June 22, 2006

AT&T & ME w/o DSL — Why AT&T Won’t Fix Problems

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 12:48 pm

The Problem

Customer Think Logo

5:30a.m. Up and to the kitchen. Turn on the coffee. To the office. Turn on the computer. Take a shower.

5:45a.m. Get coffee. Get to work. OR NOT!

Wait a minute. What’s wrong here? Walk to the router. I have no DSL. I have things to do. It’s still DARK OUT.

6:00a.m. Consider options. Start to execute. Then envision images of screwed system. Recall pact that I will die first, because I’ll never be able to figure out how this home network is configured.

6;30a.m Wake up IT husband. Tell him we have no DSL.
He gets coffee, looks at router, see light off, and confirms it.

6:45a.m. Call AT&T. Listen to recording. Punch in numbers. Answer questions. Find out that we need to call another number.

7:00a.m. Call AT&T Number 2. Listen to recording. Punch in same numbers. Answer same questions. Finally get a person on the line. Start by saying the following.

ME: Hi, before we begin, could I just say that we have a sophisticated system here, that it was working at midnight, that everything is correctly connected, and that I’ve turned things off and on again.

AT&T SHE: Can I call you by your first name?

ME: Sure

AT&T SHE: Have you checked that everything is connected correctly?

ME: Yes, everything is correctly connected, and I’ve restarted my computer. The problem is at your end.

AT&T SHE: Let’s check your network connections.

ME: There’s no reason to do that.

AT&T SHE: Could you go to Start . . .

At this point I hand the phone to my husband.

It took 15 minutes to get her to let us talk to someone else. I hand phone to IT husband.

AT&T HE: Have you checked that everything is connected correctly?

[snip]

AT&T HE: Could you disconnect your router from your computer.

IT HUSBAND: NO, it’s hardwired. Why would I do that?

AT&T HE: Sometimes it resets things.

IT HUSBAND: You’re talking about 3 or 4 hours of work.

[snip]
IT HUSBAND: The problem is at YOUR END. You need to fix it.

IT took 35 minutes of talking to convince the AT&T man — the floor supervisor — that we couldn’t just unplug our router and plug it back in again, or that there was no need to, since the problem was obviously at their end.

(Husband hands phone back to me to verify phone number. Silly to think that AT&T might actually have it, especially after I had punched it in several times, and they seem to have no problem billing me.)

ME: (after I give the number) Who do I talk to now to hear a happy story?

8:07a.m Got a promise from AT&T. Said they would fix it ASAP. Have a work ticket number. Wrote a telephone number in case of questions.

IT HUSBAND: (in background) Honey, be nice.

ME: Thank you for understanding my frustration. I realize how hard it must be not to be able to help your customers. Thank you anyway.

AT&T HE: Thank you for using AT&T.

Ended call.

10:07 The DSL light came on. Try to connect via DSL. Doesn’t work. Call the number. Listen to recording. Punch in numbers. Answered questions. Find out the recording knows we have a problem. Hear two choices — ask about something else or go away.

Now that’s AT&T service.

10:30a.m. Think maybe if AT&T had customer service people instead of someone who supervises the floor . . . things could be so different.

12;32 a.m. I write this via dial up. They own the dial up too, don’t they? That’s why they don’t even try to fix my problem.

It’s why AT&T has no brand value in my house.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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47 Comments to “AT&T & ME w/o DSL — Why AT&T Won’t Fix Problems”

  1. June 22nd, 2006 at 1:27 pm
    Joe said

    Hey Liz,
    Sorry to hear AT&T is as BAD as Verizon was for me the other day. :-(
    Been there, done that, wrote about it.
    It’s a shame they don’t understand customer service…
    Is it 11 hours yet, that seems to be how long these things take from my experience.
    Cheer up :-)
    Joe

  2. June 22nd, 2006 at 1:30 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hey Joe,
    I’m quite cheery. I’m actually getting a lot of work done. I just hadn’t figured out until I wrote that, that AT&T had no reason to fix the problem. The are in the ultimate win-win. They don’t need to fix it.

