AT&T can go to hell

I'm reviving this long-dormant blog for some kvetching that's longer than 140 characters, so Twitter won't quite work.....

Like a lot of other Apple fanboys & geeks, I'm psyched for the new iPhone 5.  Last week, I made preparations to order it.  This year, unlike past iPhone upgrades, AT&T was being stingy with the upgrade eligibility and enforcing the 20-month upgrade window.  Meaning, if a customer (like me) bought an iPhone 4S last fall, he wasn't eligible for the subsidized iPhone 5 price -- they wanted me to pay a $250 upgrade fee on top of the price.

Fine, I did agree to a two-year contract, so they are within their rights to do that.  I think it's a crummy business decision -- after all, to cancel my AT&T service altogether would only cost me a $215 "early termination fee" -- so in essence, if I want an iPhone 5, it would be cheaper to cancel my AT&T service and go to Verizon.  Bizarre.

But after seeing other AT&T customers reporting on MacRumors and other forums that they were getting some relief from AT&T, the upgrade fee waived or a bill credit, I started calling.  If other customers are getting perks, I want some too!!

It took multiple phone calls, and tweets to their customer care account, and a phone call from one of their "social media reps," but I eventually got a decent bill credit.  Not the entire early upgrade fee, but a majority of it.  I was satisfied.

So, Friday morning, around 6AM, I ordered the iPhone 5 from AT&T.

Saturday, I noticed my order status said "Attention -- your credit card needs verification."  I figured it was just a glitch with the shipping address not matching the billing zip code.  I called FOUR TIMES on Saturday, with no help.  When I finally got through to someone, they said "their system was down" and they couldn't assist.  (Note that because I get a discount through UAB, I have to call their business customer line, called "Premier" -- a misleading name, as the service is anything but.)

Sunday morning, I called and waited on hold for 90 minutes.  Despite having Sunday hours (supposedly), no one ever answered.

Sunday afternoon, I tried again.  This time, an instant recording that their system was down.  So at least I didn't have to wait on hold.  More angry tweets.

Monday morning, just before Rosh Hashanah services started, I get another call from the social media rep.  She's very nice, and wants to help -- but after I explain the problem, turns out she has to call Premier as well.  I tell her good luck with that.

Monday afternoon, I talk to her a couple more times, she can't get anyone from Premier to give her a decent answer or even reply to her.  If a fellow ATT employee can't get any responses, what chance does a customer have???

Tuesday morning, I call Premier.  After a hold time of "only" 25 minutes, I get a helpful rep.  He sees that there's a mismatch between my billing and shipping accounts (don't want the iPhone shipped home, when no one's there to sign for it!) and he "fixes" it.  Tells me I'll get a new email, and a shipping confirmation, in 2-4 hours.  Tells me also that I haven't lost my place in the order queue, and that I'm still on schedule to get the phone on Friday.  Fabulous.

All day Tuesday passes, no change in my order status, no email.  I'd like to say I was surprised.

This morning, I call Premier again.  After a 20 minute hold time, I get another rep.  This one tells me that my credit card was "declined for insufficient funds," which is why the order didn't go through.  I know this is a complete and utter lie, as I'd checked my Amex statement before calling.

Nevertheless, I give them the benefit of the doubt for a moment, and call Amex.  The rep there tells me that there's been no attempt by AT&T to charge my card, and if they had, the charge would have been approved without any difficulty.

So now, AT&T is simply lying to me, saying whatever they have to say to get me off the phone.

I work in IT, I deal with a lot of technical support and sales representatives.  I have never, in my professional career, dealt with a company as incompetent, as clueless to the needs of its customers, as frustrating, as AT&T.  They simply suck.

So that's it.  I could deal with the incompetence.  But now that they've moved on to lying to me, I'm done.

Verizon may not be any better, but they certainly can't be worse.