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Comments on news posted 2011-08-17 12:35:56: JD Power and Associates latest "Wireless Purchase Experience Ratings" have been released, which according to the company's press release involved surveying some 9,190 customers on their wireless purchase experiences in stores, online, and over the ph.. ..

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Wyatt657
@mycingular.net

Wyatt657

Anon

Ok. Att is monopoly

And overpriced. But customer service, from my experience no problems although I don't call them often. Last time I had overage SMS because some jackas was sending me spam of 1000+. bill came with $300 but att went ahead and credited after described them my problem. In addition they directed me to a website where u can put block on incoming SMS from servers/email domains and even filter based on domain keyword.

If they rated their service and products I would sometimes agree. That's different.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

AT&T stinks no more than the others

There is virtually no difference between the top 5. They all stink just about equally. Only 10 points on a 1000 point scale separated 1st from 5th place(755 to 745).

celeritypc
For Lucky Best Wash, Use Mr. Sparkle
Premium Member
join:2004-05-15
Caldwell, NJ

celeritypc

Premium Member

What's the criteria? What is asked?

I would like to know what questions are asked of respondants as well as who they ask. All I can say is my experiences with the companies involved have been very different than what is reported in the surveys.

Ironwolf21
@12.34.246.x

Ironwolf21

Anon

AT&T

Why does AT&T rank last?

Easy they suck at customer service. True story - I moved to a rural area with only Aircard access available for internet. I went to T-mobile, Sprint, Verizon and AT&T and got one of each of their cards for a free 2 week trial.

I went with Verizon because it gave me the fastest overall speeds.

I took all the other cards back and the other vendors were fine. AT&T however took the card back and then 2 months later I get a bill. They say I am overdue in paying. I call them and say - no it was a FREE TRIAL and I did not choose your card. They say ok - sorry for the trouble.

2 months later I get a phone call of being put into collection if I don't pay. I send back a reply in writing that if you do not stop harassing me over a FREE TRIAL - I will send this to the Michigan Attorney Generals office in an official complaint of harrassment.

They put me into collections.

I request in writing all pertainent data of my account and file my complaint with the Attorney Generals office.

I get a phone call from AT&T saying they are very sorry - I was correct and it is their fault. I reply that the people who do collections are rude and that I would NEVER use AT&T forthing if I can help it for the rest of my life.

jchambers28
Premium Member
join:2007-05-12
Peculiar, MO

jchambers28

Premium Member

Tmobile customer service

Goes to show Tmbile customer service will go to hell in a hand basket if they merge with AT&T.
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

xenophon to FFH5

Member

to FFH5

Re: AT&T stinks no more than the others

It's fair to say of all consumer electronics, the phone carriers suck most overall. It's a complicated industry with various plans, conditions per plan and more and more complicated devices. The difference of support between carriers may not be much compared to how they differ overall from consumer devices in general.

mod_wastrel
anonome
join:2008-03-28

mod_wastrel

Member

OK,

"JD Power: AT&T Still Stinks"

...just stop right there.
underthehood
Premium Member
join:2006-01-04
·T-Mobile

underthehood

Premium Member

BS they are fine

Been with AT&T for about 5+ years now. Have never had an issue with the CS. Issue with actual call service occasionally but CS totally top notch. Verizon, Sprint? Total crap. Unless you understand some different language. I would rate US Cellular and T-Mobile tops though for CS. About equally good. Verizon well below the other 2 and Sprint as the most awful excuse for customer service.
Funny I see these totally BS surveys and I wonder where they come from. I've been a mobile phone customer from the early 80's and I have NEVER been surveyed

liaa
@comcast.net

liaa

Anon

tm will drop in after merger

Ya for sure tm will lose big time when att get them the service will suck big time. my contract over I drop them I hate att so bad.

ctceo
Premium Member
join:2001-04-26
South Bend, IN

ctceo

Premium Member

Pick two

Good Product/Service
Good Customer Service
Good Price

Readfineprnt to underthehood

Anon

to underthehood

Re: BS they are fine

This really isn't about the overall customer service of each company. It's about the wireless purchase experience - two completely different things.

Although the rankings certainly do mirror the rankings in customer service.

AlphaOne
I see
Premium Member
join:2004-02-21

AlphaOne

Premium Member

What's up with the AT&T brand?

Cingular in my opinion were doing good way back then.
After acquiring at&t mobile, they were still decent.
But after SBC merged(or bought) the rest of AT&T, things went downhill.

jseymour
join:2009-12-11
Waterford, MI

jseymour

Member

"AT&T" vs. Sprint and VZ

I'm an IT professional, by trade. As such, I deal with "AT&T" (really SBC renamed) (both at work and at home), Verizon (at work) and Sprint (my personal wireless provider).

