quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
I only stay w the debil / ATT because the have the most consistent wireless service across the USA in the places I go for work.

We use their home internet service because it is also better in our area, however cutting the cord with their DirectTV and phone service was like a trip to hell.

“I got your home phone bill to $15/mo, why wont you stay?”

“Why should I pay you $15 for something I NEVER use”

<<<crickets crickets>>>

“I’m sorry we couldnt ‘save’ you...”

I had a similar call about 9 months ago w ATT when I cancelled my home phone as well. They got the bill down to $10 but I literally never used it. I finally got them to cancel the phone after what seemed like a 30 min call.

In my years I've dealt with many, many vendors of products and services, both professionally and privately. The thing that calls itself "at&t" these days is, without exception, the worst company with which I've ever dealt in either context. (It's not really AT&T. It's SBC renamed to AT&T.)

They bollixed things up so badly at my ex-employer's, one time, they ended-up accessing themselves an $8,000 penalty. I've had many happy days in my life. Two of the happiest were the days I told the thing that calls itself "at&t" to bugger off and never darken my doorstep again: First at work, then at home.

I would only ever use "at&t" if: 1. I needed the service and 2. There were no other choices. (At which point I'd re-access whether [1] was really "need" or merely "want.")

Absolutely horrible company.

Well, I have received my first notice from a collections agency. I knew this was coming and decided to call them. Of course they wanted me to pay the bill, but after a long explanation they stated they would recontact AT&T to see if the balances were wiped out due to the fact that services were cancelled within the 14 day period.

I figured it would be worth one more two hour phone session to call AT&T gain to ensure everything was taken care of. Lo and behold I was able to get a hold of US customer support agent who made sure that all balances were taken care of and assured me that there will be no more notices of unpaid balances.

It only took 55+ hours of my time and 3 months to correct an issue that AT&T created. I can only hope that this is truly over.

I hired on with Southern Bell, which became Bell South and then AT&T and retirement. About six months ago I left Comcast after 30 some odd years and went with AT&T. I was repeatedly told that the price would never increase, it would always remain the same. Here we are six months later and received an increased bill. I called AT&T finally got to speak with a person who's first language was not English. I was told to pay the bill or loose my service. I'm thinking about my next move. Apparently, my 36 + years of service mean nothing. Dean

It took me 8 months 5 phone calls, 6 office visits, and 3 collections notices to finally rid myself from Entouch. It all started with cancelling autopay only, and not the whole service to begin with.

quote:

Originally posted by Klusk2:
Well, I have received my first notice from a collections agency. I knew this was coming and decided to call them. Of course they wanted me to pay the bill, but after a long explanation they stated they would recontact AT&T to see if the balances were wiped out due to the fact that services were cancelled within the 14 day period.

I figured it would be worth one more two hour phone session to call AT&T gain to ensure everything was taken care of. Lo and behold I was able to get a hold of US customer support agent who made sure that all balances were taken care of and assured me that there will be no more notices of unpaid balances.

It only took 55+ hours of my time and 3 months to correct an issue that AT&T created. I can only hope that this is truly over.

File a complaint with your State Corporation Commission.

quote:

Originally posted by 225fan:
I hired on with Southern Bell, which became Bell South and then AT&T and retirement. About six months ago I left Comcast after 30 some odd years and went with AT&T. I was repeatedly told that the price would never increase, it would always remain the same. Here we are six months later and received an increased bill. I called AT&T finally got to speak with a person who's first language was not English. I was told to pay the bill or loose my service. I'm thinking about my next move. Apparently, my 36 + years of service mean nothing. Dean

And so it begins I just had my usual calls to ATT about my Direct TV bill jumping costs. Every year or two the promotions and/or deals made expire and you have to go to battle again. The representatives are getting harder to understand named Dave or Bill but can barely speak english. I sometimes ask them to repeat themselves because I didn't understand what words were used. Almost embarrassing myself because I often think it's me or I'm not hearing them as well, and thats a possibility too but more often than not it's the language barrier.

Anyway I spoke with Bill the first day and told him basically the truth, I live on a fixed SSDI income and no capacity to make more money and cannot afford their costs for service. I got so frustrated after 45min I actually gave up all the extras like STARZ pkg which I hardly use anyway, just to get the price down with internet that I can afford.

After a day of thinking I decided that I've no loyalties to any of these companies these days even after 30yrs of being a customer. You choose your poison ATT/Xfinity, so I called back and threatened to jump ship with one of Xfinity's triple play packages which was cheaper and more features. Now Dave is my rep and after almost an hour I finally got basically the same original package I had for cheaper than what Xfinity would charge...Go figure.

In any case it's only good for a year and I'll have to renegotiate again. I couldn't get him to lock in a two year contract

ATT U-verse was the only option we had 8 years ago in our area for high speed internet. We bundled in phone and TV. Fast forward and after multiple issues we had one leg out the door but were willing if they addressed multiple physical connection issues outside of the house. They shut our service off, then left us hanging while trying to correct. No detail, no answers not even “we will get this fixed on xxx days”.

I work from home frequently, we switched to comcast xfinity which had recently become available. Took two days, very simple and worked. Comcast is no great shakes but miles ahead of ATT.

ATT btw continued to charge us, gave me a bill for my cell phone data usage when they had taken us down and made it very difficult to correct. Took basically a day, visits to store, escalations to get fixed. They are so disconnected, fragmented and no one has a shred of an idea about customer service.

