So here's the history. Over the last few years we've had AT&T Wireless phones. The service has always sucked big time, especially at my home and at my office (Hello? Where am I the most often? At home or at my office...) Finally I decided, now that I can port my number across to kill two birds with one stone:
- first, I can ditch AT&T Wireless and get a carrier who knows both about coverage and customer service
- second, I can get a phone that is tri-band and I can use when I travel to Australia for vacations.
I selected T-Mobile. They have good coverage, GSM phones that rock, Catherine Zeta-Jones (as an aside: if any Americans are reading this, you probably never got to see her in "The Darling Buds of May", a mini-series thingy that she was in which kinda launched her in the UK and the rest of the Anglophile world. She was good back then, and not as arrogant as she comes across now that she's married to a man who could be her perverted older uncle...) and I have friends who work there. Plus, through Amazon you could get this great deal where the phone costs $150 but you get a $50 rebate through T-Mobile and a $150 rebate through Amazon! $50 back more than you pay! Bonu$$!
Everything went smoothly and we got our new phones, activated, and I called t-mobile to port my number from AT&T. I couldn't believe how good their customer service was. Within 24 hours my number was ported and I was on with t-mobile. And I have coverage -- good coverage -- at my home and my work!
Here's where the rub comes. I get home last night and the final bill from AT&T Wireless comes in. It's for over 200 freakin' dollars! I am slapped with an "early termination fee" of $175. Now, let's get this straight. I've had this phone for over 3 years. Last year (apparently on April 2nd) I changed my plan. In all of the words the sales representative said, he mentioned a contract extension. I refused the extension -- who would be dumb enough to stay under contract with these losers any longer than they need too? Everything is good in the world, and my bill looks right every month.
So I call AT&T, negotiate the voice response system hell (press 0 repeatedly until you get to talk to a person!) and talk to the rep. 10 minutes later I'm explaining that I'm not paying the early termination and they can go to hell. She transfers me to a "resolution representative".
This guy is hopelessly in the wrong job. He is rude, arrogant, confrontational, unhelpful, and has an attitude that could curdle milk. Basically he isn't going to help or "resolve" anything. It turns into a my-word-against-yours match and it is getting nowhere -- all the time him using phrases like "if you interrupt me again, I will hang up" in a pissy, Carson-esque manner. He was not at all interested in hearing what had happened, and obviously was reading from the script of a company who is scared crapless by the fact that all their subscribers are getting off their network and fast! The only thing that makes it all worthwhile is that this guy will be on the unemployment line in a few months once Cingular takes over. I hope he comes to me to apply for a job by chance. I'd love to be in that situation!
So the call ends with me needing to dispute the charge with my credit card company, and take it as far as I need to.
It's not like they aren't known for this. There are hundreds of stories of people saying "no" to a contract extension and the sales rep putting it in like it is. These guys need to be investigated and regulated more closely. For a contract extension, something needs to be signed by the consumer. There is too much of a loophole for these guys to screw the consumer over the way it is and be unscrupulous.
OK. That's over. Just remember this. If you're thinking of getting an AT&T Wireless phone, emphatically I say DON'T. Apart from the bad coverage, they don't know what customer service is.