I have found Sprint's customer service the last few years to be exemplary in all respects. Even during their Dark Days, when Sprint's CS was allegedly very bad, I found it "acceptable," at worst.

My experience with Verizon Wireless has been somewhat mixed, but they've always eventually made things right. I would give them a... "B". Maybe "B+".

"AT&T," however... worst customer service of any vendor with which I deal, bar none. Absolutely appalling in every respect. And this isn't just recently. About a year after SBC acquired AT&T, things went precipitously downhill. I have had such a God-awful experience with these jokers at work that I'm seriously considering taking Comcast up on their offer and switching our home service over--something I thought I'd never in a million years consider.

So if "AT&T" wireless is anything like the "AT&T" with which I've had to deal, I can see how their customer service ranks at the bottom.

Jim

Dest
Bolo
Premium Member
join:2000-03-21
Naperville, IL

Dest to underthehood

Premium Member

to underthehood

Re: BS they are fine

have you even deal with Sprint lately? their customer service have improved ALOT
pkorx8
join:2003-06-19
San Francisco, CA

1 edit

pkorx8

Member

My bad experience with ATT

I was an ATT (blue) customer since 2004 when I decided to finally update my phone (and thus the mandatory contract update) in April of this year.
I knew I should go to a retail ATT store to try and mitigate some of the contract update problems, even tho I knew online places like amazon wireless will be a much better deal (like free HTC Inspire instead of ~$150 for the same phone at ATT store).

The retail ATT store still managed to screw my transition:
- Did not grandfather my old SMS plan (200/$5) even tho I know they can and they said they will at the store. THEY WILL NOT REVERSE THEIR SCREW UP. Spent an hour on the phone with them to created a "case" because the retail ATT store cannot do anything about it. Unsurprisingly, they denied my complaint.
- Without notifying me of this, ATT changed the account to a "personal" instead of the "business" as it has been since 2004. This created problems such as the account cannot join a family plan in the future (which I intended to do) and it required the account to be "paid before each cycle" which is like prepaid. I didn't care too much about the prepaid part, but I cannot merge with my wife's iphone account. So when we returned to the ATT store to try and merge the account, the ATT guy actually told us the solution to this is to port out to another carrier and within the 30-day period of the other carrier, port back to ATT to create the family account, thus "merging" it. I'm "rethinking possible" but apparently setup up a family account is NOT POSSIBLE within the ATT system!
- Did not honor the accessories discount because of premier status at the ATT store even tho I used the same discount a month before at another ATT store.

So I returned to the ATT store before my 30-day period is over to terminate my 7 year relationship with ATT. I'm tried of their BS and I wrote a letter to the ATT store manager telling them of everything that happened.
(I ported out to Sprint an hour before this visit, so I don't lose my number.)
Unsurprisingly, I didn't even get a call from the ATT store manager, they don't care for my business after 7 years.

In their final attempt to screw me (its like their parting gift), they sent me a bill for the $350 ETF. It is intriguing that they have record of the contract initiation date and cancellation date on the account, which is clearly less than 30 days, but their excuse is the retail store didn't report it correctly into the system. REALLY!?!? Spend 2 hours with them on the phone to rectify this problem and another "case" is created.
Luckily they did reverse the ETF charge (why do I have to waste my time for their screw-up again!?!). I logged into the OLAM to find the new balance is without the ETF (no where on the statement is there a "fees reversed" or "fee correction", just a new balance with the ETF gone.) They did not even notify me via phone or email as they promised. Spent another hour on the phone with them to demand some kind of notification or confirmation of this resolution because after going thru all this with ATT, I won't be surprised that they will send me to collections, even though everything should be fixed.
To this date, never got a confirmation yet.

I'm now very happy with Sprint and have not had a dropped call in the last 3 months.
nanaki333
join:2010-08-11
Chantilly, VA

nanaki333 to Dest

Member

to Dest

Re: BS they are fine

agreed. i never have a surprise bill, overage, anything ever. everything has always been as advertised, and any changes i make online/phone/in-person, are always taken care of. which again, leads me to the fact there are never any surprises.

a lot of the time i do get someone who does not speak english as their first language, but the person is clear and fluent, and very easy to understand.

Geminimind
Premium Member
join:2003-12-20
Sacramento, CA

Geminimind to Dest

Premium Member

to Dest
Yes I'm with sprint and they are way better than they used to be

Matt3
All noise, no signal.
Premium Member
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC

Matt3 to FFH5

Premium Member

to FFH5

Re: AT&T stinks no more than the others

said by FFH5:

There is virtually no difference between the top 5. They all stink just about equally. Only 10 points on a 1000 point scale separated 1st from 5th place(755 to 745).

