Inefficiency In Another Large Corporation ATT this time.

[Mich 0]

Now we have taken on AT&T.

 

Over a month ago we received a postcard notice from AT&T that they were going to change our long distance plan. The plan we were enrolled in was no longer available. The plan we were enrolled in only charged us a fee IF we used long distance. Now they intended to charge us a flat fee of $5.00 per month whether or not we used long distance and an additional fee if we used more time than the $5.00 covered. We called and told them we no longer wished to have them carry our long distance service as we don't use it and didn't need to be paying $5.00 a month for services we don't use. Surprise, they said there would be a $20.00 fee to remove them as our carrier. My husband told them, "That is ridiculous and I won't pay it." He was told that he would be billed for it, when he received the bill to call and the charge would be removed from our account. We got our June bill and sure enough the charge was on it. He called, and was told it would be credited. They gave him the corrected balance due to pay, which he did.

 

Today the July bill came with a notice that there is $20.00 plus taxes overdue on the bill, would we see to it that it is paid immediately. So he had to call again. He explained, again, that he wouldn't have a problem with a setup fee if he were adding AT&T as a carrier, but no way should they be charging a fee to have AT&T removed. He was again assured the account would be credited and given a corrected balance to pay. He has sent off the payment. Check back next month and I will let you know if things have been taken care of.

 

You know, I have vented before about BMG Music, National City Bank and MBNA America. Now I have added AT&T to my list of ineffeciently run large corporations. I don't understand how these companies can continually employ people who don't or won't do their jobs. There must be an enormous personnel turnover at these places. Or do they just ignore the ineffeciency? Or even care?

[rvalkass 5]

A lot of large corporations, in my experience, seem to think they are higher than the common person. They are fully aware that most people, unlime yourself, wouldn't question a charge simply becuase they either can't be bothered with the hastle the company creates or they know they will lose. One place they seem to fall down though is the courts. Here in the UK various people have sued major multinationals due to fees, incooperability and basically being annoying. Thinking they are above us all they send no representative to the court, so automatically lose, get charged for legal fees all round, have to pay compensation and fines.We simply need more people to "stand up for the little guy", then perhaps these multi-billion-pound corporations will take notice. Small local firms may be more expensive, but at least you can talk to them. A small price to pay for common sense and logic.A lot of large corporations, in my experience, seem to think they are higher than the common person. They are fully aware that most people, unlime yourself, wouldn't question a charge simply becuase they either can't be bothered with the hastle the company creates or they know they will lose. One place they seem to fall down though is the courts. Here in the UK various people have sued major multinationals due to fees, incooperability and basically being annoying. Thinking they are above us all they send no representative to the court, so automatically lose, get charged for legal fees all round, have to pay compensation and fines.We simply need more people to "stand up for the little guy", then perhaps these multi-billion-pound corporations will take notice. Small local firms may be more expensive, but at least you can talk to them. A small price to pay for common sense and logic.

[Panzer 0]

Basically what rvalkass said they do charge you extra because they can and they know the 'average joe' wont take them to court.

[Plenoptic 0]

That's wierd. In my area though I have Cingular and they combined with AT&T and so far we haven't had any problems at all. Maybe the person you spoke with didn't know how to take off the charge or just forgot or something who knows but hopefully the problem is fixed. Although filing a complaint won't do anything you can threaten to leave to Sprint or another network near you and trust me they will take the charge off. I mean don't threaten them really but say to yourself well maybe I'll go to Sprint then or something and see what happens.

[Cool_Freaker 0]

It's also because it's such a large corporation that internal organisation may not always be as efficient as it should. Your account is one in many thousands, probably handled by a different staff member each time. I've had similar problems with the telco I use, in terms of the connection of internet being arranged, but not connected when agreed to, and many a billing problem. The good thing with large corporations is that if you complain, even just a bit, usually they give in and give you some sort of discount or refund as they make enough money to be able to give way in order to keep customer loyalty.

