Customer Service Rep just lied to me and admitted they lied

Just to be clear, your original complaint was that you could not take a faulty DVR "in" and switch it for a new one?  If that's the case, then no one lied to you. 

When you have faulty equipment (DVR/STB/RG) it can be remedied one of two ways:  You call CS, tell them you DVR is bad, they send you a new one and you mail the bad one back via UPS -OR- you call CS, request a truck roll, have the tech replace it and you get billed a fee ($49/$99?)

If your complaint is that someone lied about their employee number, then that's a different issue.

The policy is what it is.  We all abide by it.

No I never said they lied about the DVR box.  What they lied about was when I asked to speak to the supervisor or manager of the rep I was speaking to, they said they were transferring to them, but what they actually did was to get someone that they are the supervisor of to PRETEND to be the manager.  So instead of going up the command line I was going down and they lied about it.  And when I asked the person who I thought was the manager for a direct contact number or extensions number they said they didn't have one but could give me their agent ID.  They volunteered to do this.  I wouldn't have even thought to ask for that.  But then when I asked for the previous reps agent ID he told me he hadn't given me his ID number by had actually given me the case number.  He admitted to me he lied.

I am in the process of filing a complaint with the State PUC regarding the California Lifeline.  In fact, the PUC has a dedicated department just for the California Lifeline.  I've been trying to get an application since February. 

They lie to me just about every time I have to deal with them.  Wait. EVERY time.  I spent today waiting for a technician because my father's phone showed a line problem.  The PROBLEM with that is that we had a technician out yesterday and he replaced our router.  Everything is fine, but I needed the rep. to open a port for surveillance remote viewing.  He said that since there was a problem with the line, he couldn't do it.  I persisted and he put me on hold several times and said he couldn't do it. 

The technician got here and said he was positive that there was nothing wrong with my line and that he rep. probably didn't know how to do what I had asked.  He Googled the process and started helping me because he was a really nice guy.  He said that it wasn't in his scope, but he I think he was being a good human being.  I suggested that we call the surveillance company and was able to relieve him of the duty.  I spent two hours on the phone with a very nice lady who figured out how to open my port so I could view remotely.

Problem I have with this.  He LIED, I needed my cameras because I am going back to work after 20 years and have one camera as a "daddy cam" so I can see my 86 year old dad.  New work starts tomorrow and I had appointments and a nephew to pick up.  I was late picking him up, missed my and my dad's appointments, wasted a technician's time and a surveillance lady's time and ATT could have done what I asked in 5 minutes.  I HATE being lied to.  I shake when I have to call ATT.  I am not kidding.  Oh, and I checked...he NEVER EVEN CHECKED THE TELEPHONE LINE. 

They have lied to me on every phone call.  I thought it was poor training in the Phillipines, but what seemed to be a nice lady did the same thing with regard to California Lifeline.  She was in the United States.  I am not putting down other countries.  I get the Phillipines all the time when dealing with Amazon. 

Then there was the time when I had bundled service way back when and because of an error where ATT charged my $700 per month for three months because of a cell phone plan that they mistakenly charged me .35 per minute for, I was told each month first that they would correct the bill, then that they didn't know what happened and they would call me, then the third month at $2,400, they said that there was a note in my file that my bill was not to be adjusted.  I cried to the lady on the phone that I was a single mother with three small children, there had been a mistake and I was going to lose my internet, cell phone, land line and cable and if she had a heart she would NEVER tell anyone to bundle their service because all you need is one mistake on ATT's part and you lose all communication with the outside world.  I was difficult for me to leave the house sometimes with them being so young.  She could have cared less and told me I owed the money. It gets worse when they were trying to collect, but I will spare you.  I called Finney on Your Side on ABC Channel 7 and he finally got them to apologize to me and relieve the debt...That was like, 5 years  later.  I feel sick every time I have to think of ATT.

I am not kidding and I am making a complaint to the PUC regarding the California Lifeline.  I will make a complaint regarding today also.  Thank you for sharing.  Everyone who has a problem with ATT should try dealing with it with them and WHEN it doesn't get resolved, make a complaint with your state's Public Utilities Commission.  PLEASE!

Grace

By the way, to be clear, I have never in my life made a complaint to any government agency against a company.  I spent the morning dealing with trying to get an application for California Lifeline then spoke with PUC who told me to fill out a complaint form because ATT never attempted to send me an application or contact Lifeline to send me one even though they said they did and that they couldn't help it if I didn't receive it.  Then I wasted my PRECIOUS time with ATT instead of my family because a liar would rather do that then say they don't know and try to find out.  People have to be held accountable for their actions.  I am not happy to do this. I just wanted to put that out there.  I have not been treated well by ATT at all.

I emailed the CEO with my AT&T experience and actually received a call in response.  When discussing how they misled and lied to me about talking to a supervisor I was told that the customer service reps are told to lie, at least about speaking to a supervisor.  I was told the supervisors are usually busy so the public doesn't actually get to speak to them and when you think you are being transferred up the chain of command that it always just someone else in the office, doing the same job as the person you are speaking with.  THEY TELL THEIR EMPLOYEES TO LIE ON PURPOSE.  It wasn't the rep who came up with the idea to pretend her coworker was her supervisor.  THIS IS WHAT AT&T TRAIN THEIR REPS TO DO, TO LIE TO CUSTOMERS.

If you have a Directv account simply call and ask for the Loyalty/Retention Department- we are capable of helping you in ways no other department can. Please call and ask for this department anytime you call Directv.

