# Horribleest telephone customer service? Try ATT
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horribleest-telephone-customer-service-try-att/522122
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [December 21, 2009, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horribleest-telephone-customer-service-try-att/522122 "2009-12-21T23:04:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2009, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horribleest-telephone-customer-service-try-att/522122/1 "2009-12-21T23:04:37Z")
My experience told me ATT’s CS was pretty bad, and when the iPhone came out, locked into their servcice, the many complaints bore that out.
I had the occasion today to try to get a human being on their CS phone line. After hitting all the numbers on the keypad innumerable times, then just repeatedly hitting the 0, I finally got the recorded message, "All our representatives are helping other customers. Please stay on the line. The next representative will be with you in about (now, get this) **20 minutes**.
Gahhh, I gave up.
Anybody know a way to get a lucid human being at ATT? In less than 20 minutes wait, that is.
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### Author:  [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horribleest-telephone-customer-service-try-att/522122/2 "2009-12-21T23:15:12Z")
This time of year? No.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horribleest-telephone-customer-service-try-att/522122/3 "2009-12-22T00:38:19Z")
For a real horribleest, try [this](http://lifewithouttaffy.files.wordpress.com/2006/03/bigmouth.jpg).
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### Author:  [@ashenRiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashenRiot)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2009, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horribleest-telephone-customer-service-try-att/522122/4 "2009-12-22T00:41:18Z")
This site, [http://gethuman.com/](http://gethuman.com/) has a database of shortcuts and direct numbers for most companies. It’s worked for me every time. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horribleest-telephone-customer-service-try-att/522122/5 "2009-12-22T15:35:02Z")
I haven’t had to deal with AT&T recently so I put my vote in for Verizon. I don’t have time to type out all my problems with them but the most recent is that my phone line wasn’t working, I was told it was an inside problem and didn’t want to have someone in to fix it (need to do some major cleaning first) and I was thinking of dropping the land line for cable so asked to have the line put on vacation, they said sure and continued to bill me (knowing full well that I did not have a working phone line) and sent me to collections when I didn’t pay for my non-service.
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### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horribleest-telephone-customer-service-try-att/522122/6 "2009-12-22T16:16:19Z")
Huh. I just dealt with AT&T last night and had an excellent customer experience. Went in to add my MIL to my family plan, left with a fancy new phone that they let me have for upgrading my plan.
The key, IME, is to go to a brick-and-mortar site.
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### Author:  [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horribleest-telephone-customer-service-try-att/522122/7 "2009-12-22T17:11:57Z")
“Here at the Phone Company we handle eighty-four billion calls a year. Serving everyone from presidents and kings to scum of the earth. (snort) We realize that every so often you can’t get an operator, for no apparent reason your phone goes out of order [snatches plug out of switchboard], or perhaps you get charged for a call you didn’t make. We don’t care. Watch this [bangs on a switch panel like a cheap piano] just lost Peoria. (snort) You see, this phone system consists of a multibillion-dollar matrix of space-age technology that is so sophisticated, even we can’t handle it. But that’s your problem, isn’t it ? Next time you complain about your phone service, why don’t you try using two Dixie cups with a string. We don’t care. We don’t have to. (snort) We’re the Phone Company!”
– Lily Tomlin from “Saturday Night Live: The First 20 Years” (1994 Cader Company).
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### Author:  [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horribleest-telephone-customer-service-try-att/522122/8 "2009-12-31T16:35:24Z")
I called AT&T yesterday around 2:00 Pm to move my billing dat.e I got a person on the phone with no hold time by pressing 0, which is what the menu said to do, and had the issue resolved in under 5 minutes.
Maybe I just got lucky.
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### Author:  [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horribleest-telephone-customer-service-try-att/522122/9 "2009-12-31T17:20:04Z")
Sprint is the worst. I was about to deploy and I wanted to put my phone on hold. They do it, I’ve done it before. 20 minutes after being on hold I get through to someone who can’t speak English in department A. The transfers me to dept. B, who doesn’t speak English as well, who then transfers me to dept. A again, who was about to transfer me BACK to dept. B when the phone dropped. I called again, after another 20 minutes of hold I told the person that I wanted to speak with someone who I could understand. 10 minutes of hold later I got a nice sounding woman when my call dropped.
I canceled my service and will NEVER use Sprint again.
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horribleest-telephone-customer-service-try-att/522122/10 "2009-12-31T20:03:13Z")
ATT is bad, but not nearly as bad as Comcast and nothing is as bad as Dell. They get my award for the absolute worst do nothing I’ve ever dealt with.
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### Author:  [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2009, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horribleest-telephone-customer-service-try-att/522122/11 "2009-12-31T23:28:58Z")
> [@Chimera](#):
>
> We don’t care. We don’t have to. (snort) We’re the Phone Company!"
>
> – Lily Tomlin from “Saturday Night Live: The First 20 Years” (1994 Cader Company).
[Hulu link](http://www.hulu.com/watch/4163/saturday-night-live-ernestine).
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2010, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horribleest-telephone-customer-service-try-att/522122/12 "2010-01-01T00:14:53Z")
> [@Chimera](#):
>
> “Here at the Phone Company we handle eighty-four billion calls a year. Serving everyone from presidents and kings to scum of the earth. (snort) We realize that every so often you can’t get an operator, for no apparent reason your phone goes out of order [snatches plug out of switchboard], or perhaps you get charged for a call you didn’t make. We don’t care. Watch this [bangs on a switch panel like a cheap piano] just lost Peoria. (snort) You see, this phone system consists of a multibillion-dollar matrix of space-age technology that is so sophisticated, even we can’t handle it. But that’s your problem, isn’t it ? Next time you complain about your phone service, why don’t you try using two Dixie cups with a string. We don’t care. We don’t have to. (snort) We’re the Phone Company!”
>
> – Lily Tomlin from “Saturday Night Live: The First 20 Years” (1994 Cader Company).
See, that only made sense pre-1984, when AT&T was broken up in the States. Now there are many Phone Companies (local, long-distance, cellular, cable, VOIP…) which adds a whole other layer of finger-pointing to the issue. 🙂
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### Author:  [@truthbot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthbot)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horribleest-telephone-customer-service-try-att/522122/13 "2010-01-01T00:19:28Z")
I have to agree with **Rand**. My experiences with Sprint were so horrible, I began to refer to them as **Sprunt**.
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### Author:  [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2010, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horribleest-telephone-customer-service-try-att/522122/14 "2010-01-01T14:36:18Z")
My opportunity to bash Cox. Great tech service when you need it, but the billing department is stone aged.
I had a problem that needed to be sorted out with the billing department so I called them. A nice, polite person answered the phone and tried to help. After 6 minutes I was informed that they were not allowed to take more than 6 minutes for a call and that I would be transferred to a supervisor. I was transferred. The problem is the supervisor never answers the phone.
So try again, guess what? 6 minutes and side out once again. FRUSTRATING.
Cox, please quit calling and asking why I switched providers.
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### Author:  [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2010, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horribleest-telephone-customer-service-try-att/522122/15 "2010-01-01T15:39:34Z")
Just wanted to chime in with another vote for Sprint as the worst.