I've had my issues with AT&T in the past. Lots and lots of issues. By the end of last year, I was ready to kick them to the curb, but I found out a little secret: Twitter. If you contact AT&T via Twitter, mores specifically, if you contact Team Natasha (or @ATTTeamNatasha) you can get things resolved by intelligent people who know how their own system works and people who treat you like a human being. Ever since I figured this out, whenever I have a problem or question, I hop on Twitter and contact Team Natasha, and everything is fabulous.
Customer Service is EVERYTHING to me.
And that's why Comcast and I officially broke up this week. Well, that and I got to the point where I couldn't pay $180 a month for cable and internet. I called and made an effort to lower my bill, and they told me the only way they could do that was for me to give up my DVR, and that would only be something like $17 a month. But even more than the prices, I can't anymore with the scripted ESOL customer service reps. I just can't. And when you do reach someone who speaks fluent English, nine times out of ten it's some snotty-ass bitch who acts like she's doing you a favor. A few months ago, I had an issue with Comcast, so I learned from my AT&T experience and took to Twitter. Comcast Cares is the biggest oxymoron known to man. I had to harass him to get a response and even then, the dude treated me as if I woke him up from a nap and asked him to grab me a Diet Coke out of the fridge.
So, naturally, when I figured out I was going to have to split with Comcast, I decided to give AT&T a try. They've been harassing me to get U-Verse for what feels like 500 years, and because I really liked Comcast's service better (I've been in other homes with U-Verse), I've always turned it down. These days, they're offering rates that really can't be beat, though, so I gave them a call and got it all squared away. They lady who helped me was really nice, and I was really happy with my decision.
U-Verse was supposed to be installed last Thursday, but my mom has been having some health issues, and I ended up having to take her to the doctor that day (plus, I needed to do some cleaning before I let a stranger come dig around my house - I've hardly been home, other than to sleep, in a month), so I called them on Wednesday morning to see if I could postpone the date. The lady who I spoke with told me I couldn't postpone the dates, because I couldn't get U-Verse.
What? You've been harassing me about getting it for the last year, at least, and I finally sign up to do it, give you all my personal info, and the day before I'm supposed to have it installed, I find out I can't have it? Not only that, but I have to call you to figure it out?
She switched me over to technical support, and a really nice guy ran some kind of tests, or so he said, and he claimed it was showing that my service would be spotty at best. I explained that my aunt who just lives down the street from me has it, and she has not had many problems, but apparently, there was nothing he could do.
He switched me over to another lady who tried to sell me Direct TV. I told her I was probably interested as my choices are becoming very limited, but I would need to look into it a little more. She also told me I'd have to pay a fee upfront that I didn't have at that the moment, and then were was an issue of having to clear my U-Verse order out of the system before she could set up the Direct TV. I would also be getting regular internet from AT&T (no the U-Verse plan).
In the end, the nice lady in sales told me she'd call me back at the first of this week to get everything squared away for sure and set up installation appointments. I told her that was fine, and I settled in for another weekend spent working at my parents house. But I tried to stay positive.
Monday came and no call from AT&T's nice sales lady.
Tuesday came and no call from AT&T's nice sales lady.
Wednesday came, and for the first day in forever I planned to sleep late before getting up to run some errands. So, around 9:30 am, when I got a call from a blocked number, I was not amused. I answered it and hung up and laid my head down on my pillow to go back to sleep, but they called again. I listened to the voice-mail they left. It was a guy from AT&T telling me he was there to install my services.
What?
I sat up, wondering what to do. Here's thing, and this may be TMI, but....I sleep naked. And 99% of my clothing is in the laundry room. My laundry room is fairly large, and I am fairly lazy about taking my clean clothes back to my bedroom. I usually keep some pajamas by my bed in case of an emergency, but on the one night I don't, I wake up to some strange guy calling me and knocking on my door with the intention of installing some services I never signed up for. And the way my house is laid out, I would have had to run by the door he was at to get to my bathroom or laundry room to throw on some clothes. Ugh.
I decided I just wouldn't go to the door. He'd realize no one is home and go away, and I could go back to sleep. While I'm sitting there waiting for him to go away and for my dogs to stop barking like the world is coming to an end, my landlord called to tell me there is an AT&T guy at my house (she lives across the street), but I remained strong (and by strong, I mean huddled in a corner of my bedroom where you can't see me from any of the windows or doors).
Finally, he quit knocking, the dogs quit barking and I wanted to go back to sleep, but I really had to pee. And the dogs were dancing around like they, too, had to pee. So, I got up in all my nakedness, let them out, and I went to the bathroom. While I was in the bathroom, I heard the dogs start barking again, and it took me a minute to realize there was someone outside. I, still naked, went to the window to try to figure out what was going on, and I realized AT&T guy was still there! I was mortified.