You have got to be kidding me... Direct TV's Loyalty/Retention Deptartment is a joke! I am sooooo glad that I no longer have DirectTV... I absolutely hated DirectTV and the day my contract was up, I cancelled the Service... no amount of money, credit to my account or "Free" premium channels could have kept me with DirectTV!!! 

Well I sincerely love my job there.  I  don't know the specifics and I sincerely apologize that we made you so very angry. I am sad that there is not a some kind of ... Something...  In cases where it is just so evident with certain folks that not handling an issue immediately  it simply Adds fuel to the fire.  I research all-day on calls and between calls to study my CPS.  I personally take pleasing the customer very seriously.  To me a customer is like gold.  I have faith in my company.  I do.  They just need some suites into our call center and spend 40 hours on phone.  See what issues are.  So,  well I appreciate your honesty.  

It’s sad that the several times I had to call DTV that I never got a customer service rep like you that actually cared about their job or the customer... the service did get better when AT&T bought DTV out... the biggest problem I had was that my husband and I were LIED to by one of the sales reps to get us to switch over to DirectTV... when I called to get things straightened out, I was told there was nothing that could be done and I was stuck with a 3 year contract. But the person who lied to get my patronage was fired because apparently, I wasn't the only customer he had done this to! So, for the next three years, I endured service failure after service failure, bill discrepemcies and just bad service all the way around... it wasn't until AT&T bought out DirectTV that I actually got someone on the line with me that listened to what I had to say and sent someone over to my house to check my lines. I had so many disruptions in service that I was paying for service I couldn’t even use. A squirrel could pass gas on the fence and my service would go Out! Turned out, the inept person who installed the cabling, instead of using cable clips like he was supposed to, STAPLED the cable into the brick veneer and the staples went through the cable causing interruption in the signals... we had to have the entire house rewired! I had TWO MONTHS left on a 3 year contract when someone actually took the time to do their job... so, yeah I had a terrible experience with DirectTV and nothing short of me living out in the boonies could ever make me return to them... I am glad there is customer service reps like you who care about their job... I just wish I had the chance to speak to you a LONG time ago... maybe then something would have been different...

You are most welcome... I went back to Uverse... I wish I had never left it but the offer to switch to DirectTV was such a great offer, I couldn’t refuse... turned out, it was too good to be true...  one thing I learned, if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is... when the Uverse installer came out to set everything up, I literally followed him around to make sure things were done correctly... he thought it was funny until I told,him why and then he was like, "that’s f'ed up. Don’t worry, your lines are installed correctly and I only have to run a new line to the back room since that is where you want the master box to be." He was cool about it... it's been 6 months and ZERO service problems or interruptions... just wish this silly Screen Saver thing could be disabled..... oh well c’est la vie!!!! Have a nice evening....

I have the same problem with ATT CONSTANTLY LYING TO ME AND MY HUSBAND CONSTANTLY! Then they call me a liar LOL when I call them on the carpet for ONCE AGAIN BEING LIED TO! I HATE ATT WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING and I am STUCK WITH THEM BECAUSE I HAVE NO OTHER INTERNET PROVIDER!!! They are liars, liars, liars and anyone who has to deal with them will find themselves confirming the same exact lies!!!

I have been lied too MULTIPLE MULTIPLE TIMES by ATT!! I AM SO FED UP WITH CALLING THESE LIARS TRYING DESPERATELY TO GET THEM TO DO WHAT THEY TOLD ME THEY WERE GOING TO DO AND HAVE HEARD WE'RE SO SORRY MA'AM WE SEE YOU HAVE CALLED BEFORE ABOUT THIS SUBJECT WE WILL FIX THE SITUATION, AND GUESS WHAT NO ONE SHOWS UP, OR MY APPT FOR SERVICE IS RESCHEDULED WITHOUT CALLING OR NOTIFYING ME OR ASKING IS THIS AN ACCEPTABLE TIME FOR YOU? I SIT AND WAIT AND WAIT AND WAIT AND NO ONE SHOWS UP, OR CALLS!! THEY HAVE THE NERVE TO TELL ME THAT'S NOT WHAT WE SAID, AND THEN GO LOOK AND SAY YES U R RIGHT WE'RE SO SORRY WE WILL FIX THIS....YEAH RIGHT IT NEVER HAPPENS EVERI AM OWED MONEY BY ATT THAT THEY TELL ME THEY DON'T OWE ME, AND I AM STUCK BECAUSE I HAVE NO OTHER INTERNET PROVIDER TO CHANGE TOO!!! I HATE ATT AND THEY ARE CHRONIC LIARS!!!!!!!

I would like to add that I did contact the office of the CEO and received a call from someone who worked for him.  When I asked him about the reps lying to me when they said they were transferring my call to a supervisor but really just transferred me to a different rep who pretended to be a supervisor, he said that was AT&T policy.  They tell their reps to lie to customers.  You never get to speak with a supervisor even when they tell you that you are.  He told me that supervisors don't have time to speak to customers so they tell their reps to lie to customers, transfer to another rep who pretends to be a supervisor.  THIS IS ATT POLICY.  THEY ARE TOLD TO LIE TO CUSTOMERS.  

SMH!  I am so exasperated with ATT's crap!  I too have been lied to, hung up on, spoken to rudely, given bogus numbers, told I cannot be transferred, transferred to people who where apparently charading as someone they were not, denied by the online electronic system, yada, yada yada!  I had been an ATT customer for the better part of 20 years.  I have no plans to EVER return!  They are unduly expensive and have poor customer service.  If they taught their people to tell the truth and actually help the customer maybe they could bring down their prices because they would not have to deal with so many complaints!