An open letter to the Chairman of AT&T

An open letter to Randall L. Stephenson, Chairman and CEO of AT&T:

Dear Mr. Stephenson,

My family’s small business has been an AT&T customer since we opened our doors in 1984. It is time to sever that 29-year relationship and I thought you might like to know why.

Your customer service employees, worldwide, are unfailingly courteous. They are also incompetent, uncaring, and oblivious.

In September of 2012 a sales person from one of your competitors came to our business. She offered a price for the same services we enjoy for about half the price.

In light of our long-standing relationship with AT&T and the reliability of the service, I called AT&T Customer Service to see if we could get a comparable savings. I was referred to the “Retention Department,” where your employee “DelRonica” offered a package that was slightly higher than the quote I had, but seemed worthwhile to maintain the service. She said the changes would be implemented with 7 business days.

When our bill came the next month, the changes did not appear. I spoke to “Patricia” in the Retention Department who said she would take care of it and the changes would be reflected in the next billing cycle.

I must admit, I forgot to follow up until last month.  No changes had been made and our bill was even higher.

I spoke to your employee “Gio” (Employee number SA527N) on February 27^th of this year who assured me the changes discussed last September would be implemented within 3 to 5 business days. They were not.

I spoke to your employee “Joy” (Employee number  NP072Y) on March 7. She offered no help at all.

I spoke to your employee “Paul” (Employee number PB654F) on March 7. He promised the changes would be implemented and a credit adjustment made to our account within the week.  It has not been done.

I spoke to Dan (Position number 0117) in the Billing Department today (March 14). Nothing has been done – no changes, no request for any adjustment. No follow up. And all he could do was offer to connect me with someone from the “Retention Department.”

I know there is documented evidence of every conversation and promise – before every single conversation with your employees I was informed it would be “monitored or recorded for quality assurance.”

If a small company, like mine, was this poor at customer service, we would not exist.  How fortunate you are that AT&T can afford to lose customers!

Sincerely,

Hope Saidel

President, Second Editions, Inc. (DBA GollyGear.com)