I got a new phone several weeks ago. I’m not sure of the exact date since I misplaced the paperwork and yes, that’s my fault.
I’m having problems with the phone and I wanted to know where to take it. If I’ve had it 30 days or less I can take it to the store where I got it. If it’s been longer, I have to take it to a local AT&T service center.
So I called the store where I got it to find out how long I’ve had it. I was told “we can’t look it up over the phone”.
Me: “But you can look it up”.
Him: “Not over the phone”.
Me: “I have to come into the store?”.
Him: “Yes”.
This is obviously a policy designed to make it less likely that I’ll take it in within the 30 day period during which I can exchange it for a different model or cancel or change my contract.
Okay, I understand that I should have kept better track of the paperwork, so this is partly my fault. But that’s beside the point. This policy is just wrong.
It’s customer service that is designed, not for the convenience of the customer, but as a roadblock. That is not what “customer service” means!
This is the pit so I’ll throw in an obligatory dammit.
Unless I really really love the product, that’s reason enough for me to bring it back to the store in person, demand to speak with the store manager, and return (not repair or replace) the product, cancel the contract, or whatever, to make it clear that I won’t be doing business with them again. Unless they can give me a really convincing reason.
I agree that this place has awful customer service and that you should just return the phone and go buy one someplace else.
Can you look back at your bank transactions to find the date when you purchased the phone? Or if you could remember other things you did that same day, find the transactions for those? Or call AT&T and ask them what day you activated the new phone.
Put on your detective hat and you’ll have the answer in five minutes.
Oh, I’m sure I can find the answer, and I would have to go to the store anyway if I’m within the 30 days and want to return it, but that’s beside the point.
The point is the frigging store withholding frigging information from the customer so that he’ll come into the store or so that he doesn’t realize that today is the last of his 30 days.
No it’s not - it’s a symptom of ordering and customer service systems that were designed in the 1960s and are still in use today. They are too costly to replace so they have been patched over and “upgraded” so many times that even the people who maintain them aren’t really sure exactly what they do or how they’ll react to even a minor change. I know of what I speak.
Is it stupid and counterproductive? Absolutely.
Is it a conspiracy to screw you? Not in the least.
What sort of system only works when you’re physically present? Do they have to take your fingerprints or scan your retinas or something? Do they have to have the phone in hand simply to tell me when I purchased it?
What were they selling in the 60s that had similar usage and billing patterns to cellphones?
Are you saying that they’re using old Bell Telephone mainframe punch card billing systems that have been upgraded and patched to work with modern in-store computer displays?
So I just went in to “My Profile” and under the tab called “User Information” found my contract end date. Which is exactly two years after my contract beginning date. So I purchased my phone on October 6th.
Seems like modern methods to me. Took me less than 60 seconds.
What you’ll often find is that when you visit the cellular store the person helping you will call another office, literally hand you the phone, and the rep on the other end will verify your account information.
You are allowed to access certain info about your own account online if you have a password or some other identifying info, but this info is no where near real time.
If you’re making a change to your account we may need to verify that this is in fact your account and that your account is active and in good standing.
When you’re talking about a nationwide telecommunications company your address info may be in a data center in St. Louis, your billing info in a data center in Chicago, your credit info somewhere in Saginaw Michigan, and your account info in Indianapolis.
A service representative may need to pull up each one of these systems, each on a different 8270 emulator screen, verify you not only are the owner of this account but that your credit is valid, verify the terms of the contract you have, and determine if we can do what you’re asking.
In order to perform these functions the service rep must enter a series of commands (no point and click windows like interface) on the command line. The reference books for these commands take up huge rooms of 3 ring binders. There are dozens of different screens to access in each system. There are different systems for each region and state. There are different regulatory rules that must be followed for accessing this information in each and every region and state. This is a very specialized and highly trained job.
The representatives that perform these functions work in offices that have HUGE data pipes so they can work with these nationwide data repositories.
I must be the only person on the planet who loves AT&T customer service. They have always been helpful, never been rude, and have given me exactly what I’ve asked for every single time.
If you’re having trouble with your phone go into the store. Bring a book or an ipod because you may have to wait, but they will fix your phone. If you didn’t break it yourself (which it doesn’t sound like you did) they’ll fiddle with it until it’s not broken or replace it with one that isn’t broken. You did buy the $50 insurance that covers your broken phone no matter what crazy thing you did to it…right?
Well it’s not like customer service did anything wrong in this case, so the rep may have been very pleasant and professional, just wasn’t able to give the customer what he wanted, and therefore sucks (to the OP). :rolleyes:
Yeah, I hear you. But here’s a short list of things they’ve said yes to when I called to ask:
My phone went into a hot tub, can you help me?
-Yes, just pop it in the mail and we’ll send you a new one.
My teenagers went text crazy with their new cell phones and my bill is $400. I don’t have $400. can you help me?
-Sure, we’ll just backdate a better service plan , which brings your bill down to…$150. Do you have that?
I’ve had my Blackberry for a year now but the thingie on the front just popped right out, can you help me?
-Sure, let’s put a credit on your account and …you say you’re calling from Oregon where there’s no sales tax so a new Blackberry will cost you…oh…$40.
So I get that sometimes they say no and that sucks, but I’ll be their customer for life.
Did you buy the phone with cash, or something? If you used a check, credit card, or debit card, your online banking/cc website should have a record of the transaction.
I get your point, zoid, about getting information in real time, and if the OP needed information from the previous day or something, the website wouldn’t have that online yet - but that isn’t his case. It was weeks ago, possibly past his 30 day return limit. He could have looked it up in a few seconds. Sometimes embracing the new technology (web) and bypassing the old (call center) can be a real time and frustration saver.
The couple of times I’ve needed to get real-time human help from AT&T, I’ve always been very happy with the results. That’s why I’ve been a cellular customer since 1995.
It sounds like your beef isn’t with ATT customer service (had you called the 800 number to corporate, I’m sure they’d have helped you), but rather with an authorized retailer being a dick. This is exactly why I only buy from actual ATT stores, not franchises— the franchise stores have proven to 100% be a pain in the ass any time I’ve encountered them.
Our cells are through a small regional provider, and they have a policy of not giving out any sort of account information except in person and with a photo ID. And usually not even then if whoever originally set up the account didn’t put you on The List of people who can make changes to the account.
This is not something they dreamed up at random to be a huge steaming pain in your ass, though it sometimes works out that way. It’s something they put in place to protect your private information and stop people fucking with your account.
I had a really unhappy experience dealing with Sprint customer service when I switched over for the iPhone I just bought.
After I got it in the mail, I called to get it set up, and they told me that my number was scheduled to port over on Oct 30, and they couldn’t change it. I looked it up online and the FCC says that numbers have to be ported within 1 business day. I called back and got the same “can’t change it”. I asked to speak to a supervisor, and cited the FCC’s requirement. The guy on the phone put me one hold, then came back in a few minutes (same guy) and told me that
So, apparently, the policy is to directly lie to the customer and not uphold the FCC’s requirements for number portability until they ask to speak to a supervisor and indicate that they know what the rules are. Note that this wasn’t tier one support; I was calling directly to the Sprint Number Porting center.
I was told twice by AT&T engineering that high-speed wasn’t available in my building, even though others have it. A new resident, more persistent, found that while we write our apartments “N123” the AT&T computer has them “123 north.” So now I have connection through the building management’s system - which I believe works through AT&T!