True, but kudos to Dan Hesse. He has certainly righted the customer service ship at Sprint. It was only a year ago that they were still ranked pretty low.
Crypto_Bug
join:2001-05-31
Torrington, CT

Crypto_Bug to pkorx8

Member

to pkorx8

Re: My bad experience with ATT

I was an AT&T customer for over 15 years (throughout all the transitions in names) and when I left they did not even care. They were rude and nasty and actually tried to continue billing me for the service I cancelled. AT&T was a horrible company. In order to get my service terminated I had to file a complaint with the state Attorney General. I had similar issues when i dumped their wired services for my home. It took 4 months and finally calls to the DPUC before they would cancel the account. I guess it doesn't pay to be a good customer and pay your bill on time and in full each month.
beavercable
Premium Member
join:2008-05-11
Beaverton, OR

beavercable

Premium Member

Back on target!

This is talking about "buying" experience. I upgraded to my evo just over a year ago using their website and it was quick easy and almost painless. The pain came from spending $300 and having to wait for the rebate. But even the rebate process wasn't bad and I got regular emails from sprint on my rebate process.

Gbcue
Premium Member
join:2001-09-30
Santa Rosa, CA

Gbcue to ctceo

Premium Member

to ctceo

Re: Pick two

said by ctceo:

Good Product/Service
Good Customer Service
Good Price

AT&T has none of the three.

NormanS
I gave her time to steal my mind away
MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
TP-Link TD-8616
Asus RT-AC66U B1
Netgear FR114P

NormanS to AlphaOne

MVM

to AlphaOne

Re: What's up with the AT&T brand?

said by AlphaOne:

Cingular in my opinion were doing good way back then.
After acquiring at&t mobile, they were still decent.
But after SBC merged(or bought) the rest of AT&T, things went downhill.

Interesting, considering that prior to the SBC purchase of AT&T SBC and Bellsouth were joint owners (60/40 split) of Cingular. In fact, a good guess about why AT&T (nee SBC) bought Bellsouth was to gain full control of Cingular, for the purpose of restoring its original brand: AT&T Wireless.

ctceo
Premium Member
join:2001-04-26
South Bend, IN

ctceo to Gbcue

Premium Member

to Gbcue

Re: Pick two

I wish I could agree, but I had DSL service for about 11.5 years with them and the cumulative downtime was not more than an hour or three over that course of time.

Now, on the other hand, they are a corporation which tend to be indifferent and even callous to a customers problems. They still want to charge me for a DSL contract from 2002 that I asked them to transfer to another residence in the same apartment complex. They refused to do it for whatever reason. My girlfriend already had DSL at the residence, and I offered to pay BOTH until my contract ended since I have a multi-wan router. But they refused.

I do have a true story about the transfer of my girlfriends DSL to UVerse though and it's definitely not a pretty one. Needless to say we been borrowing a neighbors AP access key for about 13 days now as the transition wasn't as smooth as they said it would be. I will post a write up (review) on it when the whole fiasco is over, hopefully soon.

Jovi
Premium Member
join:2000-02-24
Mount Joy, PA

Jovi to underthehood

Premium Member

to underthehood

Re: BS they are fine

said by underthehood:

Funny I see these totally BS surveys and I wonder where they come from. I've been a mobile phone customer from the early 80's and I have NEVER been surveyed

If your referring to JD Power, you have to be a Power Panel member to vote on the surveys. I did it for a few years.

TMMerlin
The Devil made me do it
join:2003-06-19
Oxford, MI

TMMerlin

Member

Sprint is 100% superior !

I have not called them in over 4 years, so they must be 100% "perfect !
It's all in the math ..
No contact = no problems = no hassel = 100% perfect !
en103
join:2011-05-02

en103 to jseymour

Member

to jseymour

Re: "AT&T" vs. Sprint and VZ

I haven't had any 'great' customer service, but I will agree with your opinion on Sprint. I have Sprint for work - the only CS issue that I had was migrating my line from Nextel over to Sprint. It took a few hours, and 4 reps.

AT&T - they haven't been 'great', but they haven't screwed me either.
bad: 'Authorized Agent' store in Porter Ranch, CA attempted to make me pay full price to migrate over from AT&T Wireless to Cingular (back in the day) or have my service cut.
good: AT&T Wireless service reps - they fixed my 'North America package', and once - due to their mistake, refunded me the cost of 2 months of it.
good: AT&TM gave me the 'unlimited iPhone data package' on my wife's line (never had data plan before).

