your third issue, other than the 4 digit passcode we still have other ways to authenticate the account (it is important that we authenticate before giving out information off of your account or make any changes so we know we are speaking to the right people). We still have your security question and the contact phone number on the account. Once you can provide us with either one, we will gladly update your passcode for you. I think billing can also provide you with a temporary pin if ever you aren't able to answer any of the authentication questions. We don't have any information about your SSN though that's why we dont ask for the last 4 digits as authentication. 

Hopefully these will shed some light to your issues.

t6michisis,

Thanks for the reply. As a career IT person desiging and implementing customer facing applications for over 30 years I know all too well when systems and processes require key contact data and who ususally drives that request and why. I get it. But asking for a mobile number as the first question upon picking up the call is purely bad design and obviously driven by Marketing, not Customer Support. I have found the battle against such bad designs many, many times over the years.

And for what it is worth, there is a bit of a hard sell in the script. It took me getting more harsh than I wanted to stop them from continuing to ask me for the mobile number even after I made it clear that I do not ever give it out. Asked and answered 2-3 times and finally needed to clearly state to not asked me for the number again. That is a hard sell.

I have reset and noted my security questions. I suggest that making it clear to the customer how to reset the PIN (I am assuming that PIN and Passcode are the same thing) either directly or via Support action should be done. As things stand right now there is ZERO reference to resetting the PIN anywhere on the main site. Relying on a community formum like this to convey such information is simply not wise.

Having been a Maw Bell/AT&T customer for over 30 years, it grieves me to write this.  My husband and I called on 4/20/16 to inquire how to best handle our current services (U-Verse voice/internet, cell phones, and Direct TV) since we were moving out of state.  Ms. Pat was very helpful and suggested we temp "suspend" U-Verse voice/internet and Direct TV).  About two weeks later we contacted AT&T to "reconnect' and found out that U-Verse was not offered in our area (Maryland), but that Direct TV may be available (hopefully with a good reception read).  We ended the conversation to discuss our options.  After much discussion, we decided to go with another company altogether.  So we called back to cancel ALL services.  Checked account online and noticed that nothing had been canceled.  So we called again.  Checked acccount online, still nothing.  After the second attempt, we realized that the left hand didin't know what the right hand was doing.  And as instructed, we waited for instruction on where/when/how to return equipment (internet router and tv receivers).

We FINALLY recieved an email with instruction on how to return the router.  As instructed, we printed the instructions and took them to a local UPS Store.  The staff there apparenlty was clear on what to do because one too many options popped up on the screen when they scanned my bar code.  Plus, no address was shown as to WHERE to send the router.  Later my husband overheard a worker telling another customer that UPS no longer does this!  Confusion, confusion.  We still aren't clear on this procedure and can't get any answers over the phone with AT&T.  And we still haven't received the shipping boxes for the tv receivers either.  We've been informed that we would be charged for these items if not returned!!!  

Checked online again 6/1/16, still no cancellation...still showing "suspended".  My husabnd called again yesterday on his cell phone, spoke with first Lydia, then Amber, being placed on hold a number of times from 6:10 pm to 7:30 pm, he gave up.  Surprising, Page called back on MY cell phone to explain "something" (Lord knows what), but wanted my husband to hold for another 10 minutes or so...and said that he needed to be ON THE PHONE while she address this problem.  My husband calmly shared with Ms. Page that we were standing outside the church buildng and wasn't going to give AT&T any more of his time since he had been on hold for 1 hr and 20 minutes prior to her call.  He requested that once she completed her task, she could call us back or email us her actions.  

Well, we received an email today.  No verbage, no message, nothing attached.  Subject read AT&T Order Confirmation: Your Order Update.  Now what is that suppose to mean?

Maybe our local tv station can help us get to the bottom of this, or the FCC.    

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@mgriffith wrote:

I have, unfortunately, been forced to call AT&T Support several times for different reasons recently. I cannot state that I found the experience pleasant.

 

First: Please stop asking for customer's cell number. Especially as the first thing spoken by the support rep. I - like many people - do not give out my cell number. Ever. Especially when the stated reason for getting it is to contact me regarding "AT&T products and services". That is blatently spamming and I do not ever want to be spammed on my cell phone. Is it too much to expect the first question from support to be what they can do to help me?

 

Second: Please bring your support operations back to the same country as the customers. Or at least insure that your phone support reps accents can be deciphered by your primary customer base. It is frustrating and non-productive to seek support only to be virtually unable to communicate with the person answering the call.

 

Third: Either eliminate the requirement for an account PIN or provide the customer with a clear method to either retrieve or reset it. PIN numbers set years before and never referenced are completely and utterly useless.

 

You seriously need to take a hard look at your policies and proceedures. As they stand they make customers like me pause and take a hard evaluation of my alternatives. And there are numerous alternatives to AT&T now.

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1. Then give them your landline number. Problem solved.

2. The person with the hardest accent to understand I've ever met was a hotel worker in Tennessee with a deep southern drawl. Should AT&T ensure no call centers are in the South, too?

3. It's not AT&T's fault your forgot your PIN. It is also easy to reset; simply give them the answer to the security question. Once you have verified your identity, they will change your passcode. 

Short answers as I am pressed for time.

Yes. Call centers in Tenn should insure that whomever is answering calls is able to communicate in a clear manner. While I am southern myself and love a southern drawl, it has no place anywhere in public communications.

As to the PIN and security questions, whereas I have a memory and recall capabilities most people would envy, and I have always made concerted efforts to maintain records of all my codes, passwords, security questions and the like, even I have been subjected to periodic system events that trashed them.

Expecting anyone to maintain these things for more than a decade is not practical. Nor is it reasonable to not provide any reference to the customer on how to deal with such missing values - even if that reference is 'call us'. Nor did any of the individuals with whom I spoke offer up the option of resetting the PIN for my account while we were on the phone.

This whole accent thing is offensive to me and my senses.  I've (proudly) got a thick Texas drawl.  I know a brilliant attorney who has an even thicker accent than I do.  We call it an EAST Texas drawl. I guess it's a good thing that I have no desire to go into "public communications". 

...and yes, write down all passwords and/or PIN numbers and answers to those goofy questions (Who's your favorite super hero?).  I've told my kids where all my passwords are in case anything ever happens to me.  It's a real pain if your family must access info and don't have your passwords.

After hearing that My Space was hacked, I was able to log into my page today (yes, after 10 years) because the password was written down. 

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@mgriffith wrote:

Short answers as I am pressed for time.

 

Yes. Call centers in Tenn should insure that whomever is answering calls is able to communicate in a clear manner. While I am southern myself and love a southern drawl, it has no place anywhere in public communications.

 

As to the PIN and security questions, whereas I have a memory and recall capabilities most people would envy, and I have always made concerted efforts to maintain records of all my codes, passwords, security questions and the like, even I have been subjected to periodic system events that trashed them.

 

Expecting anyone to maintain these things for more than a decade is not practical. Nor is it reasonable to not provide any reference to the customer on how to deal with such missing values - even if that reference is 'call us'. Nor did any of the individuals with whom I spoke offer up the option of resetting the PIN for my account while we were on the phone.

 

 

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Not practical? Do you feel the same way about the PIN on your debit card?