    They don’t have customers, they have a captive audience.

  3. June 22nd, 2006 at 1:34 pm
    Joe said

    Like I said in my post, its’s not about net neutrality, it’s about service, or the lack thereof…
    Wo is us, wo is us if they get their way on that one.

  4. June 22nd, 2006 at 1:36 pm
    ME Strauss said

    One of the net neutrality bills calls for them to unbundle DSL from the other services. I’m all for that.

  5. June 22nd, 2006 at 1:56 pm
    Jim Turner said

    So now I have read the comcast fiasco that was posted on You Tube, I have heard the AOL fiasco on trying to close and account, and now I hear of this. Somewhere the customer service planets must be out of synche. I’m keeping my head down for now.

  6. June 22nd, 2006 at 2:04 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Jim,
    I don’t think the planets are out of sync. I think that many companies when they get to a certain size and begin to call themselves corporations are unable to handle customer service. This issue is exacerbated when buyouts and mergers happen that quickly refocus company cultures on the numbers.

    People quit caring about the people . . . customers become numbers. Phone calls become numbers. That man’s objective was to find every way he could not to have to write a ticket if he could at all avoid it. Keep the low level work away from the high paid tech guys.

    It’s efficient from the point of dollars. Not effective when dealing with people.

  7. June 22nd, 2006 at 2:16 pm
    Brian Clark said

    Ugh.

    When Comcast does this to me, I happily wisk on down to Starbucks and ride happily on a wave of wifi and caffeine.

    If things aren’t fixed by the time I get back home, I get really, really angry.

  8. June 22nd, 2006 at 2:19 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Brian,
    I have this thing about getting angry over such thing. I figure if I get angry. They win. Instead I like to let them know how lousy their job must be . . . since they really have no power to do anything to help a customer.

    Floor supervisor. I still love that title. I wonder how often the floor gets called on the carpet. :)

  9. June 22nd, 2006 at 2:39 pm
    John said

    Soent two weeks trying to get DSL reconnected after moving to a new house, but keeping same number. Told AT7T (Covad) I was ready to cancel my account (which I’ve had since 1997). Got help from a friend and finally got back online. Tonight I get email from AT&T (first contact in over two weeks) that they are honoring my request and cancelling my DSL (unless I call them right back within 48 hours - it’s a no-response email). I call them back and they’ve all gone home for the day. Arrrgh

  10. June 22nd, 2006 at 2:39 pm
    HART (1-800-HART) said

    I hate when they suggest you disconnect your network and unplug your routers .. I always want to beeyatch-slap them. Once, I actually did that - and couldn’t get my wireless network up for weeks. So, now whenever my DSL is down, and I’m NOT crazy .. (it’s really down) .. I just unplug my router, shut down my computer, then unplug the TV/modem (i get DSL thru my phone company) and go have a bowl of Lucky Charms or Honey Nut Cheerios. It’s either going to reset itself in the next half hour - or, no pimply faced geek at the end of the phone is going to magically make it work.

    Just once I’d like to have phone and the support says .. “Oh! Thank-You. I’ll Reboot It Now” … instead of the usual “What did you do to it THIS time?”

  11. June 22nd, 2006 at 2:42 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi John,
    I told AT&T to catch the guy in the field and the guy said he could not call him. They did not have his number.

    I said that was why people were leaving them in droves.

  12. June 22nd, 2006 at 2:43 pm
    Mark Wade said

    Liz,

    They’ve already rolled out standalone DSL and it may not save you anything at all, or very little. You pointed us to Susan Crawford’s Blog the other day where she spoke about it.

    So… you had expectations that they might care eh? How about this - I read today that big corporate CEO’s make 262 times more annually than everyday man/woman. And you think they care?

    Pull………eeezeeeee :-)

  13. June 22nd, 2006 at 2:45 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi HART!!
    I feel your pain. I can’t imagine how frustrated I would be right now, if my husband had unplugged our router and we lost our DSL for weeks.

