AT&T - Poor Customer Service

AT&T Uverse - Complaint

Review by shlbycindy43 on 2012-07-08

Rating:

SHELBY, NORTH CAROLINA -- I have my payments sent to AT&T electronically through my bank every month. I was watching TV the other day and suddenly the screen flashed a message saying my system was being rebooted and powered down. Then I noticed my internet and phone were not working either. My service had been disconnected for non-payment. I have all these services bundled through AT&T. I called the bank and my payment of $165.10 had been sent to AT&T one week prior. I did not have an outstanding balance.

I called AT&T and was told they could not find my payment and could not restore my service until they had found it. I asked to speak with a supervisor and the person that answered, who I seriously doubt was a supervisor, told me the same thing. I had the reference number from the bank, the electronic check number, and the date it had been paid which was a week prior to the disconnection. I was told by one customer service representative it could take 7-10 days for my service to be restored. I became very upset because I knew the bill had been paid.

I told them if it was not restored immediately I would look into changing my services. One representative told me to do what I had to do and didn't seem concerned in the least. I waited a few hours and called them back. I was told by ANOTHER representative that the bank always sends their payments to them by U.S. Mail in the form of a paper check. I knew this wasn't true because the bank had already told me they had sent it electronically and they never send checks to companies via the U.S.Mail. I spoke to yet another representative who spoke to me like I was a slow two year old and even, at certain points, talked baby talk to me. I was furious.

I called them back again a few hours later and was told the same thing. My payment could not be found and therefore they couldn't turn my service back on. They refused to listen when I told them I had the reference number for the payment. I even offered to fax them a copy of the payment information from my bank and they said no. Because I didn't want to go 10 days without service I paid the bill again. My service was back on within 30 minutes. Approximately 1 hour later I went online and looked at my payment history.

Miraculously they had found the original payment and credited it to my bill so I am now paid up through September. I called back and insisted they give me a confirmation number for both payments which they did. I find it hard to believe they couldn't find the original payment 1 hour prior to the other payment being made. This is the second time I've had to ask them to look for a payment. This is the first time they've ever disconnected my service though. I like Uverse programming and I have no complaints with my actual phone, internet, or Uverse services however, their customer service representatives leave a lot to be desired.

The 'baby talking' lady, at one point, even sang "la la la la" in my ear when I tried to give her the confirmation number for the original payment. Fortunately I took the names of everyone I spoke to and I plan on calling their sales department on Monday. I want to ask them if they mention their horrible customer service when attempting to sell their product. AT&T needs to realize they are no longer the only game in town when it comes to telephone service. As soon as my contract is up I will be changing everything over to a different company based on my experience with their customer service group. Although I like Uverse, I would not recommend anyone buying any of AT&T's services simply because their customer service is horrible.