[terminal2k 0]

yeah, big companies sucki've worked in quite a few in customer service type roles and know that nobody cares about the consumer or what they want until they want to leave. they do things as slowly as possible to save money, for example in my company we have a department that has a legal requirement to respond to things within 30 days, so they don't even bother looking at them until about 27 days have passed even though most of these things will only take 5 minutes to fix.another place that sucks is collection companies, they collect debts that they have no details on and people just pay them to get them off their backs. they also collect debts they can't collect anymore because they've passed the statute of limitations, and list things onto peoples credit histories when they shouldn't. i hate collection companies.also i've had a similar experience to Mich in regards to charges occuring after leaving a company, i'm still receiving bills from my old mobile (cellular) company whom i haven't had a service with for a few months now. I HATE YOU BIG COMPANIES. DIE A SLOW PAINFUL DEATH

[Galahad 0]

Yeah, big companies really DON'T care about us, "mere mortals"... They will do anything to get every single dime from your pocket, but they won't move their finger to help you with something...Here, we have a certain mobile operator Mobtel, and they charge for customer service number! The other operator, Telekom, isn't charging for this phone, since you need to use it only when you want to set something up, or have a question about the service, and they don't charge when you call from their network, but those guys charge anyway...I'm with the Telekom operator (which by the way sucks big time, they're bery uncooperative, they're service is zero - maybe due to a fact that it's a national company, controlled by the government, and they do have 51% share in other operator Mobtel... And they ARE the only mobile operators there are... Oh, and Telekom has tha monopoly on the land lines, they are the only company that provides us with phone lines, provides ISP's with links to outside word, yadda yadda...)I remember one day, I was particularly nervous, and I received a promo SMS message from my operator, about some stupid service I didn't use, I don't use, and I never will use... So I call 789, customer number, and I say I want them to stop harassing me with those stupid promo SMS messages... Girl was, oddly enough, very curteous, and said that she will see what she can do, but generaly they don't offer that "opt-out" service... Talk about being #!@$@!... So I leave it be... For the next 7 days, I received a billion SMS promoting this or that... And that spilled the glass... I went directly to their offices, mad as hell, and set with the first available guy... I said I want them to stop harrasing me with those promotional SMS messages... He said that unfortunately, they can't do that... I said, very calmly, and with pleasant tone "I'm not asking you, I'm telling you to stop that"... After this sentence, the guy became rude, and asked me who I think I am to order them what or what not to do... So I saw who I was dealing with... I snapped ina second... I stud up, leaned over the table, and screamed at the guy to treat me with respect, because he is there for me, and not the other way around, and if he used that tone with me again, I would break his jay... Next I did, was order him to go get his superior... I had pretty much the same discussion with his supperior, who was a *BLEEP*, same as this guy... That pissed me off... I told them to bring me the general manager of they're office in my city... They said that she's not there... So I started yelling at them, saying I won;t leave until I spoke with the general manager... At that moment, guess who comes out of her office? General manager... Asking what's going on... So I turn to her, and say that I want to file a complaint against the guy I spoke wth first, and against his superior... After she asked why, I said they were extremely rude to me, and treated me like garbage... She sat me down at the desk, and she personaly took matters into her own hands... I said I want them to stop harassing me with SMS messages, and after that, she repeated that they can't do that... After that, I had no more strength to hassle with them... All I said to her, was: "See you in court then, I'll sue the company for the harrassment"...Gues what?For next few months, I never received a single promotional SMS message, until recently... You think it's time for me to go pay them a visit again?

[Mich 0]

Check back next month and I will let you know if things have been taken care of.

Hurray! The August bill came with no further charges showing. We are now back to our normal monthly charges. That's another one for us.

Thanks everybody for the input about the large corporations. Found the reading very interesting at that. Somehow we just keep plodding along against these multimillionaire bullies. If you don't stand up for yourself, they will just walk all over you.