  14. June 22nd, 2006 at 2:46 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Mark,
    I never expected that the CEOs would really care. I just thought they might fake it. You know put on a good show for the customers. Or even for their own employees. :)

  15. June 22nd, 2006 at 2:48 pm
    Mark Wade said

    Oh… I understand - you mean more like the politicians we elect.

    Gotchya

  16. June 22nd, 2006 at 2:50 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Yeah, Mark! That’s it! Sort of like the rest of those folks who don’t have to really work.

  17. June 22nd, 2006 at 2:51 pm
    Mark Wade said

    AND!!! - Have the ability to give themselves their own raises!!!

    Yeah - Now we’re tawkin’

  18. June 22nd, 2006 at 2:57 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Can you get me a gig like that?

  19. June 22nd, 2006 at 3:04 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hey, this story’s at digg and someone named MrDolomite
    left this cool comment

    ahh, another satisfied customer. Do what I did back in 2002. Get the list of insider roster from yahoo finance (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ir?s=T) and then use it to email every one of those execs with your story. I used the firstlast@att.com, first.last@att.com, FLast@att.com formats and what do you know, the next day I had a very senior, and very professional, executive assistant personally call me back to address my issue. She helped navigate through the various senior technical people needed and it was fixed that day. Good luck ;)

    You can pick up the links here

    http://digg.com/technology/AT_T_ME_w_o_DSL_—_Why_AT_T_Won’t_Fix_Problems

  20. June 22nd, 2006 at 3:07 pm
    Mark Wade said

    Ya’ know - on a serious note - yeah, right - I’d be willing to gamble that if you keep doing what you’re doing the day might come when they’d elect you Mayor of Chicago.

    THEN - you could have your own Blog Network, hire dk, fire dk, have your own TV show (think M E like Jer ree), get thousands of comments on your pol Blogs, hire Richard Bennett, fire Richard Bennett, become an advocate of Save The Internet - or not - become an advocate of Hands Off The Internet - or not, develop designs on the White House and run for President (by then it will officially be “King” or “Queen”), but guess what?

    Two things you can’t have as Mayor of Chicago!

    #1 - My Bud Light haha…
    #2 - Control of AT&T

    Waddaya think?

  21. June 22nd, 2006 at 5:46 pm
    ME Strauss said

    I think that I just had a heck of a time getting on my blog again. I was lost in never never land.

    Me in Politics you must be kidding!

    I settle for other things. :)

  22. June 22nd, 2006 at 10:05 pm
    Mark Wade said

    Awwwww - I was beginning to look forward to chants of “M… E… M… E… M… E…”

    Shucks

  23. June 22nd, 2006 at 10:07 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Well, now you’re talking. That’s not mayor. That’s ruler!

  24. June 23rd, 2006 at 12:10 am
    candice said

    The problem with “standalone” dsl is that it isn’t. The non-phone-company offering DSL has to pay the incumbent for your lines. Unbundling that would help tons.

    I was at an ISP earlier this week bringing in some servers to be colocated (because of an unrelated bellsouth issue - my new t1) and the guys who run dsl told me that bellsouth will no longer sell them regular dsl circuits, they are forcing everyone to use pppoe, (basically, logins on dsl instead of straight routing), when the isp had sold real static addresses to people. My folks have dsl from them and it’s gone flaky.

  25. June 23rd, 2006 at 6:30 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Candice,
    What good point you make about how the standalone must pay the incumbent . . . but if we got lucky maybe the unbundling of that you mention could happen too.

    Doesn’t this whole thing start to feel like the plot of a Dicken’s novel combined with the story of Atlas Shrugged?

  26. June 23rd, 2006 at 6:38 am
    ME Strauss said

    PS Mark,

    Reading spam is how I get my whole education. :)

  27. June 23rd, 2006 at 7:31 am
    Mark Wade said

    “Reading spam is how I get my whole education.”

