AT&T Disaster

... counting backwards... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, ... breath in... breath out... OK I think I feel well enough to speak about my experience with ATT today...

I haven't had a cell phone since I lost my job. I was always provided one through my employer and didn't need to own a personal one until now. A couple of days ago I received my ATT bill for my sons cell phone and there was a note saying that we could have two lines for just $69.99 a month. I was already paying that amount to have a cell phone for him so it was like having a second line for free. I decided to call and take advantage of this deal.

Two hours later and after reviewing numerous phones on the website that the salesman felt would be perfect for me, I agreed to make the purchase of the new LG Neon. It was really important to me that any phone I bought had to be compatible with my gmail account without having to upgrade to their Internet package which would have been an additional amount of $30 a month. The salesman assured me that the new LG Neon was compatible with my gmail and even stated that he had the same phone and used it for his gmail account. He also told me that my son was eligible for an upgrade and could receive the same phone at no additional cost. Of course the $69.99 plan was just the base price with a ton of hidden fees so when it was all said and done the monthly cost was more like $100 a month, but I still felt I was getting two good phones and a pretty good deal.

Today around lunch time the phones arrived. My son was home early due to this week being exams week. We very excitedly opened up the boxes to see the new phones. The new version of the LG Neon is this really cool black and neon blue color and it is a little thinner than other phones in the same classification which I really liked. Right away I called ATT to activate the phones. Once activated, we quickly started trying to figure out the new phones and began entering every name and number of all the people who are important to us. This as you know is very time consuming. Once the numbers were entered I called my husband to tell him to save the number in his phone and then I picked out a ring tone. Now that my phone was set up, I went to add my email address and to my surprise saw just about every company on the phone except for google. I thought, this can't be right?! I pulled out the instruction booklet in case I did something wrong and again found no way to access my google gmail account. Frustrated, I called ATT for assistance.

The first person I spoke to, verified who I was and listened to my concerns. She very quickly stated that the phone should be compatible with gmail and wasn't sure what the problem was. After about 20mins of speaking to her, she transferred me to the technical department to see if they could help me. The gentleman who answered also verified who I was and listened to my concerns. After about 40mins and placing me on hold 3 times he told me that the new LG Neon is NOT compatible with gmail and that he would have to transfer me to another department that could help me find a different phone. The third lady verified who I was and listened to my concerns and just couldn't believe that the LG Neon wasn't compatible with gmail. She placed me on hold to speak to the technical department and then returned to say that it wasn't compatible and that she was really sorry. I told her that the guy I originally spoke to the other day said it was and that he even had the same phone and used it for his gmail account. Her response: "He shouldn't have said that". I told her I think I want to just return the phones and forget about it. She then said she would need to transfer me to the return department. The fourth lady verified who I was and listened to my concerns. She said she couldn't believe that the phones weren't compatible with gmail and placed me on hold. When she returned she stated that she asked everyone in the office what they thought and they all thought it was compatible with gmail. I told her that the technical department said it wasn't and that I needed to find a phone that was. She stated that she needed to put me on hold so she could call the technical department and find out which phones were compatible. After about 10 mins the phone started ringing and a different lady answered the phone "Thank you for calling ATT, may I have the number that you are calling about today?"

I couldn't believe that after being on the phone for an hour and 40mins that my call was dropped and returned back to the main line. Now I was no longer frustrated, I was pissed. This lady AGAIN verified who I was and was forced to listen to me tell her how upset I was with all the run around and that not only did I not want these phones, I wanted to cancel my account with them permanently! She tried her best to get me to look at other phones on the website and even placed me on hold to speak to her manager... of course none of this mattered because I wanted nothing to do with ATT. I told her I wanted to return the phones today and cancel my account. She said I could just mail the phones back which I would have done, but they "forgot" to put the free postage return ticket in the package the phones came in. She said she would mail me one and that I had 30 days to return it. I told her I didn't want to wait, I wanted to return them today (because that's how mad I was). I asked her where I needed to go and she said I could go to any ATT store. She also stated that I could look at different phones or cancel my account in the store if I needed to. She also verified this information with her manager.

By this point my youngest son arrived home from school since I had now been on the phone the majority of my day. After hanging up with the last ATT representative, we all loaded up in the car and headed to the nearest ATT store which is about 15/ 20 mins from my house. I went in the store and waited patiently behind one customer. When it became my turn, I told the guy behind the desk that I wanted to return the phones that I received today and cancel my account. He looked me dead in the face and politely said "I'm sorry, but you can't do that here. You can only do that at a corporate store and the closest one is in Pensacola." I seriously had to hold my tongue and tell him that I had been on the phone all day with ATT and that I was told I could return the phones to any ATT store. His response: "She shouldn't have told you that." I told him that he needed to call someone because I'm wasn't going to drive another 30mins further away to return the phones. He then picked up the phone and called ATT and then handed the phone to ME! The lady on the line VERIFIED who I was and listened to my concerns. She then stated that she was sorry but that I had to go to the corporate store in Pensacola and she could do nothing else for me except mail me a free postage return slip. I told her that I just hung up with ATT who said I could return the phones to ANY store. Her response: "She shouldn't have told you that". At that point I hung up on her, rudely gave the phone back to the dumb guy behind the desk, grabbed the kids and drove like a bat out of hell towards Pensacola...

Man was I mad... I made it to the store and went inside. This was a huge store filled with people. A nice young lady waved at me to approach the counter. I told her I wanted to return the phones and cancel my account to include my sons phone. She asked the reasoning and not wanting to go into it all again, I told her I just wasn't satisfied. She proceeded to pull up my account and began to read the lengthy notes.. she then asked the store manager to come over (probably to throw me out)... After reviewing the notes, he surprisingly apologized and asked me to please let them make this situation right. He asked if I would be willing to look at the phones that they had in the store to see if there was any that was compatible with gmail. He wanted me to do an exchange instead of a return and cancellation. He stated that since I had been such a long time customer he really wanted to try and make me happy. Since I come from being in the hospitality business and know what it's like dealing with crazy pissed off people, I appreciated his approach and agreed to look at what they had.

Unfortunately they didn't have anything that was compatible with gmail without adding the extra $30 a month Internet package so my only option was to return the phones. The manager requested my home phone number and said he would look the next few days to try and find me what I needed. He also stated that new phones were coming out in about a month that would be compatible with gmail and asked that I not cancel my sons account since his old cell phone still worked. This will give the manager time to find what I needed and give me time to cool down and decide if I really want to cancel my account completely. I have been an ATT customer for around 10 years and switching to another company is something I need to think about. Even though I was still mad by all the run around I was put through today, I decided to keep my sons old cell phone and his account and return the new phones cancelling only my account. I made this decision based solely on the how I was treated by the store manager. He was understanding, professional and willing to make it right.

It was a 5 hour journey and something that at one moment made me so excited and happy to the next moment, upset and stressed. I drove 45mins back home while my youngest son slept in the backseat and my other son listened to music... none of us speaking a word...

This is my world...