A.T.& T, the company famous for beckoning their customers to let their fingers do the walking, seems as though their customer service refrain is, we let our a**holes do the talking.
I was trying to get a computer repair business off the ground…The first year in business, they would constantly badger me about running a Yellow Page ad… Of course I was going to do that, since it is very important for a new business to have a local presence, especially if it isn’t located in a commercial area. People have to know where you are and what you do. Businesses will actually time their grand opening to coincide with the phone book’s release date, that’s how important it is.
I had a nice 1/4 page ad, which cost more than my rent…So in my second year, I wanted to add some additional facets to the business. Buy, Sell, & Trade. Anyone in the repair business will confirm that during the regular course of business, they will acquire a lot of unclaimed, abandoned, stuff. People will simply not pick up their stuff!
So, when I called my Account Rep, yeah you Hal, he was not quite as happy to make the trip out to accept the proposed changes to my ad. Next month…next week…We can do this over the phone…were some of the excuses Hal would come up with until finally, there was no time left to go over the new content and artworkfor the new ad.
When the ad released, they indeed added the Buy, Sell, & Trade headings to the ad…however, they omitted the part about Repairing. WTF, Hal? Am I a Pawn Shop? Because those were the only calls I would get…Somebody looking to hock their toaster oven or ice skates! Nice going…Hal.
It isn’t as though these kinds of errors can’t be rectified. Next year!!! And they still expect you to pay for the ad!!!
Things are still the same. Though I won’t drudge you thru my latest encounter with this excuse for a Utility (def. useful, usefulness) Company, be sure their bottom line is…We just don’t care!!! You will not find a single person outside of Sales, who will show any sort of interest in hearing your complaint. In the event your beef actually is Sales related, you will be put on the automated merry-go-round and you will talk to no fewer than 5 people, none of which have last names. They will spew misinformation like in a 50/50 proportion between I don’t know/I don’t care to know. They all have Supervisors who are not available and ironically, they don’t have last names either…
If you try contacting the Corporate Office, you will only see phone numbers, which are no longer in service. If you submit a written complaint, using the official, approved, form you may as well put your message in a bottle and toss it into the ocean. You will not get a reply. Don’t even bother! Google it and you will see hundreds of messages from people, with many different problems, all sharing the common thread…nobody is home! The site is equivalent to falling into an abyss.
Whatever happened to Consumer Protection? How can they still be allowed to do business? Sadly, there are only a few companies in the business and your options vary between bad and worse…
Yeah, we may be stuck but so are you because you made the Mad Musician’s for Hire Schitt List, where you will remain forever, or until your CEO replies…I won’t be holding my breath….
Sysop