So, I ran to the laundry room, threw on the first thing I could find and went to the door where Doug Heffernan was standing, scratching his head. I went outside and apologized for the delay, and I told him that I hadn't ordered any services. He told me I had. I told him I hadn't. This went back and forth for a while, and then the guy started laughing.
I just looked at him, and he said, "I have to tell you, it's a good thing you want to cancel [I'd argue you can't cancel something you never ordered, but whatever], because in all my 30 years of doing this, I've never been down this road, and I really can't figure out how to hook it up anyway."
He continued to talk, but I can't remember what he said. I gave up on sleeping late. I tried to call AT&T, but the wait time was unusually long for me to talk to another human being, so I hung up and went about my day.
Needless to say, I still don't have internet or cable and as far as I know, I have no plans to get it. At this point, I don't know where or how to get it. I've heard so many bad things about Direct TV after talking to other people about it, and I can't even get in touch with anyone at AT&T when I call the number I was given for cable/internet services.
AT&T, I have tried to love you. I have sang your praises in light of my recent Comcast woes, despite the fact that you nearly ruined my Christmas last year by charging unauthorized payments to my checking account. (Thankfully, my bank and a lady from Team Natasha realized the error and fixed it.) But you are making it nearly impossible for me to love you.
I feel like I'm back in high school, and the guy I like doesn't like me back. And it's not even my first choice for a guy, but the back-up guy I chose because the guy I really liked turned out to be a jerk. But I'm not looking for a lifetime of happiness, just some fairly inexpensive cable and internet services that will prevent me from having to spend long days at my parents' house, using their computer and allow me to watch something on TV besides religious channels and home-shopping networks.
Is that too much to ask?
If you don't like me, just let me know. I'll just keep paying my cell phone bill each month, and we can pretend none of this ever happened, but please, for the love of God, stop leading me on. Stop danging these amazing deals in my inbox and my mailbox when I can't have them. Stop trying to sell them to me when I call you if there is an issue with my iPhone. Stop telling me you'll call me and then leaving me sitting by the phone. Stop agreeing to dates and then postponing them at the last minute. My heart can't take much more.
Customer Service is EVERYTHING to me.
And that's why Comcast and I officially broke up this week. Well, that and I got to the point where I couldn't pay $180 a month for cable and internet. I called and made an effort to lower my bill, and they told me the only way they could do that was for me to give up my DVR, and that would only be something like $17 a month. But even more than the prices, I can't anymore with the scripted ESOL customer service reps. I just can't. And when you do reach someone who speaks fluent English, nine times out of ten it's some snotty-ass bitch who acts like she's doing you a favor. A few months ago, I had an issue with Comcast, so I learned from my AT&T experience and took to Twitter. Comcast Cares is the biggest oxymoron known to man. I had to harass him to get a response and even then, the dude treated me as if I woke him up from a nap and asked him to grab me a Diet Coke out of the fridge.
So, naturally, when I figured out I was going to have to split with Comcast, I decided to give AT&T a try. They've been harassing me to get U-Verse for what feels like 500 years, and because I really liked Comcast's service better (I've been in other homes with U-Verse), I've always turned it down. These days, they're offering rates that really can't be beat, though, so I gave them a call and got it all squared away. They lady who helped me was really nice, and I was really happy with my decision.
U-Verse was supposed to be installed last Thursday, but my mom has been having some health issues, and I ended up having to take her to the doctor that day (plus, I needed to do some cleaning before I let a stranger come dig around my house - I've hardly been home, other than to sleep, in a month), so I called them on Wednesday morning to see if I could postpone the date. The lady who I spoke with told me I couldn't postpone the dates, because I couldn't get U-Verse.
What? You've been harassing me about getting it for the last year, at least, and I finally sign up to do it, give you all my personal info, and the day before I'm supposed to have it installed, I find out I can't have it? Not only that, but I have to call you to figure it out?
She switched me over to technical support, and a really nice guy ran some kind of tests, or so he said, and he claimed it was showing that my service would be spotty at best. I explained that my aunt who just lives down the street from me has it, and she has not had many problems, but apparently, there was nothing he could do.
He switched me over to another lady who tried to sell me Direct TV. I told her I was probably interested as my choices are becoming very limited, but I would need to look into it a little more. She also told me I'd have to pay a fee upfront that I didn't have at that the moment, and then were was an issue of having to clear my U-Verse order out of the system before she could set up the Direct TV. I would also be getting regular internet from AT&T (no the U-Verse plan).
