Expose:
AT&T and Their ADSL Package- Continuing to Screw Me
May 4, 2009 by Kyle BradyTags: AT&T, Billing, Broadband, Corporate Buffoonery, Corporate Lies, Customer Service, DSL, Packet Filtering, Traffic Shaping
As required by the FTC, a Full Disclosure is available - this piece adheres to the Code of Ethics
I changed apartments a few months ago, and in doing so I had to transfer my AT&T ADSL service from the old location to the new one... I haven't written about it until now, because I didn't have good enough reason to, but they screwed it up. Big time. And as of writing this, months later, the issues aren't fully resolved.
Oh, and they still filter my traffic too.
The Great Escape
To make a long story short, I requested them to transfer my service from Location A (old and then-current apartment) to Location B (new apartment) by Date C (about a week and a half from when I called). Within 24 hours, my modem mysteriously broke (killswitch?), and after calling in again to receive a new modem (free only by agreeing to a verbal contract of a year of service), I discovered that my transfer request has "disappeared" from their system. We created a new account request for Location B, active once again on Date C, with the modem to be received within 48 hours at Location B.
The modem didn't show at the new apartment, and it still wasn't there a week later. Having been without service for at least a week (in either location), I called after I received a bill. As it turns out, they misspelled my address and didn't include an apartment number, so it had been sitting in the closest UPS facility for the last 7 days. UPS had told AT&T to contact me to pick it up, so they sent a note to my address (not calling me once) - which I never received, because they didn't address it properly. The people at UPS said this is a regular event from AT&T.
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
Now having a modem, and managing to avoid any other idiotic issues when connecting to my service at the new apartment, I was content. However, a month and a half later (two weeks ago) I received two bills: each for a different account, totaling $130.
I spent two hours on the phone with the Billing Department, listening in as they spoke to different departments for my benefit. Apparently what had happened was that I had two accounts for the same service, in the same location, one of which was the "missing" account from the original transfer request.
While on the phone, they asked for one account to be closed, but not physically disconnected, via the Disconnect Dept., since I still had an active and valid account at the same address. They credited a payment from the false account to the true account, and placed a "billing changes pending" marker on the account - supposedly filing a bunch of notes for future reference along the way. I spoke to a supervisor, non-outsourced, who promised to call back within 48hrs. with an update on how much was being deducted from my account balance based on false accounts, lack of service, etc.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Less than 24hrs. later, I had no service, and had instead a blinking red status light on my month-old DSL modem - at 10am. Someone had come out from the Disconnect Dept., and disconnected me, despite being told not to.
Before doing any normal-life things like eating breakfast, making coffee, or showering, I called AT&T and spoke to the Line Dept., bypassing Tech Support completely, briefly explaining the situation. After asking the agent to look at the notes on my account, he enlightened me to the fact that no notes existed whatsoever.
Despite AT&T causing my problems, by being absolutely retarded, the earliest they could come out was the following Monday... I was calling on a Thursday morning. My request for escalation was processed, and I received a robot-call telling me it was denied 5 minutes later, no explanation.
Fight Club
My internet was reconnected by a very helpful field contractor, who gave me his cellphone so I "don't have to wait for AT&T to schedule a call whenever they feel like it", and I was again content. But further consultation with the Billing Dept. has shown that they also have no notes on my account, nor any reference to a supervisor callback that I never received - and they won't discuss my billing issues with me since I have an account change pending.
The very change that was placed on my account to prevent late fees being assessed while things were straightened out.
Romeo and Juliet
In the last 3 months, I've been without service a minimum of 2.5 weeks, none of which has been credited to me, and they claim that I actually had service during these periods. My connection is highly spotty, sometimes reconnecting multiple times within the span of a minute, but my hardware is all brand new, so it's not a local issue.
I pay $45/mth for "ADSL Pro Elite", purporting to have 6.0Mbps downstream - which I demonstrably don't have anything close to. They still filter my traffic in terms of torrent files and other file downloads, taking over an hour to download a single standard-definition TV episode (of, say, South Park) or needing to wait a few minutes to build a buffer when watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Hulu. I still get penalized if they feel I used enough bandwidth for an arbitrary time period, such as slowing my connection to a crawl if I even dare to watch a streaming Netflix movie, resulting in picture quality that I could produce in my bathtub with a handful of crayons - with similar audio.
Count Dracula
At this point, I don't have many options: AT&T refuses to acknowledge that most of these events that have even occurred, they "lose" account notes that may have not existed in the first place, and generally screw me over in the use of their service. Comcast, being the only local cable provider, is not an acceptable replacement, for obvious reasons. Verizon doesn't provide service in my area, let alone FiOS, and none of the other major telcos don't either. I can't even use a Verizon satellite-card connection, because it wouldn't support having a home network like I do.
I'm painted into a corner. Paying too much for a service that doesn't deliver, to a company that lies, without options to go elsewhere.
What I really need is someone like Covad to provide solid, dependable, and quality service, downgraded in both specifications and price to a consumer level. If there ever was a reason for the Federal government to be involved in net neutrality and the internal network operations of the telcos, and not just "let the free market sort it out" (because total free reign has worked so well elsewhere!), this is one.
Maybe the real question is: who wants to form a telco startup?
p.s. Yes, it was worth the time it took to write this epic saga of lies, deceit, and backstabbing by AT&T. I feel slightly better now.
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Update (5/11/2009 9:30pm PST): I received a notice/bill/warning from a bill collecting agency today for part of the payment that is disputed and AT&T was supposed to be looking into... even though I've kept my account current monthly, while the other fees are "investigated" (or not... who knows, maybe they lost those records too). The saga continues.
Kyle can be found on Twitter and MySpace, or reached via email.