AT&T can blow me.

I got slammed by them years ago. One of their representatives signed me up for (land line) long distance service that NEVER ordered. Took me a long time and aggravation to get that problem resolved. Went to debt collection and everything. I've never had a ding on my credit score, always paid my bills on time... Until some asshole at AT&T screwed me.

US Cellular? Phenomenal service, and never dropped a call. I still find it strange that there's no US Cellular service in Chicago, but yet a rather large sports venue with "US Cellular" on the side of it....

quote:

I work from home frequently, we switched to comcast xfinity which had recently become available. Took two days, very simple and worked. Comcast is no great shakes but miles ahead of ATT.

FlyingScot, this is good to know because one of my comments to the last rep is that I just don't have any loyalties to most companies these days be it insurance companies, utilities or whatever. I researched the Xfinity triple play packages and they seemed quite reasonably priced and two year contracts which is a benefit. I get tired of having to hash it with these companies annually. If you continue to receive good service, please post a future thread review. I'd be interested as I've got 12mos to go!

Must be different areas are just that, different. I've had ATT for 20+ years and have always got great service from the local store. When Direct TV recently switched to ATT if was seamless. I'm glad, because they have the best service in this area.

I won't even go into the difficulties I've had in the last two weeks renegotiating my AT&T direct TV package and bill. My head would explode. They have changed what they agreed upon 4 times so far automatically and without my consent. I've told them to change my package and eliminate STARZ pkg completely and "Bob" in AZ finally did a few days back and now it's back into my programming and my last call I lost it with them and they reduced my direct TV bill to $84 mo with a Choice pkg with zero sports and no STARZ. Guess what, now I have both packages...AGAIN!!

quote:

Originally posted by maximus_flavius:
You can get screwed by Verizon, or you can get screwed by AT&T. Take your pick.

Or Comcast.
The grass is always greener with another service of what you already have.
It's why I don't view one any better or worse than the other.
I have seen plenty of issues with all of them.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:

quote:

Originally posted by maximus_flavius:
You can get screwed by Verizon, or you can get screwed by AT&T. Take your pick.

Or Comcast.
The grass is always greener with another service of what you already have.
It's why I don't view one any better or worse than the other.
I have seen plenty of issues with all of them.

You're on the money.Going thru the headaches of straightening out my account with AT&T I seriously gave it consideration to jump ship and go with XFinity but I always had that in the back of my mind that I'd possibly just be dumping one headache for another. In the last few days they changed my package once again but at this point I feel that it's just not worth the aggravation unless they seriously screw my bill up next month against what was finally agreed on.

I just finished my own AT&T nightmare. They started charging me full price for my "free" phone.

Took about 3 hours on the phone total, plus 4 visits to their local store over a period of 4 months.

Horrible company.

AVOID AT&T AT ALL COSTS.

Has anyone had any good experience with FirstNet?

Not asking about AT&T. I've had them in the past. A FirstNet person is at our station trying to get people to switch. I'm on nights so I didn't ask too much. I didn't like the answer when he said that I would have to get a phone from them. I said I have the latest iPhone, it should be band 14 enabled. They would just have to buy it out from TMO.

Chowser, I'm not entirely sure (I'll explain), but I thought FirstNet was a carrier-neutral Band 14 Emergency Services service that rode on top of your regular carrier, within the limitations of the phone. It does require a special SIM, that apparently provide different levels of services/access.

Explanation: I'll check with my son, who has been doing some FirstNet testing in a major market with a major carrier. He has the top level access for testing purposes. I'll ask him to confirm how this works when I talk to him tomorrow. Bill

Thanks.

My understanding is that I would get the FirstNet sim card (they’re calling it the black sim) so I would be able to access band 14. It also prioritizes my line on ATT towers. My kids would be given regular ATT sim cards. ATT handles the billing which is what I’m leery of.

I’m on TMOBILE now with an unlimited plan with four lines and free netflix for $160/month.
ATT/FirstNet looks to be a little cheaper but I would lose the Netflix but gain tethering and some other streaming access.

I’m also not interested in buying any phones from them. My kids all have unlocked and paid off phones.

Sorry it took so long to get an answer. As Chris (my son) tells me, FirstNet is "its own thing," meaning it is an independent service. He told me that the phone he's using for testing says FirstNet at the top of the screen, where mine says ATT. It is an independent carrier that rides on the ATT network, mostly as a result of ATT having developed FirstNet under contract to the federal government. Side question that I'll need to research: who owns FirstNet?

Yes, you would be able to access Band 14, and yes, you would be prioritized on ATT towers. But on ATT towers only.

Sounds like FirtNet might be pitching you a deal bundled with ATT?

Yes. FirstNet is trying to get us all on board and offering ATT for our family.
For me to leave TMO and switch to FirstNet/ATT would save me $6/month with zero phone purchases. I hate buying phones from providers. This was the hard part. They also keep wanting me to buy phones and add directv and att home internet. I told the person mention directv or home internet again and I will walk away. I don’t want that stuff. I don’t care if it will discount my phone plan. I haven’t turned on tv in years.

ATT cellular coverage is better than TMO in my area. I’m just still leery of switching again.

Tmobile isn’t helping because I’ve been experiencing random outages in service the last few days.