In the end, the nice lady in sales told me she'd call me back at the first of this week to get everything squared away for sure and set up installation appointments. I told her that was fine, and I settled in for another weekend spent working at my parents house. But I tried to stay positive.
Monday came and no call from AT&T's nice sales lady.
Tuesday came and no call from AT&T's nice sales lady.
Wednesday came, and for the first day in forever I planned to sleep late before getting up to run some errands. So, around 9:30 am, when I got a call from a blocked number, I was not amused. I answered it and hung up and laid my head down on my pillow to go back to sleep, but they called again. I listened to the voice-mail they left. It was a guy from AT&T telling me he was there to install my services.
What?
I sat up, wondering what to do. Here's thing, and this may be TMI, but....I sleep naked. And 99% of my clothing is in the laundry room. My laundry room is fairly large, and I am fairly lazy about taking my clean clothes back to my bedroom. I usually keep some pajamas by my bed in case of an emergency, but on the one night I don't, I wake up to some strange guy calling me and knocking on my door with the intention of installing some services I never signed up for. And the way my house is laid out, I would have had to run by the door he was at to get to my bathroom or laundry room to throw on some clothes. Ugh.
I decided I just wouldn't go to the door. He'd realize no one is home and go away, and I could go back to sleep. While I'm sitting there waiting for him to go away and for my dogs to stop barking like the world is coming to an end, my landlord called to tell me there is an AT&T guy at my house (she lives across the street), but I remained strong (and by strong, I mean huddled in a corner of my bedroom where you can't see me from any of the windows or doors).
Finally, he quit knocking, the dogs quit barking and I wanted to go back to sleep, but I really had to pee. And the dogs were dancing around like they, too, had to pee. So, I got up in all my nakedness, let them out, and I went to the bathroom. While I was in the bathroom, I heard the dogs start barking again, and it took me a minute to realize there was someone outside. I, still naked, went to the window to try to figure out what was going on, and I realized AT&T guy was still there! I was mortified.
So, I ran to the laundry room, threw on the first thing I could find and went to the door where Doug Heffernan was standing, scratching his head. I went outside and apologized for the delay, and I told him that I hadn't ordered any services. He told me I had. I told him I hadn't. This went back and forth for a while, and then the guy started laughing.
I just looked at him, and he said, "I have to tell you, it's a good thing you want to cancel [I'd argue you can't cancel something you never ordered, but whatever], because in all my 30 years of doing this, I've never been down this road, and I really can't figure out how to hook it up anyway."
He continued to talk, but I can't remember what he said. I gave up on sleeping late. I tried to call AT&T, but the wait time was unusually long for me to talk to another human being, so I hung up and went about my day.
Needless to say, I still don't have internet or cable and as far as I know, I have no plans to get it. At this point, I don't know where or how to get it. I've heard so many bad things about Direct TV after talking to other people about it, and I can't even get in touch with anyone at AT&T when I call the number I was given for cable/internet services.
AT&T, I have tried to love you. I have sang your praises in light of my recent Comcast woes, despite the fact that you nearly ruined my Christmas last year by charging unauthorized payments to my checking account. (Thankfully, my bank and a lady from Team Natasha realized the error and fixed it.) But you are making it nearly impossible for me to love you.
I feel like I'm back in high school, and the guy I like doesn't like me back. And it's not even my first choice for a guy, but the back-up guy I chose because the guy I really liked turned out to be a jerk. But I'm not looking for a lifetime of happiness, just some fairly inexpensive cable and internet services that will prevent me from having to spend long days at my parents' house, using their computer and allow me to watch something on TV besides religious channels and home-shopping networks.
Is that too much to ask?
If you don't like me, just let me know. I'll just keep paying my cell phone bill each month, and we can pretend none of this ever happened, but please, for the love of God, stop leading me on. Stop danging these amazing deals in my inbox and my mailbox when I can't have them. Stop trying to sell them to me when I call you if there is an issue with my iPhone. Stop telling me you'll call me and then leaving me sitting by the phone. Stop agreeing to dates and then postponing them at the last minute. My heart can't take much more.
1 comment:
Hi Sarah!
I work for Comcast and I am sad to know that you're no longer a Comcast customer. If you decide to come back to Comcast please feel free to contact me. I will be happy to help.
I can also reach out to my local colleagues to see if we can match the offer you've received from AT&T. You can contact me provide your info and a link to this page (for reference) if you're interested in my help.
Thanks!
Mark Casem
Comcast Corp.
National Customer Operations
We_can_help@cable.comcast.com
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