VZW: Its been 10 years - and I haven't looked back. Everything from their Agent store selling me phone that was already registered to dropped calls R us to billing errors (often). In the end, the final straw was waiting 2 hours (Porter Ranch corp VZW) for a new phone, only to get home and be told that I'd have to bring it back. It got worse when I cancelled it next day (contract was up), and VZW kept billing me, and attempted collections stating that they didn't have a cancellation (I had my copy - but they wouldn't accept it). After a warning about having an attorney + BBB on their case, they stopped.

I agree jseymore, AT&T Wireless was a better company before SBC acquired them.

jseymour
join:2009-12-11
Waterford, MI

jseymour to AlphaOne

Member

to AlphaOne

Re: What's up with the AT&T brand?

If I recall the sequence-of-events correctly: Cingular was jointly-owned by SBC and BellSouth. Cingular purchased AT&T's wireless business and merged it in. SBC bought AT&T. SBC bought BellSouth's interest in Cingular and renamed it "AT&T Wireless." SBC renamed themselves "AT&T." SBC bought BellSouth.

As to why "AT&T" wireless is so bad now? Same reason "AT&T" everything is so bad now: They've become so dominant they figure they don't have to care anymore.

"We're the Phone Company. We don't have to care!" was the popular joke back in the day, before the breakup of AT&T. (The real AT&T.) Thing is: That wasn't strictly accurate, as they had the FCC and state regulatory agencies with which to contend. Then came the breakup, and quite a degree of deregulation. It was felt much of the old heavy-handed regulation was no longer quite as necessary, because now there was competition.

But now "AT&T," much like the T-1000 robot in Terminator 2, has re-merged much of itself. So we have, in the new "AT&T," much of the old "AT&T," except now it's run by bean-counters, rather than TelCom people, and much of the regulation that used to be present is now absent.

I used to like Michigan Bell Telephone. I used to like AT&T. But this... thing that calls itself "AT&T," these days? Absolutely horrible company, in my experience and view.

Jim
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

said by jseymour:

If I recall the sequence-of-events correctly: Cingular was jointly-owned by SBC and BellSouth. Cingular purchased AT&T's wireless business and merged it in. SBC bought AT&T. SBC bought BellSouth's interest in Cingular and renamed it "AT&T Wireless." SBC renamed themselves "AT&T." SBC bought BellSouth.

As to why "AT&T" wireless is so bad now? Same reason "AT&T" everything is so bad now: They've become so dominant they figure they don't have to care anymore.

"We're the Phone Company. We don't have to care!" was the popular joke back in the day, before the breakup of AT&T. (The real AT&T.) Thing is: That wasn't strictly accurate, as they had the FCC and state regulatory agencies with which to contend. Then came the breakup, and quite a degree of deregulation. It was felt much of the old heavy-handed regulation was no longer quite as necessary, because now there was competition.

But now "AT&T," much like the T-1000 robot in Terminator 2, has re-merged much of itself. So we have, in the new "AT&T," much of the old "AT&T," except now it's run by bean-counters, rather than TelCom people, and much of the regulation that used to be present is now absent.

I used to like Michigan Bell Telephone. I used to like AT&T. But this... thing that calls itself "AT&T," these days? Absolutely horrible company, in my experience and view.

Jim

So the breakup of MA-Bell was more of a DIVORCE (bells assets were TEMPORARILY removed like children into foster homes) & PROBATION rather than an anti-trust breakup.. Now we have AT&T and Verizon (rest of the country's bells, you dont' count anymore.. redheaded step children ;-> ).
axiomatic
join:2006-08-23
Tomball, TX

axiomatic

Member

Look ahead...

Now just imagine how all the jilted T-Mobile users will rate AT&T after the merger if it goes through.

AT&T you have a very long and very hard road ahead of you and honestly.... I have no pity for you at all. You made your bed, lie in it.

NormanS
I gave her time to steal my mind away
MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
TP-Link TD-8616
Asus RT-AC66U B1
Netgear FR114P

NormanS to tmc8080

MVM

to tmc8080

Re: What's up with the AT&T brand?

said by tmc8080:

So the breakup of MA-Bell was more of a DIVORCE (bells assets were TEMPORARILY removed like children into foster homes) & PROBATION rather than an anti-trust breakup.. Now we have AT&T and Verizon (rest of the country's bells, you dont' count anymore.. redheaded step children ;-> ).

I honestly don't know where the "other Bell" fits into things. Used to be the seventh child of the break-up: USWest. Bought by Qwest, which was, itself, bought by CenturyLink.
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