    If then, you were me, you’d be studying to be a pharmacist who’s trying to commit suicide but fell in love with my Blog through Google.

    Bleccccch!

  28. June 23rd, 2006 at 7:34 am
    ME Strauss said

    Gee, you get different spam than I do. I read about the kinds of things people do in the bedroom. :)

  29. July 6th, 2006 at 1:15 pm
    Cuileann McKenzie said

    I could relate to your story — I’ve even got an IT husband (those can be so handy, can’t they?)

    In a pinch, maybe you could go down to a coffee shop with internet access to keep working. At the very least (if you wanted to do the actual writing at home) you could publish to your blog as you have a cappucino.

    Hmm…husband, internet, coffee shop. Sounds weird, but I might have an idea for a post on my site. I’ll let you know if it works out.

    Cuileann

  30. July 6th, 2006 at 1:17 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Cuileann,
    I love how every story you start to tell seems to give you an idea for a blog post. That’s so fun. I ended up on dial up for a few hours. It was bad. I got this post out of it.

    And as we used to say in college, if you get a story out of it . .. it was worth it.

  31. July 6th, 2006 at 8:09 pm
    Cuileann McKenzie said

    Yeah, you definitely did get a great story out of your stress — that’s a good payoff. Dial-up would hurt, though. But I guess it’s a reminder of what earlier bloggers had to contend with (and I guess some still do).

    As for the idea I mentioned, I did post about it. The title is “How Coffee Helps Our Marriage.”
    Sometimes you never know when a few words (like husband, internet, coffee shop) will trigger something.

    May we always stay open to stories!

  32. July 6th, 2006 at 10:13 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Cuileann.
    What a great poster that would make:

    May we always stay open to stories indeed!

  33. July 13th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
    angie said

    I recently cancelled a 2nd # and had dsl transfered to primary#. Hah! At&t ‘accidently’ cancelled my internet service,appologized, and said there is no more service available in my area.I am now on a waiting list for an account I’ve held for 10 yrs.And of course I call and get someone who calls themself ‘Bob’. Although this is pretty crappy, it made me back up and think about being so reliant on electronics.My husband went through withdrawals. I planted flowers.

  34. July 13th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi I understand your frustration, Angie. I haven’t found a telco that I can’t NOT Love.

  35. September 24th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
    Brett said

    At leat they didn’t push you off on to your computer manufacturer. I do telephone tech support for a major computer manufacturer. There’s nothing worse thatn having to spend 15 minutes convincing a customer that their computer is working perfectly, and the ISP is the problem.

    Customer: “But, (insert ANY ISP) says the problem is with my computer.”
    Me: “well, they’re either lying, or don’t know what they’re talking about.”

  36. September 24th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
    ME Strauss said

    You’re right, Brett.
    How frustrated you must be, having folks put you in the middle like that. It stinks. :)

  37. February 8th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
    Jason said

    I have this problem that my internet is disconnecting me every 3 to 5 minutes or so. Its really fustrating. I called them but all they asked was questions about stuff that didn’t relate to the problem. SO i gave up on doing that and tried my luck on the forums. Apparently nothing showed up, all ADS sites mostly. I guess i have no choice but to give the AT&T another call too see whats up. (My DSL light is on and yet i get disconnected, Weird yes.) If anyone or knows anyone that have this similar problem please would you mind helping me out so i don’t have to call and waste my time with AT&T again please. :X That would be very helpful.

  38. March 7th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
    Mike said

    Jason-
    I’m having the exact problem you are. It just started today. I’ve had AT&T DSL for a few weeks now…running OK up until now. Today it started losing connection every few minutes and sometimes I would have to unplug the modem to get it restarted. Somebody help us please!

  39. March 16th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
    w00t said

    I realize this was written a long time ago but you have to realize, at&t has a procedure for their reps to follow. before you blame the rep, realize if they don’t follow their script, they get reprimanded, regardless of how much experience the customer thinks they have.
    so so so many times the dsl user thinks the problem is something it’s really not. if youre positive as to what the problem is, the best thing to do is ask for the maintenance number and call them. they can run more extensive tests if the problem is in fact on the at&t end.
    but don’t blame the rep. they get canned if they dont follow the script. not their fault and not yours either.

  40. March 17th, 2008 at 5:01 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi woot!
    Of course, my issue is with AT&T and not the rep. I think scripted service is no service at all. :)

  41. April 18th, 2008 at 9:32 am
    savAlot said

    I currently also have several problems with ATT DSL but so far have not even been able to locate a telephone number for tech service.

    Anyway, I soon will be done with all of these
    ISPs as their is a new service that is due to
    launch yet this year that will solve everyones
    problems except the current ISPs.

    Soon we will all be able to sign-up for a World Wide Wireless WIFI account at T-1 speed for $19.95 a month with the option of adding
    a voip telephone for and additional $9.95

    This service is currently in final testing which is now almost completed. If you want to
    learn more about this service you can read about it at:
    http://itsyournet.com/go/25863sc/index.html

    Att will probably end up selling this service, but if you buy it thru them then you
    will still be stuck with their support service!

  42. April 25th, 2008 at 10:56 am
    Tom Walker said

    From Roswell, GA. Shortly after AT&T bought Bell South my DSL started disappearing sporadically. Once, after going through their CSNS (customer service/no service as Clark Howard says) they actually admitted the servers were down and being ‘worked on’. I whole heartedly agree with all previous comments about the management of large corps just not giving a damn. America has become the land of ‘no accountability’.

  43. April 25th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Tom,
    You can see by the comments here. You’re not the only one who’s feeling left adrift. :)

  44. July 28th, 2008 at 9:53 am
    Bob Minehart said

    Sam problems, I like by ATT DSL, when it is working, but everytime (I mean everytime) I try to get on-line help they are absolutly useless. My problem is now at the central office switch. I have had my telephone supervisor personally check my computer conncetion all the way to the central office switch (at the “frame Room”). They have confirmed that there is no DSL signal comming from ATT. Dose anyone know a number or person (in America) who addresses ATT DSL issues?

    Thanks

    Bob

  45. July 29th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
    Deab said

    ATT/SBC/YAHOODSL HIGH PING & Slow Speed Problems.

    Since July 10th Aproximately. ATT has not fixed my line. pings of 300ms plus from 11am to 2am. yes ALL day. get up at 8am. pings are 15 to 40 till 11am.

    The glorious ATT tech support HELL!!!!

    As long as you have a signal they dont seem to care much. Waiting for 2nd tech to show up.
    We shall see what rank of Tech he is. They said they have escelated the issue.

    march to July PERFECT, Flawless internet.
    Now getting close to a whole month of CRAP!
    Do they offer a discount? not yet!.

    Going to bug the heck out of them.

    Something is broke in Misourri. Flooding break something? I dont know, but someone somewhere has to fix this.

  46. August 4th, 2008 at 10:57 am
    jeanette said

    I’m on hld with AT&T tech suppotrt for 3 hours now. They are in India. I’m having email issues. I can receive but not send. They said it is my lines. Doesn’t make sense to me. They should get IT support that actually know what they are doing!!!!!! This is rediculous and If I can actually get acess th my email again I will be changing providers. Why can’t we have texch support in our own country! ATT Uverse support is here. I think they want everyone to swithc to Uvers.

  47. August 4th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
    Steve said

    I found a great solution for all of my ATT
    problems - I called Clearwire ! I signed up,
    they overnighted a modem to me, I plugged it in to power and then plugged into my PC and
    for $40.00 bucks a month, all of my ATT problems dissapeared !

    I should have done that severl months ago, but I had hoped to be able to wait till the
    new world wide WIFI service became available -
    it will be T-1 speed for only 19.95 a month and you can add a wireless wifi phone for $10.00 additional- You can get on the notification list here:
    http://itsyournet.com/go/25863sc/public__wireless_internet.html

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